AMS

This is going to be a long chapter since this is part 1 of the finale

FIREBENDING 101

It was a little more crowded in Zaofu more than last time. Zaofu already has metalbenders living in it and now it has earthbenders from Omashu, firebenders from the Fire Nation, airbenders from the Air Nation, and it has Quey, his family, and friends. Due to the crowding, Quey has to share a room with Iroh.

"At least I got to choose who I want my roommate to be," thought Quey, sighing.

His family had been real kind as to ask him who he wants to share a room with.

"Really? You're not just gonna pick for me?" Quey had asked.

"Well, it is your room, and it used to be your space. Sharing a room is not always easy. Choose someone you think you'll be able to get along with," Lin had replied.

Quey had thought about sharing a room with one of the airbenders, but then he realized the only airbenders he feels as if he can somewhat trust right now are his mother and Tenzin. So sharing a room with an airbender was out of the question in his mind. Then, he thought about an earthbender or metalbender. Then he realized each of his family members had their own room, and he wasn't willing to ask a random metalbending guard to share a room with him. That would have been too weird, even for him. Then he thought, maybe one of the firebenders?

"I don't know any of them! Except for my uncle Mako and General Iroh..." that was when Quey paused in his thinking and looked over at the General with hopeful eyes. Even though his reincarnation had been best friends with him, he's starting to suspect Korra had a huge crush on him since Quey is feeling all this admiration and trust towards him. Quey sheepishly had walked up to the thirty something year old General he was sure his incarnation liked more than a friend, and stopped when he was in front of the man.

"I only trust you among all these people. Will you please be the one who is my roommate, General Iroh?" Quey asked, bowing deeply to hide his embarrassment.

Quey didn't see, but the General lit up like a Christmas tree. It was Iroh's dream to be involved in any way possible with the Avatar since the only other one to have been best friends with the Avatar was his grandfather. Iroh didn't think he and Korra were best friends, even though she did, and he wished he could have been around more during her time.

"It would be my honor, Avatar Quey," answered Iroh. "From here on out, you can just call me Iroh by the way."

"Okay. Then you can just call me Quey," Quey had replied, smiling.

Now here they were. It was midnight, and Quey should be asleep like the General in the bed across the room from him was. He was surprised, but pleased, that Iroh didn't snore like the man he was named after. Since Quey was so wide awake, he decided to try and meditate to contact Korra. Just then Tenzin's voice popped in his head.

"I urge you to meditate on these visions..."

Quey relaxed his facial muscles and any other muscles as he began meditating on the visions Korra showed him before. A scene was starting to unfold before him. In this vision, he saw Korra's memory of when she found out who the first Avatar was, and how he became the first Avatar. By first separating Raava from Vaatu, and then making up for it by vowing to help Raava restore peace and balance. Quey was in awe whenever Raava passed through Wan to transfer bending. When Wan's body started shaking like static, Quey felt scared for Wan. He had no idea how this was going to play out, but he felt he had to know. Vaatu held Wan, still fused with Raava, down near the spirit portal as he announced that Harmonic Convergence was starting. The scene changed to show planets aligning together, then back to show the two spirit portals merge together. It was an awesome sight for Quey to behold, especially when Wan stretched out his arm to touch the merged spirit portal behind him. Vaatu looked down and was visibly shaken by Wan touching the portal. Quey got nervous when Wan screamed out in agony as a blue aura surrounded him, but calmed down once Wan stopped screaming and was still alive. When Raava announced that they were bonded forever, that was when Quey couldn't stop smiling as he then witnessed how Wan and Raava in the Avatar State fought and sealed Vaatu in the Tree Of Time.

"Until humans learn to respect Spirits, the Spirits need to go back to their home in the Spirit world. I will close the spirit portals so no human can ever physically go into the spirit world and release Vaatu. I will be the bridge between the two worlds. I vow to use Raava's light spirit to guide the world towards peace and balance," Quey heard Wan say as he watched Wan guide the spirits back home.

Quey teared up when the Aye-Aye spirit bowed to Wan before going back home. Those two had grown so close, and for all these years, not another Avatar ever got to see that spirit. The scene changed to a battlefield, and he saw an elderly Wan in battle armor resting against a huge Earth Kingdom symbol.

"Raava... I'm so sorry. I failed to bring peace and balance. There just wasn't enough time," Wan apologized weakly.

"Don't worry. We will be together for all of your lifetimes," Raava reassured Wan as he took his last breath.

The last thing Quey heard before the memory ended was the sound of a distant baby crying. Quey opened his eyes then, suddenly feeling sleepy.

"I understand now. I have to use Raava's light spirit to bring peace and balance during my lifetime. Even though Vaatu has been destroyed, the world is still out of balance. There is no more shirking my duties," Quey thought to himself.

He laid down on his bed and closed his eyes, letting sleep take over him. He felt an earthquake in his deep sleep. In his mind, buildings are falling down and people are running in circles, screaming. In the dream, he is trying to go into the Avatar State, but can't. Just then, Vaatu appeared in front of Quey.

"What? But, Korra defeated you!" stumbled Quey backwards, careful not to fall into the earth itself.

The deep baritone of Vaatu's laughter shook Quey to his core being. For the first time since escaping Ba Sing Se, he was terrified as vaatu got close to his face.

"You cannot destroy darkness any more than I can destroy light. Listen well, Raava. In ten thousand years, I will regrow from inside of you. When I am reborn, we shall have another showdown. Next time, I will win," Vaatu promised, his tone laced with high amusement, almost laughing.

Quey found the inner strength he needed to stand back up and point a finger at Vaatu.

"I won't let you destroy everything Raava and the Avatar have worked so hard for, Vaatu! When you're born again, the Avatar of that time will stop you! As a past life, I will make sure to tell them how to beat you! And where to imprison you if they feel strongly against destroying you, and to close all the spirit portals if they feel the need to imprison you," Quey shouted.

Vaatu laughed even more menacingly.

"You think I'm going to make the same mistake again? I will not be waiting in front of that Tree Of Time. As soon as I emerge, I will go out into the physical world, and wait at your precious Republic City," replied Vaatu.

Quey tried again to go into the Avatar State to defeat Vaatu, but to no avail.

"I don't get it! This is just a dream! I should be able to go into the Avatar State in my dream," yelled Quey, frustrated.

"You can't go into the Avatar State, because you don't have all your chakras unblocked, foolish Avatar. All you humans are so incredibly stupid beyond comprehension," deeply said Vaatu.

"Chakras? What are chakras?" asked Quey.

"Swirling pools of energy in your body. There are seven of them total."

"Which ones do I need to unlock?" asked Quey.

Vaatu didn't say anything more. One of his tentacles smacked Quey in the head so hard he was knocked out and fell into the earth's crevices. Then, Quey's eyes shot open to feel himself being shaken roughly by Iroh.

Iroh sighed in relief.

"What's wrong? Did something happen?" asked Quey, getting up to his feet via air boost.

"No, nothing happened. You were just tossing and turning in your sleep, and your face was twisted up into fear and anger. You were having a bad dream, so I tried to wake you up," explained Iroh.

"Oh. Yeah it was a really weird dream. I think your constant shaking caused the earthquake in my dream," chuckled Quey.

"Oh, sorry," apologized Iroh, but Quey waved it off. "What was happening in your dream that made you so upset?"

"Vaatu was there. He was talking to me," replied Quey.

"Vaatu?! You mean that huge, black and red demon thing?" asked Iroh as he remembered the giant monster that shot down into the waters from the sky during Harmonic Convergence.

"Yeah, him. He was telling me, that ten thousand years from now, he will be reborn from within the new Avatar," said Quey, his head down.

He couldn't help but feel Korra done goofed.

"She should have found a way to bring him back to the spirit world and trap him in the tree again. Now we have a dark spirit being born straight out of a future Avatar to worry about," thought Quey.

"But, Korra defeated him. I saw her turn him into light particles," said Iroh who was confused as to why dream Vaatu would say something like that.

Quey sighed and rubbed his face.

"You cannot destroy darkness anymore than darkness can destroy light. If Jinora hadn't sped up the rebirth process of Raava, there would be no new Avatar right now. As it stands, it will take ten thousand years for Vaatu to be reborn, and he will most likely emerge out of the Avatar's mouth or something," tiredly explained Quey.

Iroh didn't know what to say anymore. This was most troubling, to say the least. But then, he had an ideo of what to say.

"Listen, Quey. When that does happen, it'll be ten thousand years from now. We must focus on the present. In the present, you, the current Avatar, needs to start learning firebending," smiled Iroh.

"Yeah. I already know where I want to go for my waterbending training when the time comes too," said Quey, eliciting a small smile.

"Oh yeah? Is it Master Katara?" asked Iroh as he thought about the old woman.

"No. I want to go to Varrick's to learn waterbending. My two friends are there, and I promised I would visit them. But with everything happening, I hadn't been able to visit them," frowned Quey after he realized that.

Iroh nodded.

"The only way you would be able to get there safely is by flying way above the clouds," thoughtfully said Iroh. "And being on a large bison will draw too much attention. We don't know if those bloodbenders are still out there, camping, or if they retreated. To be safe, let's assume they are out there still."

Quey agreed with him. The only way Quey will actually think about things smartly and clearly is by assuming the enemy is at their door step.

"Now. Let's go eat breakfast, and start your firebending training," smiled Iroh, getting up and putting on normal everyday Fire Nation clothes.

Quey got up and put on his airbending outfit, but left the robed part off. All that was on him was a yellow top and brown bottoms. He left the shoes off, since he got accustomed to being shoeless already. He then opened a drawer filled to the brim with metal strips and Iroh raised an eyebrow.

"Who gave you so much metal?" asked Iroh.

"I did," smirked Quey as he stepped back and bended three strips of metal around his elbows.

He thought about how after he had used the strips against Noatak, he only had one metal strip left and they were almost caught by those bloodbenders. Three metal strips on each arm was already so heavy, but Quey decided he should need to be able to carry more. He bended a fourth metal strip on each arm and grunted as the added weight would be difficult to adjust to.

"You won't be needing the metal on your arms if it's going to hinder your movements in firebending training," suggested Iroh, noticing the sweat already forming on Quey's head.

"Don't worry. I'll only be wearing the metal when I'm not learning firebending. I was just thinking about yesterday and how I didn't have enough metal on me to take care of all those bloodbenders following us. So I want to get used to carrying more metal on my body like everyone else in Zaofu does. If I had had exactly three metal strips on me yesterday, I could have used them to blow up their boats by driving it straight through their engines," explained Quey.

Iroh nodded as Quey struggled to lift his arms to push the drawer back in. Other than Quey struggling to move his arms, Iroh had to admit that he looked sort of badass with the metal wrapped around his arms like arm bands. He noticed Quey had Korra's blue arm band on top of his dresser.

"Is that how you were found out to be the Avatar?" asked Iroh, pointing towards the band.

"Yeah. Tenzin had a feeling I was the Avatar, so he put that in a mix with other items, and I picked the arm band," Quey grunted out as he tried keeping his arms lifted while walking towards the door.

Iroh decided to be nice and keep in the Avatar's slow stepping even though he was extremely hungry. When they made it to the dining hall, everyone was looking at Quey with eyebrows raised.

"What are you doing carrying that much metal too soon?" asked Toph.

"Trying to train my body to be able to carry this much metal. It's only an extra strip per arm. So, instead of carrying a total of six metal strips, I'm gonna be able to carry a total of eight strips," strained Quey.

"You're going to be able to lift your arm to pick up your silverware and eat? You know eating requires a lot of arm movement," softly reminded Suyin.

"That's exactly why I need to wear them during eating. That's when they'll get the most practice," said Quey as he sat down, breathing heavily.

Toph shook her head.

"You should be training yourself to carry extra metal, one extra strip at a time. Not two," said Toph. "Otherwise it's just dangerous."

Quey didn't want to be a burden, so he bent one of the metal strips off his arm, and suddenly, it didn't feel as strained.

"At least he knows how to listen without arguing," sighed Toph as she ate her food.

Quey smiled but then frowned that he has to train one strip at a time. He had to admit that it was much easier to move, however. The chef smiled brightly at Quey as he set down a plate filled with raw salmon and tuna with a dip next to the raw fish.

"What's this?" asked Quey, mouth watering at it. "It looks so good."

The chef laughed heartily.

"Raw salmon and tuna with a dip to dip them in. Enjoy, Avatar," bowed the chef.

Quey grabbed his fork and began eating the raw fish. Next to him, he could see Iroh was struggling to maintain his composure so he doesn't just dig in like an animal. Next thing Quey knew, they were all outside.

"Since I can move really well now, I'm just gonna keep the metal on my arms," announced Quey.

"That's fine. As long as you can move without problem. The first thing I'm going to have you do, is learn the dragon dance. It's the first thing Aang and Zuko learned together in the Sun Warrior territory," said Iroh.

Iroh demonstrated the first pose, Quey then mirrored what he did. Some people couldn't help but snicker because of how silly it looked, while others, like the firebenders, were in awe of seeing someone not born of the Fire Nation take firebending lessons from Zuko's grandson. No one wanted to think about it, but their Firelord had been brutally murdered. Iroh knows very well that if anything happened to his mother, he would be the one to take over the throne. He would have to find a woman to marry to make heirs to the throne. But he didn't think of all that now. Not in this moment as he and Quey stretched their leg and fists out to end the dance. Several people clapped while Toph held back her giggle fits. Iroh had Quey practice the dance several times by himself until he got it down perfectly without mistakes.

"Good. We still got some time before lunch, so next, you will learn to focus on your breathing. Breath is the key to good, healthy firebending. Without breath, there would be no firebending. Take your horse stance, and focus on your breathing," instructed Iroh.

"Okay. For how long? I can only keep up this horse stance for about five hours," asked Quey as he got into his stance.

"Well lunch is in the next two hours, so you'll be able to take a break. After lunch, your goal is to focus on your breathing up until dinner time," answered Iroh.

Quey's eyes bugged out of his head at the thought of keeping the stance for six hours after lunch.

"What?! There's no way! I can only do five hours!" shouted Quey.

"Aang was able to focus on his breath for almost a whole day without taking breaks. I know you can do it," intervened Toph.

She had remembered when Aang complained about focusing his breathing for that long. Zuko had told Aang there was nothing to complain about as those were basic firebending teachings. Quey silenced himself and got into the stance, and started focusing on his breathing. Everyone around him dispersed and did their own thing. Some earthbenders practiced earthbending whereas some earthbenders bothered Suyin, Lin, and Toph to teach them metalbending. The small group of firebenders decided to challenge themselves and focus on their breathing in the horse stance so that Quey didn't feel alone in his training. The airbenders meditated with Tenzin leading their meditation circle as Suyin, Lin, Bolin, Wing, and Wei all sparred together while Toph took a nap on the dirt. Iroh simply watched over Quey to make sure Quey didn't try to take the easy way out of his training. Suyin came over to Iroh and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Hmm?" he hummed as he turned his head to look at her.

"Lunch is ready," whispered Suyin.

Iroh nodded and straightened up to walk over to Quey who had been in his stance, focusing on his breath, like a good pupil.

"Quey?" Iroh said, poking Quey's shoulder.

"Yes, Sifu hotman?" asked Quey, opening his eyes.

Iroh suppressed a laugh but allowed a cheeky smile.

"Lunch is ready," he replied.

"Great! I'm hungry," smiled Quey.

"We'll be eating outside, with everyone else. There are so many people here now that the dining hall is too small to eat in. Lin and Bolin already made the picnic tables and everything," further explained Iroh.

They went to the outside eating area and sat down. Most of the people grimaced at the thought of eating right over dirt. Quey got up and bent some metal over the tables, much to everyone else's relief.

"Thanks. I knew we were forgetting something," sheepishly smiled Bolin.

Quey just rolled his eyes.

"Are you sure he's my dad?" Quey muttered to Toph who snickered in response.

"Yes but you were lucky to take after the Beifongs," whispered Lin, winking.

Quey snorted while Lin and Toph smirked. The chef handed food out to everyone sitting down at the metal covered dirt tables.

"Excuse me, but, do you happen to have any fire flakes? It just wouldn't feel like home without spice," asked Renee, the combustion bender.

"Sorry miss, but all I have for spices are sea salt and ground pepper. Would you like any of those?" offered the chef.

"Ground pepper sounds like it would be good," shrugged Renee.

"Do all firebenders like extremely spicy foods?" asked Quey.

Iroh nodded, taking a bite of his food.

"It usually helps give a boost to firebending. Plus, it keeps you healthy," explained Iroh once he swallowed his food.

"What about you? You didn't ask for any fire flakes," asked Quey before taking another bite.

"Being away from home for so long got me adjusted to eating without the constant spice. Truth be told, not all firebenders eat spicy food. Just most. I'm one of the few who feels powerful enough without it," smiled Iroh.

"Huh..." hummed Quey. "If the Fire Nation wasn't crawling with bloodbenders now, I would offer to fly over there and grab the spices, but there are bloodbenders there."

Iroh laughed loudly, causing everyone outside to glance over at him for a brief moment before turning back to their own conversations.

"The area where the Fire Nation got their spices from comes from a place the bloodbenders aren't near. The spices come from an island that is a boat ride away from the Fire Nation, next to a volcano. There are dozens of fire flake plants. If you really want to, you can fly to that small island to gather the plants and bring them back here," chuckled Iroh.

"And the spices will enhance my firebending?" asked Quey.

"It would, but you shouldn't rely on spices to boost your way through your training. It's best to see raw results before you taste those herbs. So I'd rather you wait until after you finish your firebending training. Since the bloodbenders just took over the Fire Nation, it's only a matter of time before they tru and take over Republic City, and then go after the Air Temples. So, we don't have enough time to help you master it, just enough time to help you utilize the element. Once you learn how to utilize normal firebending, Renee can teach you combustion bending. I have a feeling it will come in handy against bloodbenders," said Iroh.

"But, would it be possible to combustion bend while being bloodbended?" asked Quey quizzically.

"Korra was able to airbend at Noatak when he was bloodbending her. So it's not a stretch to say you can combustion bend. If you learn how to curve it like P'Li from the Red Lotus did, then it wouldn't matter if they spun you around the opposite direction. You could still combustion bend and curve it to go behind you and blow them up," responded Iroh, smiling big and wide at the thought of having such a fail proof plan. After finishing up lunch, Quey got back in his horse stance and closed his eyes to focus on his breathing while Iroh sat down and kept a close watch. Six hours later, Quey's legs were starting to slightly tremble.

"Alright, Quey. Your training for today is done," yawned Iroh, standing up to stretch.

That night Quey sat up in his bed, meditating for Korra's spirit. Next thing he knows, he's too frustrated and tired to keep meditating, so he gives up for the night and goes to sleep. The last thing he thought was "hopefully she will contact me again in my dreams." But she never did contact Quey that night. Instead, he dreamed of a mouse in spandex with a high pitched voice who talked about simple math problems and friendship goals. Cold water woke Quey up, and he was none too pleased with Iroh being his roommate anymore as he glared up at the man who blinked in surprise at the deadly look he was receiving from the Avatar.

"Whoa. Good thing you're not evil," chuckled Iroh nervously.

Quey rolled his eyes and looked at the clock. It was only four in the morning.

"Are you insane?! Why so early?!" shouted Quey.

He covered himself with the sopping wet blanket before shouting in frustration and airbending him and the bed dry, and covered himself again.

"You need to start firebending earlier from now on to get the most training done in one day. I have no idea when the bloodbenders are going to attack Republic City. Do you want more innocent people to die when you could be helping by getting closer to being a fully realized Avatar?" asked Iroh.

Quey could hear in his voice that waking up this early was not fun for him. But it didn't help the fact that Quey was cranky.

"Can we at least eat first?" grumbled Quey as he sat up.

Iroh just simply nodded. He was hungry as well. Iroh made them both scrambled ostrich-horse eggs with a side of bacon-beef, and he added sea salt and ground pepper for flavoring. As for a drink, he chose hot tea. Hot tea was always good for calming the nerves. It would most definitely calm both of their crankiness from waking up so early.

"Are you gonna wake me up with cold water every morning?" asked Quey after sipping his tea.

"I tried to just shake you awake, but you wouldn't budge. So, yes," replied Iroh matter of factly to which Quey sighed.

Back in the Fire Nation...

Noatak was sitting in the Firelord's chair while everyone else was celebrating their success. The bloodbenders who killed Quey's adopted parents came in, and bowed their heads to Noatak.

"Yes? What can I help you with?" asked Noatak.

He was not in the greatest mood. Even though he had successfully taken over the Fire Nation, he knows Zaofu is harboring the earthbenders from Omashu and some firebenders from the Fire Nation as well as airbenders and the Avatar. All in all, he was displeased with all these loose ends in his plans. When he was Amon, his plans had been perfect up until he took the Avatar's bending. The only loose end had been the Lieutenant, and he had taken care of him. He was going to blame his death on the Avatar, and say he took her bending afterwards. But she just had to get airbending.

"No. My plans were perfect. These idiots screwed up. They should have just killed him on the spot. We need to find a way to get into Zaofu," thought Noatak as his face was stuck in a painful looking expression.

"There's someone here to see you, sir. Says he is Hiroshi Sato," said a bloodbender.

Noatak's eyes widened. He knows his identity was revealed on the papers, so it wouldn't be a surprise at all if Hiroshi knew his real name.

"Let him in," said Noatak.

They nodded and went to tell Hiroshi to go see Noatak. Noatak looked down at the pitiful shell of Hiroshi. His hair was more gray, a bit longer, and he was thinner and looked tired.

"What can I do for you, Mister Sato?" asked Noatak.

That was when Hiroshi looked up and smiled.

"Hello. Amon," replied Hiroshi. "For a while, I hated your guts after I found out you were a bender and that you lied to us about your story. But then, after years of thinking about it, you had been the first bender to reach out and help the nonbenders. So, I came to offer my services to you once again. Like old times."

Noatak smirked.

"All I had ever wanted to do was help people. But now, I want to help the water tribes. In every war, they had been easy pickings. So it's time to change that. All nonbenders are being spared," said Noatak.

Hiroshi nodded his head. He could care less about what Noatak was doing now. All that mattered to him was being important again and that no nonbenders were being hurt.

"So, how can I help you?" asked Hiroshi, clasping his hands together.

"I just recently found out who the new Avatar is, and he helped a lot of benders escape from both Omashu and from the Fire Nation. He, the earthbenders from Omashu, some firebenders, and the airbenders are all in Zaofu with the metal clan. Those domes are made out of some type of material that is hard to get through with bending. I know this because I sent some of my finest waterbenders to try and slice through it like they sliced through the metal that trapped me to the ground when the new Avatar bent the metal at me. Is there a way we can get into Zaofu?" asked Noatak.

Hiroshi's eyes widened. Korra was no longer around? When did that happen? All he knew was Noatak's true identity and he saw on the news that Noatak and a group of bloodbenders took over the Fire Nation.

"Focus! He asked if you know a way to get into Zaofu," thought Hiroshi.

"Well? Any ideas?" asked Noatak, his voice even.

"If their domes are made of platinum, I have plasma saws to cut right through it. But the saws are all the way back at Future Industries, and my daughter now owns and runs the company," said Hiroshi.

Noatak sighed in relief and smiled a bit.

"Also, a new Avatar? I had no idea Korra had been killed. Is it a boy or a girl? Also, how old, and how many elements?" asked Hiroshi.

"The Avatar is someone I never would have thought would be the new Avatar because he started airbending first. He was found in Ba Sing Se, and we all thought that he was just an airbender. He was in Ba Sing Se for one year before moving to Air Temple Island. But now he seems to have learned earth and metalbending. He took firebenders with him out of here, so I have no doubt he's in the middle of firebending lessons. He is still a young kid. Just got done being a toddler," explained Noatak.

"Just got done being a toddler and he already knows air and earthbending? Harmonic Convergence must have heightened his ability to airbend. He might not have known he was the Avatar until after he left Ba Sing Se," Hiroshi said thoughtfully.

Noatak sighed and nodded his head in agreement.

"Now, about those plasma saws. How about I go with you to your old building in Republic City to help you retrieve them? Those two over there will come with to help carry the saws out," asked Noatak.

"That'll be fine, as long as no harm will come to my daughter," replied Hiroshi.

His stomach twisted in knots as he remembered trying to kill her when they were both in the mecha suits. Time away from everyone did him some good. Made him reflect on his actions.

"Of course. If she tries to hurt anyone of us, she will simply be tied up and out of the way," said Noatak.

Hiroshi, silent, nodded in understanding.

"Alright. Let's go," called Noatak.

Back in Zaofu...

Quey was listening to Iroh explain how to turn breath and energy into fire. Then, Iroh made a small flame in his hand and handed it to Quey.

"Uh, I thought I was supposed to try and make my own fire? Wasn't that the point of your explanation?" asked Quey nervously as he tried to make the fire a bit bigger.

"That explanation was for you to understand how to make your own fire when I feel you're ready. For now, your new job is to not let the fire in your hands die out. Be too timid and the fire will go out," replied Iroh as he sat down and sipped on his new cup of tea.

Quey suddenly went poker faced as he went back in his horse stance and focused on his breathing with the fire in his hands.

"Say, there's no way anyone can get through the platinum domes right? I don't mean by bending either," asked Quey suddenly.

"Focus," was all Iroh replied with.

Iroh felt no need to answer that since he was certain the domes would never betray them. Everyone in Zaofu let their guards down as soon as the domes had closed up when Quey and the bison arrived from the Fire Nation.

"How long will it take us to get back to Republic City? The longer we take, the closer the Avatar gets to learning firebending," asked Noatak.

"About one day travel by speedboat," replied one of the bloodbenders.

A spirit appeared right in front of Quey, making him almost lose focus and balance.

"Huh. I didn't know spirits came to Zaofu," Iroh said, blinking in surprise.

"Avatar! Everyone in Zaofu, including yourself, is in danger! Noatak has Hiroshi Sato working for him, and they're going to grab plasma saws to cut through the domes!" warned the spirit.

The flame in Quey's hands disappeared as straight fear set in his features.

"Plasma saws? This is terrible!" shouted Quey.

He got on an air scooter and ran to find everyone.

"What! They're going to cut through the domes with those saws? This is just great! We don't have anywhere else to go!" freaked out Renee who was pulling at her hair.

Quey paced back and forth, trying to think of a solution.

"Hey spirit, any idea how long we got to think of a way out of this mess?" asked Quey.

"Twenty four hours," replied the spirit before disappearing.

"Just one day. Hmm," thought Quey as he continued to pace.

"What if we move to the Southern Pole? They'd never think to find us there!" suggested Bolin.

"Actually, they'd never think to look in the Northern Pole, but any water tribe at this point is enemy territory!" yelled Opal.

"What about going back to Omashu? Everything there is purely earth, and with the metalbenders, firebenders, airbenders, and the Avatar, we should be able to defend it!" suggested one of Omashu's residents.

Quey shook his head.

"It's most likely crawling with bloodbenders. When they took over Ba Sing Se, it was overcrowded with bloodbenders. It's like they're endless," said Quey who was still pacing.

"How about the Air Temples? They're still safe for now. It would give Quey time to learn firebending before moving to Varrick's to learn waterbending," offered Lena.

Suddenly, Quey stopped and everyone thought he was going to go with Lena's plan.

"I have a better idea. My family and I will make an underground bunker and fill it with food and the necessities before the twenty four hours are up," calmly said Quey.

The airbenders shuddered at the thought of living underground.

"Do we have to live underground? There's no freedom down there," whined Lena.

"It's only temporary. You'll only have to stay down there until I learn fire and waterbending. Renee, you'll be coming with me and Iroh to Varrick's where we will stay for the remainder of this war," responded Quey before pointing at the airbenders. "All you go and collect the food and the chef, and put it all on Oogie, then bring Oogie over to us when we're done building the bunker. It shouldn't take too long. Ready? Go!"

Right off the bat, Quey, his family, and the other earthbenders got to work. Quey made a long hole for them to jump down in and he took Iroh with him to create torches to set up on the walls as they went. It was a good thing that they took firebenders with them to keep the underground lit up for them. Ten hours later, and they were only halfway finished bending the bunker for everyone to live in and still have space. With an hour to spare, the bunker was finished being built.

"We only have an hour left before they make it to Republic City! Everyone grab the food and store it!" shouted Lin.

All the food they grabbed were food that has been canned and stored in the basement of Su's mansion. There was enough food to feed everyone for at least one year, if the food was portioned correctly.

"What about if we need fresh air?" asked Lena.

Quey turned to look at his grandmother and great aunt.

"Once a day, you two use your seismic sense to see if there's anyone above or around your area, and if it's clear, then bend a hole open above you and have an airbender pull a lot of fresh air down quickly and then close the hole before anyone sees," said Quey with authority to his voice.

Suyin and Lin nodded, then the airbenders nodded as well.

"We can do this. Everyone will survive," smiled Quey.

"I hope we dug deep enough so Noatak won't be able to sense their heart beats," thought Quey nervously.

Quey and the earthbenders had made the bunker fifty feet below the surface to be on the safe side. But Quey still wasn't sure if it was deep enough or not. Then he remembered how once Oogie was just above ten feet in the sky Noatak wasn't able to bloodbend him down anymore. He knew that binding Noatak's hands and feet wouldn't be able to stop him from using his psychic bloodbending, but he knew it would catch him off guard long enough for them to get away. Since he wasn't able to pull them down once they were a little above ten feet, then he shouldn't be able to bloodbend anyone who is fifty feet below ground. Quey and the other airbenders grabbed things from the mansion and tossed it down to the earth and firebenders to later decorate the bunker to make it feel more homey.

"Oh wait! The books! Without books, there will be no entertainment," cried Suyin.

"Alright. The last hour has been up for ten minutes now, so Noatak is definitely on his way here with Hiroshi and the plasma saws. We need to crack open the tip of the dome so we can get out of here on Oogie. Forget about belongings at this point, we just need to go!" yelled Quey at Iroh and Renee.

The three found the lever for the dome and cracked the top of it. Quey looked around Zaofu, and sighed when there wasn't any signs of making a bunker.

"Oogie, yip yip," said Quey as he whipped the reins on the bison.

Groaning low, Oogie whipped his tail and flew out of the dome.

"Higher Oogie, higher!" commanded Quey as he saw a fast approaching dot in the distance.

The bison was soon above the clouds, unable to be seen as they flew towards the direction of Varrick's home. Soon, they made it to Varrick's home. Quey hopped off Oogie before he had a chance to land and buzzed on Varrick's security wall.

"Hello?" asked Tarnok as he looked through the security camera.

Tarnok quirked his eyebrow.

"Hey guys, come look! It's some kid wearing airbending clothes and metal strips on his arms, a combustion bender, and General Iroh," called Tarnok.

"What?!" shouted Varrick as he tumbled over to see the screen before laughing like a maniac. "What is the General doing with two kids?"

Bobbi and Brady gasped when they saw Quey.

"That's our best friend, Quey! He's an airbender!" shouted Bobbi excitedly.

"Anyone know who that girl is?" asked Tarnok, pointing to the screen.

Everyone shrugged.

"Uh, hello?" Quey buzzed again before looking around nervously.

"Hello. Quey, is it? And hello General Iroh. Who is the young combustion bender?" asked Tarnok.

Quey figured his friends must have talked about him so he wasn't surprised about them knowing his name, and Iroh is famous.

"Her name's Renee. Please, let us in and we will tell you the details," begged Quey.

Tarnok squinted.

"Why should we trust you?" asked Tarnok who received glares from Bobbi and Brady.

Tarnok just rolled his eyes at their glaring and turned back to look at Quey through the screen.

"Because I'm the Avatar," announced Quey, staring straight into the camera with grit determinaton marked on his features.

Everyone's mouth dropped open in surprise. Without another word, Tarnok let them in.

"He's my reincarnated mother," thought Tarnok after thinking about it.

"Quey's the Avatar?" gasped Bobbi.

Bean blinked before smiling.

"Wow! I get to meet the Avatar!" exclaimed Umi.

"He looks so cool!" piped up Ritoy.

"I wonder how many elements he knows so far," Veena said thoughtfully.

"Judging by his outfit and knowing he knew airbending first, he is most likely an earth and metalbender now," said Varrick.

Just then the door opened and Quey, Renee, and Iroh stepped in, then closed the door behind them. The twins noticed right away his ripped muscles and the metal strips on his arms.

"Quey? Are you really the Avatar?" asked Brady, stepping forward.

Quey smiled at them and nodded.

"Yeah. I learned metalbending from my great grandmother, Toph. General Iroh here is teaching me firebending," replied Quey.

"Then why do you need that girl if Iroh's teaching you firebending?" asked Tarnok.

"I helped save her and a few other firebenders from the Fire Nation right when Noatak and the bloodbenders arrived and started killing people. So she wants to repay my kindness and teach me combustion bending," explained Quey. "She's a gentle soul so don't worry."

Renee bashfully came forward and bowed deeply.

"Nice to meet you all. I know my bending has a bad name to it, but I'm only a combustion bender because I was forced to learn it. But I want to give it a good name by teaching the Avatar. Teaching him the very thing I was forced to learn will help relieve the pain from the past, if only a little," said Renee, her voice soft as silk and small as a mouse.

"Forced to learn combustion bending?" breathed out Saika as a hand flew up to her mouth in horror. "Who would do such a thing?"

Renee stood tall and her lips formed a straight line as she remembered the torturous days. She turned around so her back was facing them and allowed a few tears to stream down her face as she gingerly touched the places on her arms where she had been bruised.

"My firebending teacher. In front of my parents and everyone else, he played the part of a school teacher who loved children. But behind closed doors, he was a monster. He did horrible things to the kids who he was forcing combustion bending on. Too horrible to go into detail," whimpered Renee as she remembered screaming in fear when her parents dropped her off at school.

"Aw, she loves you! So cute. See you around five!" the monster of a teacher had waved with a hand on her shoulder, squeezing it roughly in a warning.

Without thinking, her hand flew up to that shoulder and winced. Quey and the others had looked down with their eyes closed, trying to hold back tears. No one said a word. Bobbi went up to Renee who was now sobbing and wrapped her arms around her.

"You're safe now," mumbled Bobbi.

"Alright, time to put the plasma saws to use," smiled one of the bloodbenders.

Noatak smirked until he tried to sense heart beats. There was none.

"Maybe it's just much bigger inside and they're all at the far end, hiding somewhere," thought Noatak as Hiroshi showed the men how to use the saws.

Once they cut a hole big enough for them to get through, Noatak walked in first, hands behind his back.

"Do you think they escaped?" asked the other bloodbender.

"Nah, they're most likely way in the back hiding," said Noatak, shrugging.

Hiroshi looked up to make sure.

"Oh no," Hiroshi said, his voice deep and sorrowful.

Noatak turned to look at Hiroshi and followed where he was looking, and his heart was now racing from anger.

"Where could they have gone now?! You two! Stay here at all times in case they come back here! Hiroshi, follow me!" shouted Noatak as the two went back to the speedboat and left.

"What are we going to do now?" asked Hiroshi, panic in his voice.

"I'm going to send bloodbenders everywhere to be on the lookout for the Avatar. Once we remove the Avatar, then we can focus on destroying the other nations," growled Noatak.