Chapter 34: The Day of Black Sun
Sailing on the seas within the Fire Nation's borders, the Fire Navy's flagship was bound for home. Flanked by half a dozen warships and in friendly waters, there was no risk to the special passengers aboard. Both heirs to the throne were on the same ship, eagerly waiting for the ship to make port at the capital.
The Fire Nation capital was a sight for sore eyes, as far as Prince Zuko was concerned. It had been several months since he last saw home, leaving to lead the invasion of the Northern Water Tribe. That victory had been the prince's greatest triumph, and that alone was enough to return home a hero to his people. Adding to the glory was the political devastation of Ba Sing Se, which restored the honor lost in the failed six hundred day siege.
But Zuko's glory wasn't untarnished, since his scheme to exploit an amnesiac Avatar had gone awry. At the moment the Avatar's location was unknown, which to Zuko meant that the Avatar could show up anywhere at any time. That uncertainty had to be accounted for, especially after the extreme risk the Avatar's friends had gone through to get him back.
Standing at the bow of the ship Zuko looked towards home, missing the company of Mai. He heard someone walking up to him, and he turned to see his sister. "Has there been any word from Mai and Ty Lee?"
"Not since the last hawk," Azula answered. She stopped and stood next to her brother, sharing the sight of home. "Look at it this way, if they're successful, there won't be a hawk before they get back here."
That brought a smile to Zuko's face. "I just hope they can get back before tomorrow's eclipse."
Early on the following morning a sky bison flew very close to the ocean waters, surrounded by a shroud of waterbended mist. Appa was approaching the Fire Nation capital from the south, heading for the island's sheer cliffs. There were Fire Nation ships patrolling the island's coast, some noticing the mist concealing Appa. But the people on the sky bison had a plan to get around the ships.
"Dive," Sokka ordered.
At the same time Aang and Katara waterbended the ocean beneath Appa, pulling water up and enveloping the sky bison. Inside his own air pocket Appa flew down, the air bubble moving with Appa as he dived beneath the ocean waves. With six people and a sky bison in the bubble there were only a few minutes of air inside, which was more than enough to slip past the patrolling ships unnoticed.
When it started getting difficult to breathe in the bubble Appa flew upward, breaking through the ocean surface as Aang and Katara stopped waterbending. Appa quickly closed the distance to the island's southern cliff, stopping in midair a few feet from black volcanic rock and a few feet above the water. From the saddle Haru earthbended the rock, pushing it into the island to create a landing space for Appa. Immediately Appa landed in that space, allowing everyone on the sky bison to climb off.
Once he was on solid rock Haru earthbended a thin stone wall behind Appa, making it seamless with the cliff but with a long narrow crack to let air and dim light inside. "That should hold," Haru said.
"Should?" Katara questioned.
"This rock bends weirdly," Haru explained. "It's different from rock in the Earth Kingdom."
"We are in an island that has a volcano," Suki said.
Toph put her hand down on the floor, taking in the sight vibrations gave her. "Yeah, I don't have a whole lot of experience bending volcanic rock. It wants to shatter instead of break cleanly like the rocks back home."
"Is that going to be a problem?" Sokka asked.
"Not for large bending," Toph answered. "Just don't ask me to do any delicate stuff."
"We don't need delicate right now," Sokka said. He turned towards Aang, barely seeing him in the dim light provided from outside. "Aang, we need more light."
"Coming up," Aang said. He held out his right arm and opened his hand, igniting a small flame that he held in his palm. That flame illuminated the space they were in, enough for everyone but Toph to see with.
"Aang, keep that flame up for as long as possible," Sokka ordered. "We need to find the Fire Lord before it goes out when the eclipse starts."
"Then we better get moving," Toph said. She started earthbending volcanic rock out of her way, starting a tunnel leading into the island.
Everyone started walking deeper into the island, leaving Appa behind to wait for their return. Toph and Haru took turns lengthening the tunnel with earthbending, as well as bending small vertical shafts to let more air in. It slowly got hotter as they tunneled deeper into the island, getting closer to the volcano within the island. But after a few miles of tunneling something stopped them, something that Sokka hadn't been expecting.
A solid metal wall, buried within the rock.
"I think we're getting close," Sokka guessed. He walked up to the wall at the end of the earthbended tunnel and pounded a fist on the metal, which sounded like it was very thick. "Toph, do you see a way around it?"
Toph walked up to the wall and punched it, amplifying the range of her vibration sight. What she saw made her frown. "No good, this wall curves around the island as far as I can see."
"What about down?" Katara asked. "Can we get beneath it?"
"Not if you want to get cooked alive," Toph answered. She could see where the bottom of the wall was, nearly within the heart of the volcano itself.
"How could they build a metal wall so deep underground?" Haru asked.
Vibrations in the metal gave Toph an answer, different from any other wall she had ever felt before. "This wall wasn't built. It was poured."
"Talk about simple construction," Sokka said, finding the obstacle very clever. "They just dug a really deep trench and dumped molten metal in. Crude, but effective."
"You can complement it later," Suki interrupted. "We have to get past it."
"Right," Sokka said. He gazed at the tunnel's ceiling, not liking the only option at hand. "It looks like we'll have to get above ground."
"Going up," Toph said. She started earthbending the floor to raise it up, while Haru earthbended the ceiling out of the way. They left a vertical shaft to connect their rising space with the rest of the tunnel, to avoid cutting off their air supply. At the top they entered a small cellar, replacing part of its floor with rock rising from beneath. "Top floor: shoes, shirts, and certain doom."
Sokka looked around the cellar, glad to find it empty. "Toph, what do you see outside?"
Toph crouched and put one hand on the floor, seeing a portion of the Fire Nation capital city. "Something's wrong. Everyone within range is waiting in underground bunkers."
"No one is above ground?" Katara asked.
"None," Toph confirmed. "It's like the city shut down."
"They know," Sokka realized. "They know the eclipse is coming."
"Called it," Toph said.
"Not now Toph," Sokka complained. He took a moment to think, to figure out what to do next. "We can still make this work. They don't know that we know about the eclipse."
"How does that help us?" Suki asked.
"Yeah," Haru said. "They'll probably have tons of guards even if they aren't expecting us."
"Then we'll need a distraction," Sokka said. "Haru, did Toph teach you that golem trick of hers?"
Haru nodded. "Mine's a little different, but basically the same thing."
"Good," Sokka said, showing a grin. "Then we'll need you to circle around the city, and make that golem when anyone spots you. Then go on a rampage."
"Can't I do that?" Toph asked, raising her hand. "It sounds like fun."
"We need your feet with the group," Sokka answered. "Once we leave this cellar and walk over that metal wall, we're going back underground."
"Got it," Toph said. "Let's go."
Slowly and one at a time everyone climbed up steps leading out of the cellar, entering a noble's ornate home. They didn't linger inside the building, heading straight for the front door and exiting through it. Outside the group found that they were next to the edge of a caldera, just inside a ring of igneous rock at the top of the volcano. The entire caldera was filled by the capital city, with the royal palace at the center.
As the city streets were empty, there was no one to spot the group out in the open. Still, Sokka didn't want to risk getting spotted and looked for secluded alleys to travel through unseen. Haru split off from the others, taking a route that would spiral inward towards the palace. Once Haru was out of sight Sokka led the others into one dark alley after another, only stopping when Toph's feet told her that they were past the underground metal wall.
Once again the group tunneled below ground, but with Toph doing most of the earthbending this time. Aang helped make the earthbending easier, but had to keep his flame going to keep track of time. The flame was still burning when the tunnel approached the center of the caldera, as Toph's feet were telling her that the palace was just up ahead and that they should slow down.
"We're here," Toph said. She placed a hand on rock in front of here, where she had stopped tunneling just a few inches away from open space. "There's a big underground labyrinth beneath the palace."
"Are there any guards?" Suki asked.
"Plenty," Toph answered. She paused and focused on her sight, noticing a change on the other side of the rock. "They're on the move, heading up."
Sokka smiled. "It looks like the distraction is working."
"Then we should get moving too," Katara insisted. "It won't take them long to figure out what we're doing."
"Going down," Toph announced. She earthbended the rock everyone was standing on, sending it down and taking everyone with it. But after dropping a few dozen feet they abruptly stopped. "Darn it! There's more metal."
"But we're still standing on rock," Suki said, looking down at the floor.
"Which is getting harder to push out of the way," Toph complained. "We'll have to walk from here."
"Um, guys?" Aang muttered. He held out his hand with the flame, which was starting to sputter and shrink. "I think the eclipse is starting."
"Great, we're running late," Sokka complained. "Well, I guess it's time to throw stealth out the window."
Toph grinned. "Rampage time?"
Sokka nodded. "Rampage time."
A few minutes earlier…
Haru was sneaking through the Fire Nation capital one alley at a time, trying to put some distance between himself and his friends before starting his distraction. Along the way he found some city guards patrolling the streets, but they were few in number and spread thin. While waiting for the guards to pass Haru glanced upward at the Sun, but only for a few seconds at a time to check for the eclipse without hurting his eyes.
"Stop right there, Earth Kingdom scum!"
"Crud," Haru muttered. He turned around and towards the voice, seeing one of the city guards at the end of the alley he just entered. Haru earthbended a block of rock from the ground and threw it at the guard, hitting him and knocking the guard down. While the guard recovered Haru ran the other way, exiting the alley without bothering to check where he was running towards.
At the other end of the alley was a large cobblestone road, which was a straight line between the caldera's main entrance and the palace's front door. In front of the palace there was a small wall with a gate crossing the road, and there were dozens of palace guards just past the gate. Those guards spotted Haru running into the road and ordered that the gate be open, allowing them to march out and attempt to apprehend him.
While the guards marched through the gate Haru ran towards it, trying to confront them before anyone could realize that he was alone. Haru had to dodge fireballs thrown by some of the guards, but firebenders were in the minority among those that wielding spears. When he was twenty feet away from the guards Haru dropped and rolled forward, earthbending the cobblestone road to wrap himself in a large sphere of stone. He rolled into the guards and broke their formation, and then Haru shattered his sphere and sent stone shrapnel in every direction. Chunks of stone hit the closest dozen guards and made the rest disperse to avoid getting hit, but quickly regrouped and surrounded Haru.
"Surrender!" one guard demanded.
"Um… No," Haru said. With quick arm motions Haru earthbended the road to pull up more stone, and used it to cover himself in stone again. Then he reshaped the stone into a twenty foot tall titan with him inside, towering over the guards. Haru looked out through eye holes in his titan's head, which resembled a helmet and functioned as such.
With his titan Haru attacked the guards, swinging large rock arms that tossed guards into the air. Firebenders among the guards fought back with fireballs, which scorched the rock but not the earthbender inside. Other guards attacked with their spears and struck the titan's legs, puncturing the stone but not hitting flesh. The titan's legs were all stone as Haru's legs were inside the titan's chest, and he laughed as he kicked with the titan's legs to knock back the guards.
Once Haru had dealt with the guards he directed his titan towards the palace, passing through the open gates with each step echoing in the empty city. As he walked through the palace's courtyard Haru heard a distinct crackling noise, one that made his neck hairs stand on end. Haru looked up and saw someone on a fifth floor balcony, who had electricity trailing from her moving fingers. He recognized Azula in time to react to her shooting lightning at him, raising both of the titan's arms to block.
Azula's lightning hit the titan's crossed arms, exploding on contact and obliterating both limbs. Azula didn't give Haru any time to repair the damage, thrusting both fists down to shoot a stream of blue fire at the titan. The blue flames covered the top half of Haru's titan, forcing him to seal his eye holes right away to keep from getting burned. The temperature quickly rose inside the titan, making Haru sweat as the rock scorched and blackened.
Suddenly Azula's fire began to shrink, gradually burning less and less of Haru's titan. Azula put more effort into her firebending to make the flames larger, but that only slowed down the shrinking. When the flames were small enough to only cover the titan's head they changed color, from Azula's signature blue to normal red and orange. And then the flames went out altogether, and Azula looked at the sky to see the solar eclipse.
Underneath the palace half a dozen guards were hurrying down a large hallway, responding to an alert called from the ground floor. They were caught off guard when the upper half of the left wall exploded into rock shrapnel, disorienting them and halting their progress through the hallway. A torrent of rock, water, and wind followed and struck all of the guards, slamming them into the opposite wall and knocking them out.
Aang jumped out of the hole in the wall onto the metal floor, which was a few feet lower than where Toph had stopped earthbending the rock they had been standing on. Aang had let his flame go out in order to airbend, and he reopened his hand to reignite the flame. He got a small flame that quickly sputtered out, and when he tried again all Aang got were sparks. "The eclipse is here."
Sokka jumped out of the hole, followed by Toph and Katara. "Toph, you're on point," Sokka ordered, counting on her feet to see farther than his eyes. "Find anything that might be the Fire Lord's bunker."
With Toph leading the charge the group headed straight for the nearest large chamber, ignoring side passages that Toph's feet said were dead ends. The hallway ended at a set of large metal doors before a large chamber, and there was another hallway that intersected at the large doors. The large chamber was big enough for the far side to be out of Toph's sight.
"In here," Toph said, approaching the large doors with the others.
Suki and Sokka each took one of the large doors and pushed them open, while the others prepared to attack. As the doors swung open Aang and Katara ran through with Toph right behind them, ready to face whatever was inside. At the far end of the chamber was a small throne, meant as a backup for when the palace was under siege. But the Fire Lord wasn't sitting in it.
Prince Zuko was.
"I was wondering when you'd show up," Zuko said. He casually reached into a pocket in his armor, taking out a pocket watch and checking the time. "You're late."
"Where's your old man?" Sokka demanded.
"Oh he's around," Zuko answered. He put away the pocket watch and stood up, letting his foes see that he had his swords with him. "But you'll have to deal with me instead."
"Bring it!" Suki yelled, drawing her war fans.
"We don't have time for this," Sokka argued.
"You won't find him before the eclipse ends," Zuko said.
"He's lying," Toph said.
"Maybe I am, maybe I'm not," Zuko said.
"And he's wasting our time," Katara said.
"Duh," Toph added. She turned away from Zuko and started walking out of the chamber, knowing that he lacked the ability to shoot fire or lightning in her back. Toph looked down the intersecting hallway in both directions, which extended beyond the range of her sight. "Alright guys, left or right?"
"You can't tell?" Suki said.
"They both look the same," Toph answered.
"Should we flip a coin?" Aang asked.
"No time," Sokka said. He went with what his gut was telling him. "Left."
Zuko watched his enemies leave the chamber and run down the left hallway, doing nothing to stop them. He casually walked out as well, but stopped just outside the doors. And then he turned right, heading for a stairwell that led down towards his father's bunker. But he kept a slow pace, allowing the Avatar to have a head start. Zuko had memorized the layout of the underground tunnels, knowing that both directions led the Fire Lord.
At the end of the left hallway was a stairwell, providing a way down to the next level and past the metal floor. At the bottom was another corridor of volcanic rock, just above the heart of the volcano. Though Toph now had more rock to earthbend, she hesitated to use any large scale earthbending on the floor in fear of releasing lava beneath her feet. At the end of the corridor was another bunker nestled in rock, seemingly insignificant in comparison to the previous bunker.
"This had better be it," Sokka said. "We don't have time for another one."
Together Aang and Toph earthbended volcanic rock from the walls and hurled it at the bunker, breaking down its doors. On the other side were a dozen guards standing at attention, each wielding a spear in both hands. And behind the guards, sitting on a cushioned seat with a cup of tea in hand, was the Fire Lord. He looked just like an older version of Zuko, but with the crown headpiece in his topknot.
Seeing the Fire Lord was enough to tell Aang that he was facing the right guy, as everything about him seemed right for the guy in charge. "Fire Lord, your days of tyranny are over!"
Fire Lord Ozai simply looked at Aang, seemingly bored with the situation. "Kill them," he ordered his guards, and casually sipped his tea.
The dozen guards marched towards Aang and his friends, aiming their spears forward. Three of them closed in on Aang, being the most dangerous bender at the moment. They relentlessly stabbed and slashed with their spears, forcing Aang to block with earthbended rock and leaving no opportunities for him to retaliate.
Three guards closed in on Toph, but could not get close enough to hit her. Toph pulled rock from the walls to block the guards' advance, while using more rock to strike back. But the armor the guards were wearing protected them from the damage Toph's earthbending could do, creating a stalemate between them.
Another three guards closed in on Katara, cutting through her water attacks with their spear blades. She tried to freeze the guards' feet to the floor, but the heat in the rock melted away her ice. Katara resorted to bending ice onto her arms, using the improvised shields to block spear strikes. Each hit cracked and split Katara's ice, forcing her to repair her defense instead of retaliating.
The remaining three guards went after Suki and Sokka, seeing that they carried weapons and were likely not benders. Suki pulled out her war fans and held off two of the guards, catching their spear strikes with her fans. Sokka fought of the last guard, using his club in one hand and his boomerang in the other. He threw his boomerang at the guard and missed, having to block a spear stab with his club. But the boomerang came back around in the small bunker, hitting the guard in the back of the head and knocking him out.
With his opponent down Sokka helped Suki, bashing one of those guards in the back with his club. Another swing of his club to the guard's head allowed Sokka to bring him down, and let Suki focus on the one guard she had left. Suki blocked a spear strike with one fan and used the other to break the guard's spear in two, creating an opening to bash both fans into the sides of the guard's head. For good measure Sokka kicked the guard in the back, followed by Suki kicking the guard's chest to knock him down and slam his head against the floor.
Together Suki and Sokka attacked on the guards fighting Katara, taking one by surprise with club and war fans to the back. The other two guards were distracted by their comrade's downfall long enough to Katara to strike, bending all of her water into a block of ice and slamming it into one of the guards. Katara melted and bent the water back to her, hurling it at the third guard just as Sokka and Suki attacked. Water to the face and weapons to the back brought down the guard, making him collapse on top of the other two.
Katara, Sokka, and Suki each picked one of the three guards fighting Toph, charging at them with their respective forms of attack. One guard was hit in the legs with water, the second was hit in the back with a club, and the third was hit in the head with war fans. All three guards were then hit by rock Toph earthbended from the walls, knocking them off their feet. Each guard received a kick to the face by Katara, Sokka, and Suki, knocking them all out.
Aang saw his friends ganging up on the three guards he was fending off, hitting one with water and a club while hitting another with rock and war fans. They allowed Aang to focus on the third guard, and he used a strong wind and an earthbened rock to hit the guard's spear and yank it out of his hands. But then the guard charged at Aang with both fists raised for hand to hand combat, and Aang instinctively reacted by punching the air between them…
…and punched a fireball at the guard.
"Uh Oh," Aang muttered, realizing that the eclipse was over.
Fire Lord Ozai saw the last guard fall beside his seat, brought down by Aang's fireball. Ozai calmly set down his tea and stood up, ready to join the battle now that firebending was back. "My turn," Ozai said.
In one swift circular motion of his arms Ozai charged a bolt of lightning, firing it much faster than either of his children could manage. Aang only had a split second to react to the lightning aimed at his heart, and he instinctively jumped out of the way. The lightning hit the wall behind the spot Aang used to be, exploding on impact and blowing a hole in the wall. Ozai quickly charged and fired another bolt of lightning, aimed at the spot Aang was leaping into.
A last second water whip from Katara saved Aang's life, as she wrapped it around Aang's waist and pulled him out of the lightning's path. But another lightning bolt quickly followed, and there was only a second for Toph to block it by bending rock up from the floor into a wall. Heat from lava below escaped while Toph earthbended the floor, releasing steam into the bunker while Ozai's lightning destroyed the rock wall.
The steam in the bunker coalesced as Katara waterbended it into shards of ice, hurling them at Ozai. With a casual wave of his hand Ozai created enough fire to melt all of Katara's ice, and followed that move by charging another lightning bolt. At the last moment before firing Ozai changed his target, seeing Sokka throw his boomerang. Ozai's lightning hit Sokka's boomerang in midair, exploding on contact and obliterating the weapon.
"My Boomerang!" Sokka screamed.
Another lightning bolt was aimed at Sokka's heart, only missing when Suki tackled Sokka to get him out of the way. The missed lightning hit the wall and blew it apart, showing Suki and Sokka in rubble while Ozai charged another lightning bolt. Sokka thought he was going to join his boomerang, but was yanked out of the way with Suki by one of Katara's water whips. That lightning bolt hit the floor where they used to be, blowing it apart and creating a crater in the floor.
At the bottom of the crater the rock cracked and split apart, allowing molten rock to seep through and fill the bunker with choking heat and more steam. Aang tried to earthbend the lava into an attack, but the molten rock poured out of the shape that Aang tried to make. Realizing that conventional earthbending wouldn't work properly on molten rock, Aang applied waterbending techniques to his earthbending. He made the lava flow into the space in front of Ozai, creating a wall of molten rock to block more lightning.
Before anyone could be cooked alive Toph earthbended the lava still in the crater, trying to make it stay in one place. Toph held the earthbending long enough for the lava to cool and harden into new igneous rock, and she was protected from Ozai's lightning by Aang's lava wall. The lava wall absorbed every lightning attack that hit it, channeling the energy into additional heat and keeping the rock molten. And then Aang bent the lava towards Ozai, shaping it into a dome that enveloped the Fire Lord.
But when the lava dome was in place Ozai started firebending heat out of it, forcing the lava to cool into solid rock while compressing the heat in between his hands. Once the some was completely solid Ozai released the stolen heat in one forward thrust of his hands, supercharging his firebending into one large explosion. That attack demolished half of the dome and sent shrapnel across the bunker, spraying rock everywhere.
Right after the explosion Aang airbended as much wind as he could muster in the small space, hurling it all at Ozai. The wind hit Ozai head on and blew him into the remaining half of the rock dome, breaking it apart before Ozai slammed against the far wall. Aang charged in and earthbended the far wall, creating rock bonds that seized Ozai's arms and legs. Only Ozai's head and chest were left exposed, sealing the rest of him in rock.
Aang closed the distance between him and Ozai, getting up close for a finishing blow. He put one hand on Ozai's chest and pulled back a fist, about to use firebending to finish the Fire Lord. Ozai looked Aang in the eye, realizing that this was the end. Aang steadied himself and focused for firebending, telling himself that he had to kill.
But then Aang's fist dropped.
"I can't do it," Aang said, backing away from Ozai. Killing was an act that was against what he stood for, against what it meant to be an Air Nomad. "I can't kill him."
Sokka picked up a dropped spear and walked up to Aang. "Then I will," Sokka said, and he plunged the spear into Ozai's chest.
There was a moment of silence as Fire Lord Ozai died, as Sokka's friends were shocked at him taking the matter out of Aang's hands. Sokka had no regrets, as Ozai had to die. It didn't matter to him who killed the Fire Lord, as long as it happened. Sokka believed they could just lie about who killed Ozai later, give the credit to Aang so that he might restore balance.
Suddenly a door in the bunker's side wall opened, prompting Sokka to let go of the spear and back away with Aang. On the other side of the opening door was Prince Zuko, along with a squad of soldiers. Zuko saw the spear in his father's chest, and that the throne was now vacant. He drew his swords and set them ablaze with firebending, and pointed one of them at Aang.
"Avatar Aang assassinated my father!" Zuko declared. His squad of soldiers assumed firebending stances. "Kill the Avatar!"
"Time to bail!" Sokka yelled.
"We can take them!" Toph yelled back.
"There's no time for that!" Suki yelled. "We need to get out of here."
All of the soldiers started throwing fire into the bunker, filling the air with flame. Aang earthbended as much loose rock he could find into a new wall, shielding himself and his friends from the fire. "Let's find Haru and get back to Appa."
On the surface Haru was busy fending off Fire Nation soldiers by the dozen, back on the rampage in his cobblestone titan. When the eclipse had started Haru repaired his titan with new stone, replacing the arms that Azula had destroyed. During the eclipse the firebenders on the ground had fled, along with some of the nonbender soldiers. Haru saw Azula retreat into the palace, losing sight of her once she was inside its walls.
By the time the eclipse was over the palace courtyard was completely empty, except for Haru in his titan. He made the titan walk back to the open gates so he could look at the city, checking for a quick escape route. Haru saw a road that was a straight line to the south, a perfect shortcut on the way back to Appa. But he also saw Fire Nation tanks driving through the city's roads, on course to trap him in the courtyard. Haru just needed to stay alive long enough for Toph's feet to find him.
As if on cue the ground next to the palace split apart, making room for a rising column of black volcanic rock. Haru saw Toph in the middle surrounded by the others, guessing that they had either succeeded or completely failed. Opening his jaw Haru let earthbend the stone covering most of his face, making it easier to talk.
"Did it work?" Haru asked.
"Yes," Sokka answered. "Now let's get going while the going's good."
Suki peeked through the open gates, seeing the danger up ahead. "Guys, we've got tanks headed our way."
"No problem," Toph said. She earthbended the volcanic rock she had used to reach the surface, covering herself in enough of it to create her twenty foot tall golem. Being made of volcanic rock made the golem black and spiky this time, contrasting with Haru's stone and smooth titan.
Together Haru and Toph charged through the open gates and towards the tanks, taking large strides that let them move faster than the tanks could drive. They ran right into the line of tanks, smashing the tanks directly in their way and tossing aside the tanks on the sides. More tanks kept coming, and soldiers inside them started shooting fire at Haru and Toph. The firebending only slowed them down, but Haru and Toph were in a hurry.
While blocking fire with one stone arm, Haru looked at Toph. "I think we should try that new trick you wanted to use," Haru suggested.
"Let's do it," Toph said. She made her golem's arms slam against the ground, supporting the weight while the legs earthbended into the torso. The hands turned into feet, the arms morphed into larger legs, and the torso became a bigger waist with Toph inside.
Haru made his titan jump above Toph, earthbending it into a new shape at the same time. The arms retracted into the torso, while the legs moved up to where the shoulders used to be. The feet became hands, the legs turned into larger arms, and the torso became a bigger chest with Haru inside. Haru's titan landed on top of Toph's golem, fusing together at the hip into a thirty-five foot tall goliath.
Towering over the tanks the goliath went to work, kicking them out of the way like small toys. Haru's head was inside a much larger stone helmet at the top of the goliath, now having a much better view of the city. Toph's feet saw everything within half a mile of the goliath, her sight amplified by huge vibrations the goliath made with each step. Both sent signals through the rock to coordinate their earthbending, and used it to make the goliath reach down to pick up a tank and throw it into tanks further down the road.
The few tanks that survived the goliath's rampage were dealt with by Aang and Katara, both using waterbending to attack the drivers through the holes used for firebending attacks. Sokka and Suki followed close behind, all four of them trying to keep up with the half-stone half-rock goliath. In minutes they all reached the southern end of the caldera, where the goliath was tall enough to reach up and grab onto the caldera's rim.
One at a time they climbed up the goliath, with Aang going first to earthbend hand and footholds for the others. When all four of them were out of the city they saw the goliath climb out as well, taking a couple of minutes due to its size. Once the goliath was out of the caldera it appeared to be a cakewalk to reach Appa, but then they all heard a distinctive sound.
They heard the roar of a sky bison.
"Appa?" Aang questioned, looking for his sky bison in the southern sky. But the roar hadn't come from the south, but from the northeast.
"Um… Aang?" Katara muttered, staring at the northeastern sky.
When Aang turned to the northeast he heard another roar, followed by another and another. "No… Oh Spirits No!"
A dozen sky bison were in the air flying towards the capital, each a brand new metal saddle bearing the Fire Nation insignia. These sky bison were a slightly different breed than Appa, having more curves in their horns and extra points along the colored fur that resembled an arrow. In the saddles of these sky bison were firebenders, and the lead sky bison carried the princess's two best friends.
From the air Mai looked down at the capital, noticing the earthbended goliath on the rim of the caldera. "There," Mai said, pointed at the goliath. "Attack."
Next to Mai and holding onto a set of reins, Ty Lee steered her sky bison towards the caldera. "Anya, yip yip."
On the ground Suki was the first to snap out of the shock of seeing the Fire Nation with sky bison. "Run!"
Haru and Toph each got the same idea for getting to Appa in a hurry, signaling to each other what earthbending they had in mind. The goliath made a small jump and was earthbended into a new shape, its legs fusing together into a plow and its arm merging with the chest into a sled. The others jumped onto the sled portion as the whole thing hit the ground, before it started sliding down the steep side of the volcano.
Sliding down the volcano only took a few minutes, impeded by a few barricades ringing the slopes. Toph's volcanic plow broke through the barricades in the way, while Haru's stone sled shielded the others from flying debris. When they reached the bottom Toph and Haru earthbended their stone back into the goliath shape, which put Suki and Sokka on the goliath's left shoulder while Aang and Katara ended up on the right shoulder.
A small hole opened in the goliath's hip, revealing Toph's mouth. "What's going on up there?" Toph asked, having no idea what had everyone else so worried.
"Sky bison, plural," Sokka yelled down.
"Ah, that's bad," Toph said, and she refocused her efforts on making the goliath run south.
There were Fire Nation soldiers and tanks on the terrain between the goliath and the southern coastline, but no one on the goliath bothered to fight them. The goliath's size and long strides let it run faster than firebenders could anticipate, and it got in and out of firebending range too quickly for the firebenders to target the passengers. In just a few minutes the goliath crossed the distance between the volcano and the southern coast, getting there while the sky bison were still over the base of the volcano.
When the goliath reached the coast Toph made her half sink into the ground, bringing her friends low enough for them to jump off and safely land on the ground. After his friends were off Haru shed his half of the goliath, having no more use for it. Toph got herself back out of the ground while leaving her half of the goliath in the ground, as it was now dead weight.
"Toph, where's Appa?" Aang asked, remembering that they had left Appa underground.
"Over there," Toph said, pointing towards the ground a dozen feet to the west. She ran over to the spot and stopped a few feet from the edge of the cliffs. Toph stomped her foot on the ground to earthbend wide cracks in the rock, making it break apart in a wide landslide.
As the rock fell into the sea it exposed the tunnel they had used to infiltrate the island, where Appa had been waiting the entire time. Immediately Appa flew out of the tunnel into open air, racing for the sky after being confined for so long. Once he ascended beyond the top of the cliff Appa saw Aang and the others, and he landed to pick them up.
Everyone climbed into Appa saddle, while Aang took the reins. "Appa, yip yip, yip yip as hard as you can yip!"
Appa took off with surprising speed, soaring into the sky like a rocket. At first he flew to the east, the direction that Aang wanted him to go. But then Appa saw and heard the other sky bison in the air, a sight and sound that he hadn't seen or heard since before getting frozen for a century. Appa instinctively turned towards the other sky bison, missing the companionship of his own kind.
"No Appa, don't go that way!" Aang yelled. He pulled on the reins harder, but Appa kept flying where he wanted to go.
From the other sky bison Mai saw Appa's approach, wondering what clever plan the Avatar was trying to pull off. "He's either really smart or really stupid," Mai commented. With a hand signal she ordered the firebenders on the other bison to attack, and they answered the order with a barrage of fireballs.
The firebending barrage convinced Appa to veer off his course, heading for a lower altitude. The other sky bison didn't care that a sky bison was being attacked, as Appa was not a member of their herd. Appa swerved back and forth in the air, avoiding most of the fireballs aimed at him. A few of them would have hit, if Aang hadn't let go of the reins and blocked the fireballs with airbending.
"Take the reins!" Aang yelled, not caring which of his friends took them. He focused on blocking or diverting enemy firebending, using both air and fire to do it.
Suki took hold of Appa's reins and pulled on them, trying to make Appa go east. This time Appa complied, understanding that the other sky bison were hostile. Appa twisted and turned in the air to avoid more firebending, even as the other sky bison started to encircle him. But Appa slipped out of the firebending barrage, and started to put some distance between him and the other sky bison.
Watching Appa get smaller with distance, Mai glanced at Ty Lee. "They're getting away. Make this bison go faster."
"She's tired," Ty Lee said, patting Anya's head. "We've been flying for days, their bison looks rested."
Mai clenched a fist for a moment, knowing that Zuko and Azula would not be happy about this. "Let them go, we can't risk the bison falling asleep in the air."
From Appa's saddle Katara saw the other sky bison stop in midair and turn around. "They're not following us."
"Good," Haru said, watching the other bison descend towards the palace.
"But where did they come from?" Sokka asked. He turned towards Aang, who had just sat down in the saddle. "I thought Appa was the only sky bison left."
"That we knew of," Aang muttered.
"Aang, is there something you're not telling us?" Suki asked, currently steering Appa over the sea around the island.
Aang looked away from his friends, not wanting to admit his fears. But he owed his friends an explanation. "It's… possible, that the Fire Nation missed the wild sky bison a hundred years ago," Aang admitted. "But I don't know how they could have found them now."
One at a time the sky bison landed right outside the palace's front doors, allowing Mai and Ty Lee to jump off Anya onto the ground. Soldiers reclaiming the area were hesitant around the beasts, even if they had the Fire Nation insignia. Several sky bison went to sleep after landing, exhausted from their journey all the way from wilderness near the Northern Air Temple.
The palace's front doors opened and Princess Azula walked outside, smiling at the sight of Fire Nation sky bison. Azula walked until she saw her friends, stopping next to Mai and Ty Lee. "Excellent work," Azula said.
"They were right where those texts said they'd be," Mai said.
"And friendly enough," Ty Lee added.
Azula took a glance upward to see Appa as a white speck on the blue sky, but that didn't matter. "It seems that Air Nomad Aang served the Fire Nation well."
"I'm sure your dad will be pleased," Ty Lee said.
As if on cue a bearer of bad news arrived, which was a Fire Sage slowly walking out of the palace. His somber expression killed the victorious mood Azula was in, which only got worse when the Sage spoke. "Princess, I'm sorry. Fire Lord Ozai is dead."
Silence echoed in the palace courtyard, as no one dared to speak before Azula could take in the bad news. Nearly everyone expected her to kill the messenger on the spot, including the Sage. Instead she took slow steps towards the palace, not letting any emotion show. "I want to be alone right now," Azula whispered as she walked past the sage.
When Azula crossed through the open doorway she saw Zuko walking the other way, neither of them looked each other in the eye. But Azula did notice that Zuko was carrying their father's crown, the simple flame shaped metal headpiece. Azula stopped just inside the palace and listened, hearing her brother stop walking just outside. And then she heard the Sage speak to everyone outside.
"All Hail Fire Lord Zuko."