Team Avatar Returns

Even in his sleep, the young Avatar could not stop worrying about what he had envisioned. It had been two weeks since he first found out about Middle-Earth and the war that was about to start there according to his vision, and he still hadn't done anything about it. What if he was late again? Aang didn't even want to think about what would happen if his vision came true and Middle-Earth would fall into the hands of the Great Eye, of which he had found out that it belonged to the Dark Lord Sauron.

In the midst of his worries, Aang started to dream. He felt as if he was in a different place. It was nighttime. He seemed to be standing on a mountain, or some kind of high hill. Aang turned to see himself getting surrounded by some tall figures wearing black robes. They were carrying swords. Aang froze as he saw that they were approaching him. He couldn't understand why he wasn't able to do anything. He had no control over his own body and it was frustrating that he couldn't do anything. If he'd had full control over himself, he'd have used his Bending to try and scare away the creatures.

He looked down, only to find out that he wasn't wearing his own clothes. It was the same as in his other vision, when he had turned into another person. This time, Aang was also carrying a sword in his hand.

Looking back at the creatures in front of him, Aang started to panic, not knowing what to do. Dropping the sword he was holding, he moved backwards but then tripped and fell to the ground. Aang then heard something strange. Whispers called out to him. Aang felt his hand moving to his breast pocket. Out of it, he took the one Ring he had seen Sauron wearing in his other vision.

Looking back at the creatures in black, Aang saw that one of them was coming closer to him. In his vision, he put on the Ring, and as soon he did that, everything around him changed. His vision got blurry. But he could see the face of the creature standing in front of him. It appeared like a ghostly king, an evil king. The King reached for the Ring, and Aang could feel that the Ring itself was actually trying to get to the King. But Aang pulled back his hand, not allowing the Ring to be taken from him. In response to that, the King revealed his sword and stabbed Aang in his shoulder.

"Aaaahh!" Aang yelled as he woke up violently and grabbed his shoulder. He was panting as he tried to recover from his dream. Looking down at his body, he realized that he was wearing his own clothes again. He examined his shoulder to find that nothing had happened to it and that it was just fine. But Aang could have sworn that he had felt the blade pierce his shoulder, and he could still feel the pain. He realized that he hadn't just dreamt. It was another vision. And he had turned into the other person he had turned into before yet again.

"Aang, are you all right?" a worried voice asked him. Aang, who was still breathing heavily, turned to look at Katara and the rest of his friends who seemed very concerned about him.

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"Should we wake him up?" Sokka asked as he and the rest had gotten up already. They were waiting for Aang to wake up and fill them in about what had happened that made it so important for them to meet.

"I don't think we should," Suki said to her boyfriend.

"No, Sokka," Katara said pointedly. "You saw how exhausted he was when he got here last night. Just let him rest."

"But I'm curious about what he has to say," Sokka said. "He's been stalling to tell us the story since yesterday. The anticipation is killing me!"

"I'm kinda curious too," Toph agreed.

"Look, I know we're all very curious about it all, but let's just wait for Aang to wake up and let him tell us everything in his own way," Katara decided.

"Uh, Katara?" Zuko, who had been sitting silently, called.

"What is it, Zuko?"

"Something's wrong with Aang," he said.

Katara turned to look at Aang, and she saw that he was shaking and sweating. "Oh no," was all she could say. She had seen him like this before when he was having nightmares. She started to approach him, but then Aang yelled as he woke up with a start, breathing heavily. He was holding his shoulder as if in pain there and checked out his body, probably to check whether he was fine.

"Aang, are you all right?" Katara asked worriedly. The last time she'd seen him like this was months ago when their world needed saving. This had to be something very serious.

Aang looked back at her, and saw that all his friends were concerned about him. "I'm fine," was all Aang said. "I'm going to bathe. I will be right back." He got up and started to leave the room when he thought of something. "Katara?"

"Yes, Aang?"

"Can you call your Dad and Master Pakku to the meeting too?"

Katara nodded and watched as Aang left the room. She turned to look at the rest. Now they really had to know what Aang had to say.

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Aang let out a sigh before looking up to everyone who was watching him. They were waiting for him to explain everything, tell them why he had called them all to the South Pole earlier like that, what was so urgent to discuss together and what had been going on with him. Aang hadn't really thought of how to tell everything, so he hoped that whatever he was going to say would make sense to his friends.

"Aang?" Hakoda asked. "What is it that you wanted to tell us?"

"I was at the Southern Air Temple to meditate and to.. think about.. stuff," he started somewhat unsure of himself. "When I was there," he continued, "I.. I had a vision." Aang fell silent as he thought of how to say it. He took a deep breath and continued, "What I saw is about ten times bigger than everything we ever went through," he said, trying to give them a notion of the severity of what he had seen.

All the members of the meeting looked at Aang in awe. What could he have possibly seen that was bigger than the war they had been through?

"Well?" Zuko asked when Aang didn't continue. "What did you see?"

"I had a vision of a terrible war," Aang answered.

"But the war already ended. We ended it," Sokka said, slightly confused because of what Aang said.

"Yes, and I don't think it's very likely that we'll have to fight another war here anytime soon," Suki replied.

"I agree," Katara said, confused as well. "Maybe you were just having nightmares about our war?" she guessed. "It wouldn't be the first time for you to dream about your past like that."

Aang just having had a dream about the war was the only thing that made sense to them.

"I'm not talking about our war," Aang made clear. "The war I envisioned is from a different world called Middle-Earth."

At this, everyone looked at Aang as if he had grown a second head.

"Are you really sure that this isn't just a dream of yours, Twinkle Toes?" Toph asked. "There can't be another world out there, let alone a war going on in another world."

"That's what I thought too at first. But with Avatar Roku's help and some information I found in a hidden library in the Air Temple Sanctuary, I found out that what I saw in my vision is real," Aang answered and continued, "A monk once found out that there are different dimensions of the world and, as the Avatar, I happen to be connected to all of them," he then said, pausing for a while to allow his friends to take in what he was explaining. "This Middle-Earth I'm talking about, somehow the monk knew about it and had it all written. I've been reading about its history," he said, pointing at the books he found.

"Can you describe this war you saw, Aang?" Master Pakku asked as he considered everything Aang had told them so far.

Aang nodded. "This war has a great history. I'm not very sure whether I understood it all properly, but there is this Dark Lord. His name is Sauron. He was a student of the first Dark Lord called Morgoth and he grew to be very powerful after his Master was defeated," Aang started to explain. He took some of the books out of his bag while he continued to tell the story. "This Sauron tried to take over the world with his powers to become the Lord of the Earth," Aang told them.

Sokka frowned. "So it's just the same old? Some Dark Lord with power trying to take over the world and claim lordship? I think we had a pretty similar situation here in our world with the Fire Lord," he said; at which Zuko shot him a glare. "No offense," Sokka added quickly.

"No. It's not the same at all," Aang said. "Sauron's armies… they were huge. Bigger than any army I've ever seen. And that is saying a lot," he started. "And his soldiers… they weren't quite human. I think they're called Orcs," he said, and paused for a bit. "There were other monster-like creatures as well. I saw what they were capable of in my vision and how they were treating innocent people. It was beyond horrible. During our war, the Fire Nation was ruthless and they did a lot of bad things. But Sauron and all those creatures on his side," he thought back of everything he saw in his vision and continued, "they're far worse and a lot more terrifying."

Aang went through the book and showed some paintings that portrayed some of the dark creatures.

"Eww," Suki let out in disgust when she saw them.

"What do they look like?" Toph asked as she couldn't see.

"Those things are plain monsters," Katara answered while she examined the paintings. They were unlike anything she had ever seen before. "They're gross."

Meanwhile, Aang continued his story. "This book says that there are a lot of different races in Middle-Earth, other than the dark ones we just saw… It's like how we have the different nations, but… different," he said. "There are Elves, Men, Dwarfs and some beings called Hobbits. I also read something about Wizards… There was a lot of information about these races, but that's not really important right now…" he trailed off as he read something in the book he was holding. He looked back up at the rest to continue. "Anyways, Sauron was very close to victory, but the Elves and Men worked together and fought against him and his armies… That must have been around 3,000 years ago if I'm right. They won and Sauron was destroyed."

"This doesn't make any sense," Zuko started. "If the war ended 3,000 years ago, why do we have to worry about it now?" he asked.

"Because, if I understood my vision correctly, the Dark Lord has returned and the war is about to begin again," Aang replied. "They defeated him back then, but he wasn't really killed. Somehow, his soul survived. Now he's back and Middle-Earth is in danger again. Sauron is regrouping his armies and planning on attacking again. And all those horrible things I saw in my vision will come true," he said.

"Are you saying that this Sauron came back to life?" Hakoda asked surprised, wondering how that was even possible.

"Sort of. His soul now has the shape of a giant eye made of fire and he resides on top of a huge tower. He doesn't have his full strength back yet, but I think that's only a matter of time," Aang answered. "Since he was able to return like that while everyone thought he was dead, I suppose he must be extremely powerful."

"A giant eye made of fire…" Sokka thought out loud. "Is it just me or is there always fire involved with bad people and Dark Lords? It's like fire itself is altogether evil!"

"Sokka!" Suki said, giving her boyfriend a nudge.

"What?" Sokka asked, completely oblivious.

"You're sitting in front of the Fire Lord. Think before you say anything," Suki replied, whispering. Sokka looked in front of him at a very annoyed Zuko.

"Oh," Sokka said as he realized it. "Sorry," he apologized, rubbing his head in awkwardness.

"There was also a great deal about a Ring that Sauron had created in the book I read. A Ring of Power," Aang continued. "He made it with some kind of evil magic inside a volcano in a place called Mordor. Somehow, the Ring made Sauron more powerful and a bigger threat to the world," he explained, thinking back about his vision.

"A Ring of Power?" Katara asked. "How does something like that even work?"

"I'm not really sure. But I suppose it's just magic," Aang answered. "The book says that during the war that took place 3,000 years ago, Sauron was destroyed after the Ring was cut from his hand by a guy named Isildur. He took the Ring. That's where the book ended though, so I couldn't find anything about what happened to the Ring after that," Aang explained. "In both my visions, I turned into someone else. In the vision I had this morning, I.. or the person I turned into had Sauron's Ring. In my first vision the Eye of Sauron was looking at me and in the second, a dark creature tried to take the Ring from me. I guess Sauron wants his Ring back and he's looking for it now that he has returned," he said, trying to figure out everything. "I could sense the power of the Ring in my vision and it was pure evil. It felt really powerful. I think it's the Ring that has something to do with Sauron's return and the war that is about to start in Middle-Earth."

"So, the war is about the Ring Sauron lost?" Zuko asked, not entirely understanding how the Ring was involved exactly.

"Yes and no. I don't think it's just about the Ring. He wants to conquer the world," Aang answered. "But since it made him more powerful, I think the Ring is a crucial thing that might just decide whether Sauron will be able to win the war or not," he said. "Either way, I saw what will happen in Middle-Earth if Sauron wins the war and I can't let that happen. I have to help them defeat Sauron once and for all," he said with determination, standing up. "I'm going to Middle-Earth to help restore balance to it."

"I'm with you, Aang," Katara said, standing up as well.

Aang smiled at her, nodding his head as he appreciated it. "Are you guys with me?"

"Are you kidding?" Sokka asked. "Of course I'm with you! This is exactly the kind of action I've been missing!"

"Toph? What about you?" Aang asked, turning to face her.

"Count me in! I am ready to kick some monster-butt!" she said, punching the palm of her hand as she did.

"I would love to join you on your mission, Aang," Suki then spoke and held her boyfriend's hand as they were in this together.

"Zuko, are you with us?" Aang asked.

Zuko stood up, not sure of what to do. "I am, but… I can't just leave everything behind and go to another world like that. I have responsibilities to my people in the Fire Nation," he said.

"Don't worry about that, Fire Lord Zuko," Master Pakku started reassuringly. "I will notify Iroh. I am sure that your uncle will be able to take your place and look after the Fire Nation for as long as you're gone."

Zuko nodded in approval. "I'm in," he decided.

Aang turned to Pakku. "Master Pakku, when I'm gone I won't be able to look after our world for a while. I don't expect any trouble, but I wanted to ask if the Order of the White Lotus would be willing to look after everything while I'm gone. Just to be sure."

Pakku nodded. "It would be our honor, Aang. We will take care of everything. You can leave for Middle-Earth without any worries."

Aang then turned to look at Sokka and Katara's father. "Sir, would you give Sokka and Katara permission to join me on my task?"

Since they were so used to making their own decisions when they were with Aang, Katara and Sokka hadn't even thought to ask whether their father was okay with it. They realized that Aang was right to ask their father's permission for this as it wasn't just any other nation they were going to. They would be going to a whole different world and there was no telling for how long they'd be there and if they'd make it back. Sokka and Katara both looked at their Dad, hoping that he'd be okay with them going to Middle-Earth with Aang.

"Well," Hakoda started. "It's going to be a quest full of danger unlike anything they have ever dealt with before… No father would ever send his children to any dangerous place on purpose," he said.

Sokka and Katara exchanged worried looks, afraid that their father wasn't going to let them go.

Hakoda stood up and continued, "But my children have both proven to be brave, independent and able to protect themselves and others well. They're both true warriors." He turned to look at his children. "I would be proud to let them join a mission like this." Hakoda smiled at his children who were both relieved at their father's decision. "But only if you both promise to be extra careful," he added.

"Of course, Dad!" Katara exclaimed, grateful that they could go. "We will be!"

"Toph, would your parents let you go?" Aang asked her.

"They'd be worried sick," Toph started. "But they wouldn't keep me from going with you. They've realized that I can make my own decisions and look after myself."

Aang nodded with a smile, glad that his friends could join him without any problems.

"So it's official then," Sokka started. "Team Avatar is back!"

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To be continued…