This chapter was fun to write, and I hope it will be as fun to read.
Also, please note I DO NOT own this franchise. I did not create it.
Please enjoy, hope you day is made better by reading this.
Aang was meditating in the sunlight. The breeze whished through the trees and the sunlight warmed his face.
But he couldn't concentrate.
He kept wondering what must be going on with the airbenders in the city. Were they in trouble? Where were they?
It wasn't helping that Korra was using the same courtyard to let off steam, aka, practicing punching things.
"Would you please be quiet?!" He demanded, turning their way.
"Sorry," Korra said.
"Mako! Bolin!" Asami said, as the two boys walked up.
"You're okay." Kora said, relieved. "Where have you been?" Korra asked.
"We chased Kai…" Bolin said, panting and making a running movement with his fingers. "Train…slipped away…lower ring…" He continued, gesturing in the directions of the walls. "Slept in trash pile…met our family…grandma, tears…Mako scarf…Earth Queen Lying." He finished, putting Pabu on his head in an imitation of the queen.
"What?" Aang said, confused.
"Can you….interpret that?" Asami asked.
"The Earth Queen's been secretly taking airbenders and forcing them into her army." Mako said.
"She was lying!" Korra shouted. "I knew it. I swear…the next time I see her…" She said, making a fist.
"We have to help them," Aang said, standing up.
"It's the queen." Asami said quickly, seeing her approaching in her…litter.
"Good, you're hear," The Earth Queen said, walking over to them. "Gun, tell her the news."
"We've received word from the Yang province." Gun said. "There have been reports of airbenders there."
"Wonderful, isn't it?" The Queen said. "It's the very thing you've been looking for."
"Thank you," Korra said, trying to not sound suspicious. "That is just the most wonderful news…"
"Ever." Aang said, smiling. "Yay."
"So I assume you and your…friends here will be leaving immediate." The Earth Queen said. "Ahh, ahh achoo!" The earth queen sneezed repeatedly. "Is there an animal in my presence?!" She demanded, turning to Gun.
"No, your majesty." He said worriedly. "I would never allow and animal in your presence." As Pabu decided to be frisky and Bolin slid away with him.
The earth queen continued to sneeze. "If I find one animal within fifty feet of me, it's your head! Anyway," She added, turning to them. "If you need any assistance packing, let Gun know. He'll see to it that you are on your way by evening." She finished, turning to walk away.
"Uh…this...evening?" Aang said nervously.
"We're not sure we're sure about leaving so…soon." Korra said.
"Because our airship is having engine problem." Asami said helpfully. "It'll take me until tomorrow to finish the repairs."
The earth queen continued to sneeze, before walking away with the concerned Gun.
"Thank for buying us some time Asami," Aang said. "We have some people to help."
They sat around the table in the house, after telling the others what was going on.
"I can't believe the Earth Queen is conscripting airbenders." Tenzin said.
"It's just…wrong." Aang said. "People, especially airbenders, shouldn't be forced to join an army."
"Well, technically," Bumi started from where he was leaning against a post. "The Earth Queen has a right to conscript her citizens." And then there was on odd silence where they all stared at him. "What? It's true."
"Guys," Jinora said. "What if…Kai was spotted using airbending? He might have been taken to."
"Probably not," Bolin said, assuring Jinora. "He's surprisingly difficult to catch. Like a -like a- like a little, greased hog-monkey. "
"You don't know the Dai Li very well then." Aang said. "You might not have been able to catch him, but they will."
"Don't worry Jinora," Korra said, walking over to his granddaughter. "We'll find him. We just need to figure out where to look."
"Lake Laogai most likely," Aang said. "That's the old Dai Li headquarters." He winced, remembering it. "It's…not a nice place."
"You're right!" Jinora said. "That's perfect place to hide airbenders. And I know how to check it out without being caught. I can project my spirit into it."
Aang's jaw dropped. "You can do that Jinora?"
"I can."
"You mean that out-of-body thing you did to help giant spirity Korra?" Bumi asked.
"You can still do that?" Tenzin said, surprised.
"It's not as powerful as it was during Harmonic Convergence," Jinora explained. "But if I can get close enough, I think I can do it."
Korra put her had on her shoulder. "Let's go get Kai out."
Aang stood up. "Let's go get all the airbenders out."
They flew out to Lake Laogai on Oogi, Aang biting back old memories. Jinora sat down on the ground and Tenzin put his hand on her shoulder.
"If anything goes wrong, come back immediately." Tenzin said.
"I will," She said.
"Be careful to stay out of sight of the Dai Li Jinora," Aang warned. "We don't want to alert them to our presence."
She nodded, and closed her eyes, leaving them to wait. A bit later she stood up, opening her eyes and they walked over.
"What happened?" Aang asked.
"What did you see?" Korra asked.
"The airbenders aren't there, it's completely deserted." Jinora said.
"What?" Aang said. "That's…surprising."
"Jinora, you've read all about Ba Sing Se. Can you think of any other places the airbenders might be?" Korra asked.
"I guess they could be in the catacombs beneath the upper ring." Jinora said, unsure. "Or the ancient sewer beneath the lower ring, or the maze of tunnels that connects the two rings together, or they could be-"
Tenzin sighed. "There are just too many places. There has to be another way to locate them."
"Maybe there is," Korra said, walking to Jinora. "How did you find me during Harmonic Convergence?"
"I don't know." Jinora said, thoughtful. "I just kind of focused on your energy. I think our spiritual connection led me to you."
"Maybe you can find Kai the same way." Korra suggested, to Tenzin's displeasure. "I know you two have a connection."
"What do you mean a connection?" Tenzin said, stroking his beard.
"I don't know," Jinora said, sitting back down. "Let me try." She said, closing her eyes…and leaving them to wait.
And it was back to the house.
"I can't believe miss queeny smugface had them right under our noses the whole time!" Korra said, or rather, shouted.
"We have to get into that compound tonight." Tenzin said.
"All right, we go under the cover of darkness," Bumi said, like he was plotting some great plan. "Two small insertion teams and a third on the outside. Then all we'll need is twelve tons of blasting jelly, a medium sized bulldozer and… does anyone have a badger-mole that knows Morse code?"
Tenzin sighed and there was a knock on the door.
"Oh, great, not the earth queen again." Asami muttered.
"Everyone, act normal. And, Bolin-"
"I'm on it." But Pabu didn't agree. "What? I'm not sweaty this time." He reluctantly went in the shirt.
Tenzin opened the door…to see…Lin Beifong.
"Lin? What are you doing here?" Tenzin asked, shutting the door behind her.
"We need to get Korra and Aang out of here immediately." Lin said. "There lives are in danger."
"What?" Korra and Aang said at the same time.
"What's going on?" Korra asked as they walked over.
"I just got word from lord Zuko and Tonraq." Lin explained.
"Why is lord Zuko with my dad?" Korra asked.
"Zaheer and the other have escaped." Lin said.
"Who now?" Aang said, confused.
"How is that possible?"
"Because Zaheer is an airbender now." Lin said grimly.
"What?!" Aang said.
"No." Tenzin said.
"All right, hold on." Korra said. "Will you quit ignoring us and tell us what's going on?"
"Who is Zaheer?!" Aang asked. "Why are our lives in danger?!"
Tenzin sighed and turned to Korra. "Shortly after we discovered you were the avatar, Zaheer and three others attempted to kidnap you. Luckily, your father, lord Zuko, chief Sokka, and I were able to stop them. We apprehended the criminals and locked them away in prisons designed to impair their bending abilities."
"So that's why you and my dad sheltered me away." Korra said.
"They did what?!" Aang demanded.
"We were worried for her safety." Tenzin explained.
"Why were they trying to kidnap Korra in the first place?" Mako asked.
"We spent thirteen year interrogating them, but they never broke." Lin said. "To this day, no one knows what their motive was. Now we need to get you two back to Republic City, where I can protect you. "
"No, I'm not running." Korra said.
"Neither am I," Aang said. "I think the avatars can handle a few criminals."
"These benders are unlike anything you've seen dad," Tenzin said.
"Oh?"
"One of them creates explosions with their mind,"
"Seen that."
"Look, I'm not a little kid anymore and Aang definitely isn't either. You don't need to protect us." Kora said.
"We came here to find airbenders, and that's what we need to do." Aang said.
"We're not leaving without them." Korra said.
"Fine, let's get 'em and get out of here." Lin said. "Where are they?"
"In a military compound, and we're busting them out." Kora explained.
"You shouldn't be walking around here alone," The guard explained to Jinora that night.
"I'm not alone," Jinora said, pointing behind them, to her group of very talented friends, Aang holding his glider.
They didn't stand a chance.
Together they ran into the compound, side-by-side, very quietly.
They hid on a side stairwell as Dai-Li passed by. Aang turned to them.
"Bumi, Tenzin and Korra, you three will come with me to find the airbenders. You three, find Kai." He said. "We'll meet on the surface shortly. Radio us if anything goes wrong."
They parted ways, running in the dim green light of the compound quiet as mice. The four of them walked down the stairs, through the passage ways and to a door to a barrack, which Korra opened. Inside airbenders slept on bunks.
"What's going on?" One of them asked, confused. "Who are you?"
"We're the avatars," Aang said. "And we are going to get you all out of here, safe."
Excited murmurs swept through he bunks.
"We're leaving?"
"Where are we going?"
"Everyone, please you must stay calm and quiet if we want this to work." Tenzin told them.
"What to work? We're sneaking out?"
"Yes, and we must be quick about it." Aang said.
"We're going to get you away from the earth queen and out of the city." Tenzin explained.
They ran out, and the airbenders followed.
"There's an airbender that's not here," The first person who spoke told them as they left. "His name is Kai, we need to get him."
"We've already got people on it." Aang said.
"Topside this is Papa bear, the breezies are in the hold." Bumi said quietly into a radio. "Cue the balloons!"
"What?!" Lin's voice came over the radio. "Are you in trouble?"
"No!" Bumi said. "We got the airbenders and were headed out. Bring the airships." He sighed and put down the radio. "No one like code names anymore."
"Copy that, Asami and I are on our way."
They sneaked out of the compound, Korra leading the way. She looked out into the open courtyard, "Come on, it's clear," She said, waving them on.
And they ran out, not noticing the Dai Li agents perched like birds on the temple. The Dai Li jumped out, forming a line in front of them.
"So you've discovered my elite army." The Earth Queen said, coming up from behind the Dai Li. "I see their loyalty still needs some work."
"Airbender shouldn't be forced to become weapons," Aang said. "Air is the element of freedom. These airbenders have a right to choose their own path, freely."
"These airbenders are earth kingdom citizens," She said. "And I am their queen. Taking them will constitute an act of war. If you disobey me, I will bear down on you entire force of my kingdom!"
"If they chose," Aang said hesitantly, looking back at the airbenders. "Then they won't be your citizens anymore. They can become air nation citizens if they want to. But they will not be forced into war!"
"They're leaving with us." Korra said definitively.
"No, they're not!" She said walking away and waving her hand.
The Dai Li took up positions, and threw there rock hands out to grab them, only to be shattered by gusts of wind from the new airbenders. Gusts that continued to blow on the Dai Li. Aang, Tenzin, and Korra added their strength to it, making it impossible to resist. The Dai Li inched backwards.
Over head the airship came. "Come on," Bum shouted. Then it was time to climb, to climb the scaffolding, one by one leaving the air stream.
They climbed the scaffolding, Aang, Korra and Tenzin holding the Dai Li at bay and everyone managed to get safely aboard. Then Tenzin whistled and Oogi came, ready to pick them up.
Boulders began to come from below. "Where are the others?!" Korra shouted.
"I got this!" Aang said, getting onto his glider and starting to deflect the boulders just as Bolin yelled for help from below. Korra, Tenzin, and Oogi swopped down for them, while Aang tried to help from above. Which instinctually involved the avatar state.
"Aang!" Tenzin shouted. "Don't go into the Avatar State! Whenever you do so does Korra!"
"What?!" He said, the glow fading.
Once everyone was aboard Oogi and they were safely away Aang landed on the sky bison's back. "I'd say that went rather well."
Later, when the airships had landed and the sun was setting, Aang addressed the airbenders.
"I understand that none of you chose to become airbenders. I understand that in some small way you might feel like it ruined your life; tore you away from your families. If you do not wish to come with us and learn, that is fine. We will find some place safe for you." He told them. "But, if you want, I would be happy, we would be happy, to teach you. If you come with us to the Northern Air Temple, I promise that you can find a new life, in a new nation. I would be greatly humbled, and very happy, if you would like to live in peace and train as Air Nomads. You are not someone's property, what path you decide, is your own choice."
A moment, a pause, as people considered what he had said.
One of them stood up. "I want to go with you."
Another stood up. "Me to."
"Count me in."
"I wanna go to."
"I'll go to."
"Me to."
"Sounds like fun."
"Oh, I wanna go."
Aang smiled, and a single tear traced down his check. "Thank you." He said, barely a whisper.
Lin, Aang, Tenzin, and Korra stood together.
"Lin, I know what you're going to say, but I'm not going to listen." Aang said. "I am going with my people. You can't stop me."
She sighed. "I know. Korra will come with me," She said, with a very intense look at the girl. "But your people need you Aang."
"Good luck at the Northern Air temple you guys," Korra said. "I'll send any airbenders I meet your way."
"Be careful out there Korra, and stay safe." Tenzin said.
"I'll try. It seems like wherever I go I make a new enemy." She said.
"Welcome to being the avatar." Aang said, with a resigned tone. "You'll never please everybody. But you make new friends to. Well, at least if either of us gets into enough trouble we need the Avatar state, the other will know."
She smiled.
"You did well Korra," Tenzin said.
"This is only the beginning." Korra said.
Yes, Aang was impressed at Jinora's skill.
So yeah, Aang wouldn't actually be in many of these episodes of this season.
Here's my reasoning with the avatar state. With the Avatar state you connect to your past lives, and Korra is the reincarnation of Aang. So theoretically, the Avatar State would connect them.
So here's what I'm going to do.
Any episode that would have him in, I will write about (if it's just a short bit It will end up in another chapter) before we get to THE FINALE CRAZINESS (as my mind as dubbed it)
Have a nice day,
Avatar Lizzy.