Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender.
Water, earth, fire, air... Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony. Then, everything changed when the fire nation attacked. Only the Avatar, master of all four elements, could stop them. But when the world needed him most, he vanished.
A hundred years passed and the new Avatar, an air bender named Aang, was discovered. Now travelling by his side are Katara and Sokka of the Southern Water Tribe, and Ashlynn... An ex-member of the Fire nation, and Prince Zuko's lifelong companion...
Ashlynn yawned out of extreme boredom as she listened to a campfire story about air nomads. What she heard she'd already heard multiple times before. Katara and Aang were the two thoroughly fascinated, while Sokka and Ashlynn were on the verge of collapsing into a deep slumber.
The group had willingly taken a break from flying the day before, and continued travelling on foot. While walking on foot, they came across other travelers who were out hiking for the sake of hiking. So, they took up joining them in their hike, and at night they camped out around a large fire and listened to stories.
When the elder man finished his tale about his sighting of the air nomads, Aang eagerly went to applaud the storyteller. "It must have been a hundred years ago since they were spotted," he told the man in awe. The man gave him a bewildered look, and responded "What are you crazy? They were spotted just the other week."
Aang's eyes widened at the idea, and immediately asked where at. The man proceeded to tell him they were seen at the Northern Air Temple.
"We got to go check it out!"Aang declared excitedly. Ashlynn sighed heavily, knowing that whatever was at the temple wasn't an air nomad, like Aang was expecting them to be.
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Aang, Ashlynn, Katara, and Sokka departed from the weary travelers in the morning, and flew off on Appa in the direction of the Northern Air Temple. Naturally, Katara was more than pleased to go on a short detour of a legendary location; Sokka and Ashlynn, on the other hand, weren't so enthusiastic.
"This is ridiculous. We're so close to the Northern Water Tribe, so why are we stopping to check out something that isn't what the both of you think it could be," Sokka muttered bitterly, nearly tripping over his own string of jumbled words. "You don't think it's worth checking out?"Aang asked curiously.
"No, I don't. Ashlynn doesn't either, despite what she's making each of you think," Sokka replied nastily and shot Ashlynn a disappointed look. She frowned at him slightly, then locked onto Aang's face and nodded her agreement. "If there are air nomads though..." Aang trailed off into contemplative silence.
"Aang, there won't be," Ashlynn reluctantly announced to him.
"Then tell me, what do you think THAT is?" Katara spoke abruptly and pointed to the distance ahead of them. Aang and Ashlynn both gasped in surprise and disbelief.
The mountain ahead of them beheld the temple, but that wasn't what had them in shock. Rather, it was the fact that it seemed like there were people with gliders like Aang's flying all around the temple. "Air benders!" Katara grinned and clapped her hands together in glee.
Aang sat back and frowned. "No, they aren't air benders..." he said, annoyed."They're flying though," Sokka responded, confused.
"They aren't air bending though," Ashlynn told her companions. She realized what Aang saw: they were ordinary humans who had built gliders meant for those who weren't air benders.
A kid who looked to be around Aang's age flew right over them, laughing all the while. He was seated in a wheel chair, which had the fans of a glider attached to them. He was disabled, clearly, but that didn't stop him from enjoying fun that the rest of his people had.
Aang jumped off Appa with his own glider, more than prepared to show off the art of true air-bending. Meanwhile, Appa continued to fly towards the temple to safe ground. As they neared the temple, more and more humans on gliders began to circle them, obviously interested in their appearance there. The people of the temple landed with them, and everyone gathered around to watch the 'gliding duel' between the disabled boy and Aang.
Ashlynn managed to pick up the boy's name from the crowd that cheered him on. His name was Teo, and he was probably the best glider amongst the people, despite his disadvantage.
When both boys had had their fun, they landed on the surface of the temple nearest the larger crowd. Aang loyally paced back over to the sides of his companions, and watched the young boy, Teo, as his glider was removed from his wheel chair. Then, he rolled his way over to congratulate Aang on his flying success.
"You're a... real air bender!" Teo exclaimed excitedly as he recognized the tattoos on Aang's skin. "Not JUST an air bender, but the Avatar," Ashlynn stated happily. "That's amazing!" Teo gasped.
Aang grinned and nodded his thanks. Sokka interrupted the moment as he expressed his fascination for the gliders and how they worked. "If you think these are cool, you should check out everything else my father makes. He's a genius," Teo smiled up at Sokka. Then, he reeled around and made his way towards the interior of the temple.
Sokka gasped with amazement as he took in the sight of the inside of the ancient temple. Naturally, beauty was in the eye of the beholder, and Sokka indeed deemed the temple beautiful. Ashlynn and Aang, on the other hand, frowned with severe disappointment as they laid their eyes upon the many iron tubes busting between walls. The stone walls were ancient, and crumbling, yet still managed to support the weight of so many weighty hollowed mechanized tubes. There were cracks in the walls from the weight, and still it held out.
"My dad is the mastermind behind this work of art. He had the idea of using hot air, so that's how we get in and around this place," Teo explained. "This place is... unbelievable..." Aang sighed sadly. "Yeah, it's great huh?" Teo grinned back.
"No..." Aang muttered bitterly. "Simply unbelievable," Ashlynn followed.
"Well... not the entire temple is like this. Come on, I'll show you," Teo said, and proceeded to continue down a narrow hallway. The group followed him through the hallway, which extended to a stone bridge outside the walls. They followed him across the aged bridge into a courtyard. The courtyard is what hadn't been touched by machinery yet.
Aang grinned as he admired the age-old circular terrace.
It was built with white marble, although it had faded to an elder yellow color. There were statues of air nomads in-between pillars. Aang went up to a statue to have a closer look at it. "It's so nice knowing this section hasn't been destroyed yet," he smiled gratefully.
Almost as soon as he spoke, a loud crash was heard from before them. Ashlynn cried out and blocked her eyesight with an arm in natural reflex. She coughed from the forming dust and dirt, and then attempted to peer through the forming dirt clouds.
Before them no longer stood the statue- Instead, a group of men lead by one man who could be no one other than Teo's father stood in its place. "You people should be more careful! Don't you know better than to keep away from our construction zones? We're trying to build the bath house!" the head man scolded.
Aang quivered with anger, and shouted out at the man unexpectedly. "You just destroyed a sacred area for a stupid bath house!" In rash frustration, Aang sent a gust of wind past Teo's father and his construction men, forcing it to strike the catapult behind them, sending it off the cliffside into the mountainous abyss beneath them.
Teo's father merely stared at Aang curiously. "I've seen it when the monks were here, and I know what it's supposed to be like!" Aang shouted up at Teo's father.
"The monks?" Teo's father queried. "Dad, he's the Avatar!" Teo explained excitedly to his father as he moved his wheelchair to his side. "You shouldn't even be here. Why are any of you even here?!" Aang cried out in rage.
"Doing here...? Well..." Teo's father began. "Not too long ago, when Teo was an infant, I and my people were all refugees. We suffered from a terrible flood, in which my wife died... and Teo was... badly injured..." he retold with dismal distress. Aang lowered his staff for a moment as he felt remorse for the older man.
"I... needed somewhere to rebuild. Then, I found this place! I couldn't believe my own eyes; there were pictures of flying people all about these walls. I stumbled across the abandoned gliders, which gave me a wonderful idea... So, I created a new life for my son, a life where he'd be able to fly, unlike any mortal can do!" he finished gleefully.
"I think you went too far with it," Aang muttered. Teo's father took what he said into consideration a moment, but then gasped as he realized he still had other activities to attend to. He offered for them to follow him; Sokka did very eagerly. Aang didn't move, and Katara and Ashlynn stuck by his side, as did Teo.
"Aang, there's something I want to show you," Teo said with a small smile. Aang gave him a forced half-smile, and nodded, indicating he was ready to be led onward. Teo turned his rolling chair about, and began to head down a nearby tunnel. Aang, Katara, and Ashlynn followed without hesitation.
"I can't believe that nothing here is the same..." Aang murmured quietly. "The animals here are probably direct descendants of the one's you've known one hundred years ago. Those haven't changed," Teo told him reassuringly. The idea that at least the critters were the same seemed to cheer Aang up slightly.
"Besides, there's one place I know for sure hasn't changed. Come on, let's go!" Teo grinned, and quickened the pace down the hall. Aang, Katara, and Ashlynn ran after him. They ran around a corner, down another hall, and around another corner that led them straight to a final hallway. If Teo had meant the hallway hadn't changed, he'd be correct, for every air nomad painting on the walls about them was still intact.
Yet, what Teo had meant was at the end of the hallway.
"Aang... It's just like the one at the Southern Air Temple!" Katara exclaimed. Sure enough, at the end of the hallway, awaited another giant door with tubes that would guide air through them to unlock the doors, similar to that of the one at the first air temple they'd been to.
"Only an air bender can open this door, so whatever happens to be inside hasn't been touched by anyone here," Teo grinned. "I'm sorry... I'm sure you want to know what's beyond that door, but... It's the only part of the temple that hasn't been touched. I'd like it to stay that way," Aang said solemnly. Teo nodded with understanding. Then, they all turned around and slowly walked back through the long and preserved hallway.
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Back outside in the main portion of the temple, Teo made the suggestion of showing Katara and Ashlynn how to use one of their glider's. "It's really not all that terrifying once you get used to it. You don't even have to do much work, because it's the air that's carrying you around," Teo explained as he guided them to two unused gliders.
Ashlynn picked hers up, and guided it to a proper place to jump off of. She gulped as she looked downward into the nothingness below. She exhaled deeply as she grasped the bars in front of her, making sure that the fans of the glider were above her, and that her feet were firmly planted on the ground beneath her as well.
"Just do it; trust the air, it'll take care of you," Teo told both her and Katara. Katara looked to be twice as terrified as Ashlynn, however. Ashlynn grinned over at her friends. "Come on Katara, let's go!" she said loudly, and then jumped right off over the edge.
She screamed at first, as did Katara when she jumped. The air rushing past her dried out her eyes slightly, and all she envisioned was a continuous fall to the death below. Then, as if to cure her of her growing fear, a wind began to blow that carried her high up into the sky. That was when her terrified screams turned into joyous laughing.
"I've never felt so... free!" she shouted over the winds at Katara, and Aang as they flew about her. "This is so incredible!" Katara shouted back. Aang grinned at them both, and made a comment about how spirited Teo was, given his disability. Aang then landed back on the surface next to Teo to speak to him. Katara and Ashlynn, however, remained in the air longer, unwilling to land just yet.
The air carried them up, down, back and forth; all directions. Ashlynn never stopped smiling, and even laughed more when Katara swallowed a bug.
"Guys come down! I'm going to open that air door!" Aang shouted up at them. "How exactly do I land?!" Katara shouted back desperately. "Watch me Katara!" Ashlynn yelled back, hoping to see if she was capable of landing without instruction.
She veered her glider downwards towards the surface. Yet, as she did so, a strong gust of wind blew into her, and the fan of her glider began to shred as it did so. As it tore, the glider began to dive downward towards the stone floor yards beneath her. She screamed as her fears became more and more realistic as she got closer and closer to her death. Ashlynn released her hold on the damaged glider and let it fly away from her, and she instinctively shot her arms out beneath her.
Then, suddenly, she was okay. She blinked in surprise as she realized the cool surface was directly under her body, and her stomach was laying atop the arms that she had shot out in front of her.
"Ashlynn, what'd you---?" Aang gasped as he ran over to her.
"I... what... What happened?" she gasped as she sat up."Did you break my fall with air bending?" she asked Aang as she looked up at him. His eyes widened as he shook his head at her.
"Ashlynn... Did you just... air bend?" Teo asked in shock. "What? Of course not!" she spat in annoyance. "Yeah, she's not an air bender," Aang frowned.
"See, watch," Ashlynn said, and envisioned shooting a gust of air out in front of her. As expected, nothing occurred.
"Ashlynn!!!" came Katara's worried voice. Clearly, she'd had a much safer landing that Ashlynn. "You're alive?! How?" Katara gasped as she realized Ashlynn was awake and well.
"I'm telling you, she air bended to break her fall! How else could she survive?" Teo argued. Katara gaped at Ashlynn. "No, she can't air bend you guys, she just tried. Besides, that'd be impossible, think about it," Aang said bitterly.
"Alright guys I don't think it matters. I'm alive; let's not worry about how it happened. I'm sure Aang just air bended me to safety without thinking of it. Now, let's go see that air door," Ashlynn said while getting up and brushing the dirt off her clothes. Everyone gave her a worried, but intrigued look, and then turned back to head towards the unopened door.
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Ashlynn was thankful that the idea of seeing what was beyond the sacred door distracted the minds of her companions. She didn't want them accusing her of being something she wasn't; something so illogical that it shouldn't even be a suggestion.
"I can't believe I'm finally going to get to see what's beyond this door!" Teo said with exhilarated excitement. "You guys ready for this?" Aang said teasingly, and everyone eagerly nodded. So, he proceeded to send a gust of wind through the pipes to unlock the ancient door.
What was beyond the door was enough to even distract Ashlynn from the day's earlier events.
"Oh no..." Aang whispered with disbelief. The room was littered with the symbol of the fire nation. Everywhere there was machinery, clearly meant for the creation of something.
Sure enough, the 'creation' lay at the back of the room. It looked like a massive balloon, half hidden by a massive blanket, but still visible enough to see the apparent fire nation symbol striking out at their bewildered eyesight.
"You don't understand!" came the voice of Teo's father from behind them. Aang angrily turned around a pointed a finger at the inventor. "You're making weapons for the fire nation!" he accused correctly. Right next to the man's side was Sokka, who apparently had been with the man all day. Even still, Sokka shouted back at him in anger. "You... make weapons for the fire nation!?" he cried out with fury.
"Explain this, father!" Teo shouted. The man lowered his head in shame as he retold the events leading up to the current nightmare.
"About a year after we moved here... The fire nation came... They threatened to destroy everything we had here. I begged them not to, but they wouldn't listen! The only way to get them to leave us alone was to... offer my services. Please understand, son, I did it for you!" Teo's father cried out desperately to his son, whose spirit had been shattered in minutes.
Teo's face quivered with disappointment, and anger, and he turned from his father's view.
"When are they coming?" Aang demanded. "Soon... very soon," the man said quietly.
"Don't give them anymore weapons!" Ashlynn cried out, hoping he would listen to reason. "If I don't... They'll destroy this place and everything I've worked so hard on..." he responded in an almost cowardly way.
"I can't be proud of you if you're using your talent to make inventions that are being used for murder," Teo frowned at his father. His father sighed, and begged they give him some time to think on the matter. "We're not leaving," Teo stated firmly. His father sighed, and then requested that they go with him back to the room where he worked on smaller inventions.
As they each entered the room, a little bell began to ring. Teo's father gasped, and quietly said "Hide! They're here, and they can't see you!"
In an unprofessional manner, everyone aside Teo's father hid as best as they could within the confinements of the small room. Then, when everyone was well hidden, Teo's dad granted passageway to the fire nation member who had come to collect what was owed to him. "Alright, hand it over," the man demanded. Teo's father hesitated, and glanced at Aang and Teo. "Right... this way," he sighed, and pointed towards the open door. When the fire nation man made a move to depart through the door, Aang jumped out to confront him.
"The deal is off," Aang declared courageously.
"The Avatar!" the fire nation man gasped, and for a moment he looked slightly surprised and even scared. Then, he regained his former posture and demanded that he was given the weapons he had come to collect. Aang demanded he left, and the man said "If you won't give me what I want, then this temple will burn. And, it'll be on YOUR head, young Avatar," he sneered, and turned around and exited.
"Come on, we got to hurry and prepare," Ashlynn said as she crawled out from her hiding place. Teo's father nodded in agreement, and together everyone ran to meet up with the rest of the temple's inhabitants.
"How are we supposed to stop a whole army of them?" Teo's father groaned in frustration. "We have air power, and they don't. Let's use it to our advantage," Aang grinned deviously.
With that idea in mind, the group set out to prepare a Hot-Air Balloon for flight, which would be an even larger advantage since the Fire Nation hadn't got their hands onone yet. Using the balloon and the gliding people, they would drop smoke bombs, stink bombs, and other bombs upon the fire nation as they paraded up the mountainside.
Sokka and Teo's father scurried off to get the balloon working, while everyone else prepared smaller bombs and got the gliders ready for use. Everything aside the balloon was ready when one of the look out's announced the arrival of the fire nation. "How can we do this without Sokka and the balloon?" Katara pondered worriedly. "We can start without him," Aang said, and mounted Appa. The designated flyers mounted their gliders as he did this. Ashlynn was one of them.
Together, everyone flyer ran off the cliffside and flew together in the direction of the soldiers that were marching up the snowy mountain. When the fire nation was in clear view, each flyer steered their glider downward. Ashlynn did the same, and prepared to drop one of the bomb sacks she'd been given.
She held on with one hand as she grasped one of the satchels with the other. Every fire nation soldier within eyesight was staring up at the flying defenders, yet they merely stood in bewilderment, instead of fighting back right away. When a soldier was in Ashlynn's clear view she chucked the bomb at him, and hit him square in the face. Before any of the soldiers' could attack back she guided her glider upwards to safety.
Diving in for an attack and then gliding upwards to safety became an effective strategy that each flyer learned to execute flawlessly. Aang had joined them with his gliders, and left Appa with Katara. Together, Appa and Katara remained hovered in the air, and supplied the fighters with more bombs as they ran out. The free-flying people cheered as they got the fire nation soldiers to break out into a runback down the mountain. Yet, that was not all to come.
Just as things seemed to be looking better, grappling hooks shot up from underneath the clouds and latched on to one of the more higher ledges of the mountainside. Ashlynn groaned when she dove beneath the clouds and saw that the chains were attached to mechanized fire nation vehicles. They would be more difficult to take down with small bombs. Yet, the gliding members of the temple tried valiantly to knock down what they could. As expected, however, it wasn't enough.
Ashlynn flew with her fellow fighters down the mountain to see what else was on their way. To her disbelief, more and more vehicles were on their way towards the mountain. Together, they threw more and more bombs on the machines, trying to slow their steady crawl up the snowed-over earth.
Eventually, Katara and Appa landed on the cliffside with Aang, and they worked together to try and stop the vehicles as well. They succeeded... slightly. Even when they managed to knock out several machines, there were dozens more to take its place.
"This isn't working, we need that balloon!" Ashlynn shouted to them as they retreated on Appa's back. "We're out of bombs, too," Teo shouted over to them as he glided by. "So... Sokka is our only hope," Ashlynn said quietly, and together they all looked out for the balloon that would determine the fate of the legendary temple.
"There it is!" Aang shouted suddenly, and pointed towards the temple. Sure enough, a giant war balloon with the fire nation insignia began to slowly float past them. It had three large satchels attached to its bottom, clearly showing it was well equipped with the necessary bombs.
Ashlynn and her companions watched with hope as the balloon floated down the mountainside and dropped one large bomb on the machinery below. A second bomb was dropped, and then a third. Unfortunately, it was still not enough.
"No... We failed..." Ashlynn whispered, her voice quivering. Katara put a hand on her shoulder for comfort as they watched the vehicles continue their ascent up the cliffside.
"Wait, what are they doing?" Aang asked, breaking the silence. Ashlynn looked over to the war balloon, and saw they were trying to toss the piece of machinery in it over the side into a large crevice below. "Wait; isn't that what's keeping them hoisted in the air?" Katara questioned. Ashlynn gulped, and said "Then that means---"
Then, a massive explosion went off. How it happened, Ashlynn didn't know. She screamed as thick, black smoke rose upward from where the crevice used to be. She covered her eyes and waited for the haze to clear. When it did, she saw the explosion had widened the crevice, creating a massive gap between the temple and the mountain. The fire nation had no choice but to retreat.
Everyone cheered as they acknowledged their victory. Everyone that is, except for Sokka and Teo's father.
"We're going down!" came Sokka's voice from the balloon that was falling down the massive gap at a hastened speed. "Sokka!" Katara and Ashlynn cried out together. Aang quickly opened his glider, and began to descend down the mountain to save the two men. Ashlynn mounted her own glider and followed, leaving Katara and Appa behind.
"Ashlynn, go back!" Aang shouted over at her. "I can help!" she cried back. "No! The only way to save them would be to carry them back on the glider, and a wind won't be strong enough to carry two people unless an air bender like me creates a stronger gust. You'll just plummet below," Aang shouted back as he veered downward towards the balloon. Ashlynn grunted, disagreeing wholeheartedly, and followed.
The two of them flew past the balloon, and without giving orders both men jumped from the balloon onto the gliders. Teo's father grabbed a hold on Aang's ankles, while Sokka grasped the backend bars of Ashlynn's glider. Ashlynn watched as Aang flew upwards with Teo's father, and she pointed her glider upward so it caught the wind flowing by.
"You're crazy Ash, you've killed us both!" Sokka cried from behind her. "No! We aren't dying today, my friend," she shouted back. Just as she intended, the glider successfully caught the wind current and flew upwards towards the stone flooring of the temple above.
When they hovered several feet above the safe ground the wind current dropped, and Ashlynn's glider fell with it. Ashlynn and Sokka collapsed on the ground near the forming crowd on the temple floor. Luckily, the impact was not hard enough to leave more than a few bruises.
"You really are crazy, Ash," Ashlynn heard Sokka say from nearby. She sat up and gasped in surprise as Sokka wrapped his arms around her in a warm hug. She hesitated, and then hugged him back. "Thanks for the rescue," he said when they pulled apart. She nodded with a half smile in return.
"Aang," Sokka said as he stood up. He grasped Ashlynn's hand and pulled her up next to him. "You were right about air power. With the air on our side, we'll always have the fire nation on the run!" Sokka declared triumphantly, and the crowd around them roared with applause and many thankful comments to the group that had saved their temple from certain destruction.
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"I feel like we accomplished so much today," Aang said.
It was early evening, and the group had left Teo, his father, and their people behind only a few hours before. Appa now flew over the remainder of the snow-covered mountains surrounding the temple's location.
"You said it! Besides, I feel like such a genius. That mechanic and I came up with plenty brilliant ideas," Sokka announced proudly.
Ashlynn sat in one corner of Appa's saddle, half ignoring the ongoing conversation. She was more interested in the sudden random events that had occurred previously.
You've got to be an air bender!
Ashlynn frowned as she recalled Teo's absurd comments. Yet, she couldn't help but wonder...
Ashlynn held an open hand out before her, facing her palm out towards her companions in front of her. None of them appeared to notice, so she proceeded to inhale deeply. Then, she imagined sending air out through her palm and her fingertips. She exhaled, and then gasped.
"What was that?!" Aang shouted as he looked directly at Ashlynn.
"I think I just... shot air out my hand!" Ashlynn exclaimed with pure shock.
"I'll say; I felt that fly right past my ear!" Katara said, nearly choking upon her own words. "Do it again, Ash," Sokka demanded quietly, in a very dark tone.
Ashlynn watched for herself this time, and watched as the visible wind flew from her hand past Katara's face again. She froze, and stared at her outstretched hand that had suddenly performed such a magical effect.
"Ashlynn..." Aang muttered with disbelief.
"You're an air bender!"