A/N

All endings spur beginnings. Aren't you all lucky that I had mine?

In response to some concern about the identity of the Earth King in my fiction:

I created King Wu around the time that 'Zuko Alone' aired, therefore I didn't have any information about Ba Sing Se nor its king. I also created Wu without relation to "Aunt Wu", which I'm still kicking myself in the butt for; his name was a fluke, actually.

This was a story created before its genre's time, but it was written in the prime of 'third season fever'.

Also realize that in my ignorance of the structure of the city, I did not create an outer wall.

All characters (excluding King Wu and his insignificant cronies) belong to Avatar the Last Airbender, Nickelodeon Studios.

By the way, this plot was written FULLY before ANY lick of Season 3.

Thanks for your understanding of my ignorance and originality. 

xxx

"We have to take them out before they get too far into the city," Aang said firmly.

He and the others were perched on a palace balcony, watching the unfolding scene with a morbid sense of fascination as the striking red balloons crawled through the clouds towards them.

"I don't understand," Katara said quietly. "I thought the inventor said he wouldn't make anything else for the Fire Nation."

"He lied." Sokka answered. "He's been manufacturing a lot, it looks like."

Aang shook his head. "It doesn't matter now. What's done is done, and right now we have more than our fair share of balloons to take care of." He plucked his bison whistle from his waist and blew an inaudible sound. "We'll take them down from the air, but we'll need a ground crew to recover the soldiers inside. General-."

"Yes, Avatar, we're assembling one now."

Sokka pulled his boomerang from behind him. "I'll go in the air with Aang. Katara, you're coming, too."

Aang flashed a dark look at Sokka before inspecting his other two companions. "No. Katara, I want you to stay here with Iroh. I don't trust Wu not to arrest Iroh while we're in the air. Zuko, you come with Sokka and me."

Sokka's lips tightened over his teeth. "Aang-."

"Don't argue with me, Sokka. You either do as I say or stay behind." Aang said no more as he walked to the edge of the balcony to greet Appa.

Sokka ground his jaw as Zuko and Katara quickly exchanged goodbyes and a brief kiss.

"It's not you I'm kissing, so get that look off your face," Zuko snarled as he approached Sokka.

He held out a warning hand to Zuko. "If you don't pull your weight up there, then you're done. This is when you prove to us that you're useful."

"You mean prove to you?" Zuko frowned. "This is battle, Sokka, so be a warrior. Get over yourself." He climbed onto the bison after Aang, leaving Sokka somewhat dumbstruck.

"I've got more warrior in my little finger than you've got in your whole body!" Sokka screeched, his voice cracking pathetically.

"Sokka," Aang called sternly. "Let's go."

"Be careful," Katara said as the three took off into the air. She nervously clutched her necklace and turned to Iroh. "Do you think… we have a chance?"

"We have hope." He muttered. "Sometimes that's all one needs."

xxx

"We've received a conformation of an attempt of attack, Princess."

Azula stood from her plush chair to inspect the massive wall of Ba Sing Se. "Good. I expected as much."

"What will we do now?" Ty Lee chimed as the soldier rushed away to report to the lesser generals.

"We will wait." Azula said calmly.

"Oh, goody." Mai sighed. "I haven't waited for anything for at least a day."

"Your sarcasm is not appreciated, Mai." Azula said lightly, eyes still stuck to her opponents' wall.

"Yeah, Mai! It's not every day we get to do battle!" Ty Lee sang.

"Is the Avatar there?" Mai asked dully.

Azula smirked. "Of course he is. I am never wrong. Now all we have to do is wait for our men inside to open the gates. Then, Mai, you can stop waiting… Ba Sing Se will never know what hit them."

xxx

"How exactly are we going to take these down?" Zuko shouted as they circled a balloon from above.

"Any way possible!" Aang screamed back, pulling Appa in a tighter circle around the balloon.

Zuko clenched a fist and held it above his head and lit a flame from his palm. Just before he could throw the fire into the balloon, Sokka tackled him, jerking his arm back into the saddle.

"Are you stupid?" Sokka screamed. "If you do that, the entire thing will blow up!"

"Well, how was I supposed to know? And how do you know?"

"It doesn't matter! You almost got us and a good amount of Ba Sing Se citizens killed! You're worthless!"

"You're both worthless if you won't help me!" Aang shouted. "Be quiet and listen. I'm dropping each of you off into a basket and you can take out the pilots. Once they're on the ground, the soldiers down there will take them as prisoners. Understand?"

The other two nodded silently. Aang pulled Appa down fast, plummeting towards a basket of the nearest balloon.

"Sokka, go!" Aang ordered.

Without another word, Sokka jumped from the saddle and onto the basket, club in hand.

"Okay, Zuko. You're up next. Use your swords okay? The gas in the balloons is flammable."

"Yeah, I figured that out." Zuko said sarcastically.

Aang swooped low again and deposited Zuko into the midst of two surprised balloon pilots. Sokka and Aang watched Zuko anxiously as they zipped off to the next balloon.

"Aang," Sokka said, leaning towards him over the saddle, "This will take too long. Even if-."

"I know." He answered solemnly. "This will just have to work for now."

Sokka grabbed the boy's shoulder briefly in silent understanding before diving into the nearest basket. He landed haphazardly, his limbs twisting in the spare coils of rope on the floor. The two pilots stared at him, disbelieving.

"You…" Sokka snarled as he pushed rope from his body, "have come to the wrong city!"

Before either man could react, Sokka hurled his club and struck the nearest soldier square on the head, and he fell backwards. The other leapt for Sokka, grasping his forearms and forcing the balloon to pitch.

"You'll tip us out!" Sokka screamed.

"You included!"

"We'll die! Look, just surrender, and we won't kill you! You'll just… Let go!"

"No!"

"Get… OFF!"

"Do you think I'm stupid?"

"Well, if the uniform fits!"

A bundle of fur sprang from the air and attached itself to the soldier's face. The man released Sokka in his panic and fell as soon as Sokka hit him.

"Thanks, Momo." He acknowledged as the lemur flew away, presumably to find Aang.

Immediately Sokka maneuvered the balloon to a soft landing on a rooftop. After he'd extricated himself from the expansive amounts of fabric, he searched the sky for proof of Zuko's efforts. His counterpart was waving frantically from his balloon, shouting something down. Only then did it occur to Sokka that Zuko didn't know how to work the balloon.

"He'll figure it out." Sokka muttered, turning to the ground to find Earth Kingdom men to take away the prisoners. He signaled some below him. "I've got two Fire Nation men up here!"

They acknowledged him and proceeded to climb up.

"Sokka!"

He glanced at the sky again. "Or maybe he won't figure it out."

"How…" Zuko's voice was nearly inaudible. "…get down?"

"Use the lever!" Sokka screamed back.

"What?"

"The lever!"
"This…not a time… to insult…"

"No, the lever!"

"I don't think he can hear you, Sir." One of the Dai Li said dryly.

Sokka huffed. "Obviously."

Aang pulled up next to Zuko's balloon and gave brief instructions before landing Appa gracelessly on the roof aside Sokka. "Get on! We need to refigure our plans!"

xxx

"There's no way we can get them in time," Aang spoke hastily to the small gathering of generals. "Even though we took out five just now, they're moving too fast."

"What if we used ice crystals from the moisture in the air?" Katara chimed. "That's a safe way to bring them down, right?"

The Avatar considered her for a moment, and then uncharacteristically ignored her. "Have we gotten a contact to Azula yet?"

"She's taken out three of our messengers. I don't think she wants to talk." The senior general answered him sharply.

"Well," Aang glanced at Katara once more. "Maybe she'll talk to me."

"No!" His friends chorused at once, but before any of them could grab him, he spiraled off the roof and swooped low on his glider, disappearing into the dust clouds in a red blur.

A/N

I had to redo some of my plot because I wrote the first two chapters of this without my precious plotline notepad file, so I had to write this short chapter to make up for it.

Hang in there! The action gets much more actiony!