Happy New Year!

It's been a very long time since I last updated huh. I'm very sorry that this update took longer than it should. I actually wanted to work on this since but then my laptop's keyboard got spoilt, then exams came in which was then followed by a burial that I had to attend because the person was close to me. Unfortunately, things didn't go so well because some time after I got sick with a cold and had to rest before I finally got better. This doesn't mean I got my laptop fixed, but it's a good thing I got a caring sister who allowed me to use her laptop to write this story. You can skip the next paragraph if you want.

Now on to the other reason for the wait. Originally, I was to start work on it before the laptop got spoilt. But then I realized I had some few writer's block because this story was going to be in line in canon with Legend of Korra (which I don't like anymore). I watched the episode of the First Avatar because I found that to be interesting, but ignored anything else about the show because I didn't like how the show went and the taste that followed. However, thanks to Rocker On, who reads this story and has been trying to reach me by reviewing in the other story I'm also writing, he encouraged me to make a different take on the story, despite that I've never gone off canon on a story before. However, I don't mind doing just that. So if you're reading this Rocker On here's a big thanks. I have a reply for you just like the rest of the reviewers at the end of the story,

So with nothing else to say…ON WITH THE CHAPTER!

Chapter 15: The Ultimate Search Part 2: The World of Benders

The skies seemed clear in a normal flight like any o A massive creature known as a bison flew calmly through the air, directly miles above the ocean as it headed to a known destination. His occupants were currently three, and all in their teens, with two of them wearing similar blue tribal clothes and the other one, a bald kid, wearing an entirely yet tribal clothes while having a long wooden staff on his lap.

Currently, the atmosphere amongst them was quiet. The bald kid had a silent expression of concern as he stood on the heard of the bison, held by a rope that was attached to its huge horns. He had been like that for some time, even to the point that the two teenagers who accompanied him looked at each other concerned and very worried for the boy. Fortunately, their silence came to an end when the girl went over to the boy and sat next to him.

"Aang, I'm worried." said the girl. "You've been like this ever since you got the letter from Zuko concerning the Fire Nation island. Now I'm aware that the letter sounded very urgent, but you need to relax or else you might end up like…"

"The time you went bonkers before we invaded the Fire Nation."

"Sokka!" The girl turned and snapped at her brother.

Sokka for the time had been silent until that point. But when he saw the angry glare from his little sister he shut his mouth and looked the other way. Though he didn't mean to be rude, Katara still couldn't help but be angry at him. However, it all changed when Aang, the bald kid, finally spoke.

"It's fine, Katara. I don't mind Sokka's remark." Aang said deeply. "I promise I'll be fine. After all, this isn't the first time we've been called through an emergency."

"I know." Katara said understandably. "But you just seem so serious right now. It's almost like you expect something really bad to happen."

Aang fell silent on that moment. He did for a reason and even thought about staying quiet on it. But the second that thought came he rejected it and revealed his feelings. "That's because I feel something bad has happened and only get worse."

"What?" Katara was shocked. "How can you be sure? Maybe it's just a coincidence."

Aang sighed and looked to his lap. "I thought so too." He replied with concern. "But ever since I woke up, I felt like something was…off. I don't know how to explain it, but I at first thought it was nothing until Zuko's letter came an hour later. I don't know what exactly is going on but I'm going to find out."

Katara was deeply concerned to hear this. She knew how serious Aang had taken things and as such couldn't blame him. Instead, the lovely Water Tribe girl placed her hand softly on his hand and stared at his face with a small smile. "Well whatever the case maybe, just know I'm here for you always." She said.

"I know." Aang smiled back a bit.

Though Aang couldn't rid himself of the uneasiness, he still felt some relief. Katara's smile had always felt like light in darkness that drew him out most of his gloom. There were times he wondered how he would go without her but then put it aside, knowing he had such a strong, confident and lovely girlfriend by his side. And as much as he wanted to stare more into her eyes Sokka interrupted with a yell. "Hey, how about me?!"

"Huh?" The couple looked back at Sokka

Presently, Sokka sat with his legs and hands crossed. His face surprisingly had a serious look to it, even as he began standing up as he spoke. "Yeah, I got your back too, Aang. If you got a bad feeling then I'll believe you all the way."

"Wow, Sokka, that's really nice of you." Aang said gratefully.

"Yup." Sokka replied and cocked a grin. His satisfaction over the compliment was a good feeling to him until he snapped his eyes open and glared at the Avatar. "Hey, I've said other nice things to you!"

Katara and Aang erupted into short fit of laughter. They actually felt relieved by Sokka's action, though looked away as the guy acted childishly. To the two, it was a good time to be with each other, which unbeknownst to them was the calm before the storm.

From the skies, the Fire Nation Standing Island could be seen from the skies. It held more prosperity as an ideal place where marketing of goods could be made as well as encouraging trade. Life on the island was said to be so good that many people from the two other different nations joined them more efficient in the trade. For years, it had strived as a trading and marketing place that slowly that grew into a prospering village where people of different nations began to co-exist . In fact, life on the island was said to be so good that Fire Lord Zuko made it put much effort into it to ensure everyone is treated well.

Hence, that's how the island and its occupants lived. The peace and union among them was becoming an example of unity until one day tragedy struck. Aang, Katara and Sokka received word from Zuko that the island had been attacked by something unknown. They didn't get any specifics on what it had been, but they were aware that the issue was urgent.

Now that they were drawing close to the island, they could see it perfectly. They saw small Fire Nation ships aligned on the shores as Fire Nation navy officers could be seen helping the people. The scene was confusing to see until the trio looked forward and gasped at what they saw.

From the sky, they saw what remained of the island. The marketplaces were destroyed while the forest it had were either uprooted from the ground or burnt beyond recognition. It even felt worse when they landed on the shore just in time to see how bad the people had been affected.

Sometime ago, Aang and his friends had visited the land. They had seen the way the people strived well and the dedication the adults took to their work. Sadly, that sight didn't seem to be the case anymore. Instead, the sight that took their attention were numerous Fire Nation navy soldiers helping injured people and dead bodies to their ships.

From the looks of what remained of the people, the island didn't seem any better. The trio could see how bad the state of the island was in and were baffled by how it could be that way. The trees were levelled down like a hurricane had passed through them while the ground itself had huge holes and divided like something had swept through the surface.

"What could have done this?" Sokka was the first to speak. His voice sounded sad, but also angry due to what he was saying.

However, an answer didn't come, at least not yet. His sister and best friend shared the same thing on his mind as they stared at what remained of the peaceful island. They had their minds on it until it was interrupted by a shout, followed by a group of Fire Nation navy officers.

"Avatar Aang!" One of the officers shouted.

"Uh, yes." Aang responded with a shuttered voice. His mind came out from its daze upon being called before turning to who called him. The same thing went for Katara and Sokka, both of whom shifted their attention to the men coming.

The men wore the usual Fire Nation navy uniform. But the one who stood out slightly was the one running before him with more haste than the others. He seemed to be a man in his mid-forties while spotting a goatee, brown coloured eyes while wearing the traditional red and black Fire Nation uniform. However, unlike the man himself, they wore red armour over themselves.

A year ago, these men would have been threatening for Aang and his friends to meet. However, due to change of events, their relations had gotten better with many acceptances especially at a time like now. It was then at that moment that Aang decided to speak up as the men slowed down before him and his bison.

"Good day. I'm sure you were expecting us." He said boldly.

"Yes, we were." The officer replied, sounding mildly relieved.

Unknown to the man, the trio could feel he held much with him. They guessed it had to do with the circumstance of the situation and as such said nothing about it. Instead, they listened to the man as he spoke.

"We're so glad you're here." He said politely. "The Admiral sent us to escort you to his tent. Do you mind?"

"No. Please take me to him." Aang answered assuredly.

The officer nodded in obedience to the Avatar. He then ordered his men to help the Avatar and his companions get down, though they didn't need it, before escorting them with the same soldiers. Thr walk from that moment on was quiet as the trio went through one of the paths just in time to see more sides of the horror on the island.

The feeling of despair could be felt in the air at each passing second. The reason for this was due to sight of multiple tents set up as well as the sight of survivors. The group could hear children crying as their mothers comforted them while the few men were being treated with large gashes on their bodies.

"What could have done all this?" Aang asked suddenly. He held the look of pity and sympathy upon passing the survivors of the tragedy.

"Something did." The senior officer answered. His expression held much boldness though with a pity of sympathy as he continued. "We received warning smokes from island before dawn. Sadly by the time we got here, whatever that did this was long gone."

"Hmm." Aang hummed. He tried to think of what could have thought of this destruction and why. Unfortunately, his mind could not come up with what it could be.

"Maybe it was a spirit." Katara suggested.

"Maybe it is.." The officer replied. "But then again that isn't in my place to think of. I'm not the one allowed to speak on it except the Admiral. I'm sorry."

"No need to apologise." Aang said assuredly.

"Huh?" The officer said confused. In the start of the talk, he had been looking forward with a face of sympathy and worry on his face. However, his expression changed as he turned to his side only to see the Avatar's reassuring small smile.

'I wonder, how can he be smiling in such a situation like this?' The officer wondered in his mind. Here he was, side by side with the most powerful being in the entire world, who by the way is a kid. He was aware that this kid had gone through much than anyone knew and so didn't have any doubt or irritation towards him. Rather, he smiled back a bit at the Avatar and nodded. "Of course."

As soon as that was said, the escort continued quietly. Aang and the Water Tribe siblings remained quiet again as they observed Fire Nation tents occupied with medics and others assisting the survivors. The Avatar would have brought up questions about them but his mind never reached to that as he and his company soon found themselves standing before a huge tent which had the Fire Nation insignia proudly above the entrance.

"My superior is inside." The officer informed them. His mood had changed to something firm, even when he turned to the Avatar and his company. "We'll be guarding here. Please go in."

Aang nodded in response. He knew there was no other reason for him, his girlfriend and best friend to stay outside, and as such went inside. Once that happened, the trio were greeted to the sight of the tent inside, where they could see candle lights lit up and the familiar red colour that dominated everywhere. They also caught sight of the man in Fire Nation black and red armour, sitting behind a table with a large insignia of the Fire Nation behind him. He didn't seem to notice Aang's presence until he looked from his work and came into eye contact of the powerful teen.

"Avatar Aang!" He expressed in mild tone of gratefulness. His tone was something not to too surprising to see, being the fact that the Fire Nation has grown to respect the Avatar. In fact this became more obvious as the officer stood from his seat upon seeing the trio approaching and then doing his nation's signature hand greeting. "It's an honour to have you here, great one." He said humbly.

"Thank you." Aang replied.

Once the greeting had been made, the trio made it to their respective seats. Aang sat the middle, before the man, Katara sat by Aang's left and Sokka sat by his right. For the moment, the scene seemed fine until Sokka took the second to whisper at Aang's ear. "He does know Katara and I are here, right?" He asked.

"Sokka!" Aang hushed at his friend surprised and angry.

Aang's hushed outburst came as a bit of a surprise. It caught Katara's attention, as well as the officer, who calmly saw the Avatar about to speak but decided to interrupt. "It's fine, Avatar, I do not mind."

"What?" Aang and Sokka responded surprised.

"You heard them?" Katara asked, also surprised.

"Not really. But I can read lips." The officer replied calmly. While his tone was normal, he surprisingly chuckled at the three with a pleasant smile. But of course it caught the trio by surprise and became something of the past as the man stood again and greeted the Water Tribe siblings. "It's a great experience having the two mightiest siblings of the Southern Water Tribe." He said calmly. "I am Admiral Kazuki of the Fire Nation naval. I apologize for not greeting you at first. You must understand that things are not of the best conditions right now."

"Uh, it's fine. Thank you." Sokka said back. He felt a bit taken aback by the man's attitude, especially due to the fact that he was a Fire Nation admiral.

Admiral Kazuki, on the other hand, saw nothing wrong with the trio. While it was true that the Fire Nation had been hustle to the trio in the days of the war, especially with the deceased Admiral Zhao, he never saw much against the other nations. In fact he might have shared his thoughts if not that he put the thought away and sat down on his chair, ready to change the subject. He did this with a swift change of his mood which set the trio to know what was coming.

"I wish we could meet on better terms." The Admiral said boldly "However, we have a very big problem that the Fire Nation can't solve alone."

"We know." Aang replied in the same manner.

"I expected such. The Fire Lord holds you in high favour." The Admiral complimented.

"Thank you." Aang said back. "But I think I should be honest and say that he didn't tell us the detail. We wish to know what happened in this town. Whatever it is, we want to help these people."

"Of course." The Admiral nodded.

The time had come and it seemed the Admiral would be the one to speak. But before doing so, he gulped down some spit while keeping a straightforward look before finally speaking. "As you are aware, this island is a mixed culture island of the three nations that has strived in trade and complete unity. Sadly, tragedy struck when an unusual…creature was reported to appear in the early hours of today."

"Early hours of today?" Aang asked abruptly.

Aang's nature surprised everyone as it caught their attention. Katara, Sokka and the Admiral were now facing the boy, with the latter raising a curious eyebrow as he answered. "Yes, early hours. To be precise, it was before dawn."

"No…way." Aang stammered. His eyes grew mildly wide as he lay back on his chair with a strange feeling over his body. "I felt something strange happen that time." He said in revelation.

"What do you mean, Aang?" Katara asked. She had a worried tone in her voice and even kept her worried eyes on her boyfriend, who she could see was having a hard time contemplating what was going on.

"I'm not…sure." Aang admitted honestly. He could still feel something strange on his shoulders but yet couldn't figure it out. But upon turning to his girlfriend's worried eyes, he decided to change his tone and sit back up to face the officer. "I'm sorry I can't give the information you need. Maybe I'll be able to solve this if I'm able to talk with one of the survivors. Is that possible?"

The Admiral nodded instantly. "It is." He answered. "In fact there's one man that survived the creature's killing in close combat with it. I can take you to him right now."

"That would be good, sir." Sokka said. Like the others, he too was covered in the mystery and wanted to find things out.

"Okay. Follow me." The Admiral replied.

At the time, the trio were on their sit until the admiral stood up. Once that happened, they stood from their respective sit and followed the man. There was no conversion between them doing the time especially when they were joined by the guards. In fact the group remained quiet until they arrived at a small red tent with more open ventilation.

However, before entering the tent, the guards were positioned to stay out by the Admiral. He ordered them by his own words before opening the tent for the Avatar and the Water Tribe siblings to enter. There, they saw a man lying on a manmade bed while a woman sat next to him on a wooden stool, cleaning his nasty wounds.

"Oh my." Katara gasped horrifically.

She was right to do so. The reason was due to the man before them having huge burns on his chest, legs and arms, as well as large nasty scar that went across his left arm, his chest and across his face. He was just being treated by the woman when the Admiral drew closer and tapped the woman's shoulder, getting her attention. "I'm sorry, but is it okay if we talked with him?" He asked.

At first, the woman seemed puzzled to do so. She knew the Admiral due to his uniform but knew her duty wasn't over yet. But her thought changed when her eyes became locked on the Avatar, standing with two Water Tribe teenagers. She clearly didn't know what was going on but understand why she had to leave as she then nodded to the Admiral before walking out of the tent, leaving the man to his unexpected visitors.

Just then, the man spoke. "So you're the Avatar huh?" He asked sarcastically. "Nice seeing you came on time."

"Wait, are you being sarcastic?" Sokka asked.

"Yes, I am!" The man yelled angrily. He held a visible hatred towards to the Avatar with tear eyes as he continued. "Where were you?! We were being slaughtered by that monster!"

"That's enough!" The Admiral yelled angrily.

"No!"

The outburst was a shock to everyone, including Aang. The bald head kid lowered his head as he felt his heart tighten upon hearing those words from the man. He knew somehow that it wasn't his fault, but that couldn't keep him from feeling some guilt about it. He even began to feel more pain until Sokka suddenly took a step forward, before Katara could, and yelled at the guy. "It's not Aang's fault!"

"Of course it is! He's the..."

"Avatar? Yeah, we got the news, genius!" Sokka yelled back. "Ever since the war ended, Aang has been working his butt off to satisfy everyone and make sure there's peace all around. So if you can help us so we can stop this…thing that did this to you then that would be great!"

"Sokka!" Katara scowled her brother.

"What? He had to know." Sokka said back at her sister.

In truth, Sokka had the right to do so. He didn't like how Aang was being treated for something he didn't know. The same thing was felt by Katara, who deeply might have done the same. She didn't like his attitude though, but could understand how he felt. Fortunately, his attitude didn't anger Aang as he placed his hand assuredly at his friend who then calmed down upon seeing his face..

Meanwhile, the scarred man watched everything unfold from his position. It didn't mean that he had a change of mind but it was enough to bring him to calm down. "I'm sorry, Avatar." He apologized.

"It's fine." Aang assured him.

Now that the man apologized, things seemed to be of a different light. The trio could still see that the man held much against Aang though, but decided not to bring it up. Instead, Aang took the initiative to walk forward and greet him in the formal hand gesture of the Fire Nation. "Please we need your help." He started by saying. "We don't know what happened here. You were the one who survived the frontal attack against the monster, so I ask pleasantly if you could tell us of the ordeal so we can stop this from ever happening again."

"Is…is that so?" The man asked. His tone against the Avatar had changed just to be replaced with a sad tone."If you do not know, I'm paralyzed." He said unexpectedly. "That monster took my family and good friends like they were nothing. If it weren't for a water bender arriving at the shores and healing my wounds, I would be dead. Right now I'm being treated so I can be taken to the Northern Water Tribe to have their healers help with my paralyzed body."

"I'm so sorry." Sokka apologized.

His tone against the man had changed to that of sympathy. He felt really bad for the man, with the same going for Aang and Katara, who both could do nothing but stare shockingly at the man. The man might have noticed their attitude by the silence as he shook his only moveable part of his body, which was his head. "No, it's okay. I shall tell you of my experience."

"Thank you." Aang said.

The Avatar's words were taken in well as the man sighed. He could still remember everything that happened even before finally narrating it. "It was at the morning of dawn." He started saying. "Not many of the villagers were up, but the traders were up and getting ready for the usual market. I'm a fisherman and a firebender and was with a friend when it happened…when the creature appeared. I've seen massive sea creatures both in person and on pictures, but never have I seen something so evil. He stood on –"

"He?" Sokka questioned. "Hold on. Are you saying you know it's a guy?"

"It seems like it. Now can I continue?"

"Yeah, well...Ow!"

Sokka winced as he held his arm. His sister, on the other hand, held a small glare at her brother keep quiet. Once that was done, the man continued. "Like I was saying, the creature stood on two massive legs, had four huge arms and red bloody eyes that frightened us just by the sight of him looking at you. I remember it having some kind of armour all over him and vicious teeth so sharp I'm sure it can put down a dragon. At first, we were frozen in fear upon it especially when it grabbed a woman and asked her where he was. But of course the woman was scared and not long someone stood up to him. Unfortunately, that brave man didn't make it to speak again. The creature simply laughed before sending the back at his hand against him, crushing him through the market stalls like he was nothing. You should have seen it…it was awful to see. But before we knew it, we were fighting for our lives."

"Wow, that's…" Aang tried to say.

"Horrible." The man said and scoffed. "You don't even know the half of it. The creature tore through us like we were nothing but animals, waiting for it to slaughter us. We tried to fight back; even to the point of putting our lives in danger, but…but it…it just wasn't enough. It shot strange fire from its mouth, used its massive claws to tear through our men and women, tore the trees off the ground with a roar and ruptured the very earth with its feet and hands. I at first stayed out of this by helping my family get to safety, but that creature…it…it saw us…and those who tried to run and came after us."

The man's voice now began to crack. "We-we thought we could escape it. B-but it-it just appeared in a second before us with its smiling grin...I will never forget what it said. It said 'do you really think you can cheat your death?'"

Aang, Katara and Sokka were horrified to hear that. They had their full attention on the man, with deep dread being felt all over their body, as he spoke. Admiral Kazuki, on the other hand, kept quiet with hand at his chin while possessing a mild disturb look on his face as he too listened. He and the others could see how difficult the narration was becoming on the man and felt instantly sorry for him, even as he continued.

"But I couldn't have let the monster get away with it." The man gulped his spit. "Before I knew it, I and the few male villagers charged at the monster, shooting fire and earth in the best of our abilities. I knew I…well thought I wouldn't make it, but I fought anyway for my family to escape. However, that creature…that damn monster…he didn't let that happen. Before we could take in what it could do, his hand changed it some kind of sword which he then used to cut my friends…down…like they were air. Th-the pain…it was just too much! I couldn't take the way he treated them! So I charged at him, ready to release all my anger at him."

"But it didn't work out." The man added with a sad tone. "He simply turned at me and breath out what looked like green fire at me, sending me to the ground. And just when I thought I would die, the flames stopped as the monster approached me, saying 'I'm going to keep you alive, but only so you can deal with the guilt of these women and children's death.' I was confuse by what it meant until I looked forward and saw the fleeing women and children…amongst them my children and wife…sitting together…unable to move for some reason but still able to cry out for you to save them, Avatar."

Aang winced instantly.

"But that doesn't matter now…not anymore." The man added. His voice began to crack as his memory went deeply on that moment he felt useless. He didn't care that his pain and tears were visible on his face, as it felt too much to contain. "I couldn't save them!" He cried out loud. "My own family, I couldn't save them! I mustered the strength to charge at the beast despite my body pain, but it didn't matter! Before I knew what would happen, the creature's hand became a sword that it used to strike across my body! Why am I even still alive?! I failed them!"

He finally couldn't take it anymore. The pain, the memory and the present came into clash on him and caused him to cry so bitterly that it could be heard from outside the tent. Aang could understand his pain, with the same going for Katara and Sokka, as they watched silently with sad faces as the man wept more.

Just then, Aang took the first step to comfort the man. He knew his pain and knew how it felt to feel helpless in an awful situation. However, the young Avatar didn't get the chance due to Admiral Kazuki, who held his hand at the Avatar to stop. Then, before he could respond, he signalled his men to come in, with the woman from before rushing inside.

"Keep him at bay. We do not want anything bad to happen to him again." The Admiral ordered.

In first sight, the situation seemed like a cry of lost. But the admiral knew how PTSD could form and as such was met with swift compliance from his men. He watched for a second how they and the woman went to the man's aid, though with mild protest, before turning to the Avatar and the Water Tribe siblings.

While Katara had to look away, with Sokka leading her out, Aang had his eyes casted to the ground. His face displayed that of pity and guilt as he could hear the man's screams and crying still going on. He knew he wasn't in the man's present position, but he couldn't help but experience some flashback to his shock about those he knew dead. His mind would have gone onwards with it if it weren't for him feeling a soft hand on his shoulder.

At first, Aang felt lost at who touched him as he stood there. But his confusion ceased as he looked at his back only to see the comforting face of the Admiral. "I think it's time we leave." said the senior officer. "We have a case to deal with."

"Okay." Aang nodded.

After seen the negative effective the experience had on a villager, Avatar and the others met outside the tent. They felt bad for what happened and decided to use that as the drive to get them find the cause of the incident.

As for the man who they met, more detail about his survival was revealed. The Admiral believed that the reason the man survived long enough to get help was probably because the sword's tip cut through the surface of his body, doing much damage but still enough for him to live till help arrive. However, the evidence or chance for this to be the case was lacking and as such was left behind.

Later on, Team Avatar and the admiral decided to conduct a search around the island. The Admiral had some of his soldiers grouped into two, one following Sokka and the other following Katara while Aang went on his own. The young Avatar decided to search on his own as he believed he could cover more ground and fend for himself better if the creature showed up. So with that, the search began throughout the island.

So far, the search started out well and organised as intended. The soldiers with Katara and Sokka were able to find more areas of the creature's destruction while Aang took to the air by his staff-turned-glider to search for anything odd. He used that time to also think of what the creature was and if it indeed was a spirit. But also doing that time he realized how much he missed Momo, his flying lemur, who for the time being was with Toph in her Earthbending school.

As time went on, Aang concluded his search and decided to mediate. He had spent the last hour looking over the island in search of the creature or anything that could lead to its whereabouts but found nothing. As such, he decided to find an alternative to his search.

'I should find a place to meditate.' Aang thought to himself.' Maybe I can find him through that.'

Hence, his decision had been made as he shifted directions. He flew around a bit with his glider before landing on a hill that served some view of the rest of the island. There, he sat in his usual nomad style and closed his eyes, patiently being in tuned with nature and his surroundings.

Just then, Aang became sucked in something unexpected. His body could feel a dark aura forming around him like a fog coming in fast and taking everything in its reach. He couldn't understand what this could be neither could be contemplate the malicious laughter and the sounds of large stomping that resembled that of something coming closer towards him.

Suddenly, the Avatar gasped before snapping his eyes open. He expected to find himself back on the hill, able to see the sun in the sky like before. However, he found himself wrong as he saw the sky looked much disrupted and unlike anything he ever saw. The skies had red cracks crossing each other as darkness and lightning shot out from what remained of it in a scary fashion.

"Where am I?" Aang asked him, looking confused.

"Aang…Avatar Aang?" questioned a female voice.

Aang heard the voice but felt confused at it. He hadn't heard the voice before but yet could recognize it from the tip of his heard. Unfortunately, when he turned to the source of the voice, he was horrified at what he saw.

Before him, Aang saw two familiar looking faces. The first on his left was Avatar Roku and the one at the other was a Water Tribe girl possessing a tomboyish look, with both of them tied around a big pole by green shining ropes.

"Avatar Roku?" Aang questioned, looking confused. He could see the Avatar looking defeated with his Fire Nation clothes in shreds, while the girl at his right looked the same. "Avatar…Korra? Wait, how do I know that name?" He asked.

Looking at the moment, none of it made sense. Aang wanted answers and even thought about asking further when he felt a tremor coming behind him. It made feel confuse and curious until he turned back to the cause, only to then inwardly wish he hadn't.

Before the Avatar, the world looked to be way out of balance. It was beyond what the Avatar could ever imagine or think of, especially with what he was seeing. He saw chaos and complete disorder rampage in the form of massive volcanoes forming from ground and shooting lava and ashes into the ground and the earth while tornadoes went about destroying any living thing of nature in sight. Unfortunately, even with all that it didn't make it worse. In fact, the thing that added to it was the sight of numerous monsters from the spirit world flooding into the air with dark auras around them.

Truly, there was no doubt in the Avatar's mind that things couldn't be worse. Sadly, this didn't seem to be the case as he head a moan from a familiar voice. It sounded recognizable and yet so close that it caught Aang's attention to look down with bafflement.

"Toph!" He shouted in shock.

True to his eyes, it was indeed Toph on the ground. However, unlike the last he saw of her, the girl lay totally defeated and beaten with wound marks and scratches on her clothes. The girl looked so bad and helpless that Aang was just about to help her when he looked forward and found that Toph was not alone. In fact, from the defeated earthbender, Katara, Sokka, their father, Zuko, Azula, the Swamp people, Suki, the Kyoshi warriors and others he considered allies lay on the ground either dead or defeated.

"No…no…what could have done this?" Aang asked, horrified at what he was seeing.

Aang began to feel like he had enough of what he was seeing. He could literally feel his emotion getting the best of him as he stared at his friends and wonder how they ended up like this. The Avatar couldn't take his mind from them though, not until he felt the ground shake again.

Usually, at this point, Aang wouldn't mind the tremor. He had gotten too used to it and also didn't want to see what was worse. However, his curiosity got the better of him due to the ground feeling like two huge feet were heading his way. It began coming closer and closer until the Avatar had no other choice than to turn back and see the source of the shaking.

Over the years, Aang had met strange looking creatures. He met the Lion-Turtle, a giant creature that sounds exactly as it, and the face-stealer spirit that caused one of his past life pain. However, having met all that and more, nothing could have prepared Aang for the creature standing before him.

Aang stood a few feet while the creature looked down on him. He didn't know what to call the creature due to its strange and ugly appearance. It stood thirty feet on the ground, had four arms and wore blue battle armour that covered most of its body, had four red eyes and a grin so evil that Aang could feel darkness from it.

If Aang was any honest to himself, he would admit to be scared. Fortunately, his fear didn't hold near to the rage he began to feel upon resting his eyes on the creature. In fact, he felt so angry that his face changed to a complete snarl as he took a bold step forward.

"You did this, didn't you?" Aang yelled in demand. "Tell me why? They didn't do anything to you!"

At this point, Aang could snap easily if he wanted. His back was against those who he loved while his front was against the creature who stood between the defeated looking Roku and Korra. By the look on his face, it was clear the Avatar wanted answers and to takedown the creature if it came to it. However, his question was only met with a chuckle as the creature lad its two upper arms on top of the poles, incinerating Roku and Korra in green fire.

"NOOO!" Aang screamed. His voice cried out in a mix of horror and shock, part of it being that he didn't expect the creature to end the two Avatars.

Just then, Aang decided he had enough. He tightened his fist while a look of anger and hatred overcame his face before he took a step forward. He had his right side at the creature before sending his tightened fist forward, intending to shoot out fire. However, he immediately became shocked when he found he couldn't bend.

"What's the matter, boy?" asked the creature sarcastically. Its first words were clear mockery to the Avatar, who now stood shock at his hands raised at his face. But before he could speak, the creature spoke again as it sent the back of its right upper hand against him. "Your world is dead!" It yelled.

By the looks of it, the creature seemed right. Unfortunately, Aang had no time to react as the creature's large arm sent him flying into the air. It had a mighty blow on the Avatar as it sent him screaming through the air before hitting the ground, tumbling before coming to a stop. But just when he was about to get up he felt the ground shake like something just landed on the earth.

"Do you see that, human?" The creature asked. It still stood in its giant form as it looked down on the Avatar.

At the same time, Aang didn't need to look to know who was speaking to him. He felt curious and confused by what the creature said with the thought that it wouldn't be good. But rather let it intimidate him, he grunted and boldly stood up with an angry glare at it. "What are you talking about?" He asked.

Aang had seen enough and felt anger towards the being. His eyes showed how serious he was but held a bit of confusion to what the creature meant. However, whether this intimidated the creature in anyway went unnoticed as it pointed one of its large fingers at the Avatar's back. It was even confusing at first until Aang looked back, only to then gasped.

The place Aang stood looked different entirely. He didn't know if this was due to the creature's attack early or something else, but he did feel a lot. The reason for all this was because right before him he could see a devastated field with many Avatars, both past and future, lying on the ground. Aang felt so baffled and shock that he could only feel himself freeze in place while tears rushed from his eyes.

"Now do you see?" The creature asked. It had the sound of pride in the way it spoke, partly because it enjoyed watching the Avatar's feeling.

Just then, the creature decided it had enough. It could enjoy seeing the boy's reaction for as long as it wanted, but it decided to end him while in shock. So with that, it raised its large foot above the boy and watched as he turned to him with a look of fear in his eyes.

"Now…go join then." It said evilly. It then followed its statement by sending its large foot down on the Avatar, which was then followed by screaming.

"AHHHH!" Aang screamed.

The Avatar could feel his heart beating as darkness covered his sight. He was unaware of what was happening until he forced his eyes open just to find himself sitting back on the hill with the sun still in the skies. The entire scene looked entirely different from the devastation he saw earlier, and so was followed by a feeling of relief.

"It wasn't real." Aang said with a relieved voice.

"What wasn't real?" asked a male voice.

The voice felt very close as it sounded curious In fact, it was so close that when Aang turned in surprise his face met closely with the owner's face he shrieked in surprise and lost his balance on the hill. As a result, he tumbled all the way down to the bottom before finally sitting up with a groan and a bit of dizzy.

"Uh…who was that?" He asked, rubbing his head.

"That would be me." answered the voice.

Prior to this, Aang would have thought he had seen enough surprises. He was the Avatar and seen a lot of crazy and unexplainable things that only a few people in the world would know. But then his intuition on that changed upon looking up and seeing a teenager flying in the air.

"AAHH! You-You're flying?"

"Uh yeah, I am. Awesome, right?" The male said amused.

When Aang first laid eyes on the person, he barely had time to look over him. However with the time now, he got a clear look of the person floating in the air like nothing. He had grey coloured skin, wore a strange black clothing with green stripes (A/N: A jumpsuit)that connected to his shoulders and then to his chest where a hourglass looking device rested and a purple cloak which was rested down to reveal his face.

"So…I guess this must be awkward huh? My bad." The being said and smiled sheepishly.

"Uh…yeah." Aang replied, feeling unsure.

Aang had seen a lot but the being before him seemed different. He didn't feel fearful of him as he stood up while the being landed on the ground before him. Once both of them had their eyes properly at each other, Aang made the first move.

"Are you a spirit?" He asked.

"Spirit?" questioned the being. He stared confused at the Avatar before smirking and waving his hand at him. "Nah. Right now I'm just a sorcerer…demon thing."

"Demon?" Now it was Aang's turn to question him. "I'm sorry but what's that?"

"It's nothing." The person disputed.

"Okay?" Aang replied, unsure. He looked at the person before him with a sceptic look due to a feeling that he was hiding something. But instead of ponder on that, he took a second to clear his mind and look a bit demanding at the person. "So do you mind telling me who you are? You sent me down a hill."

"Uh, first that was you." The person pointed out. "And second, I'm currently Darkmare."

"Darkmare?" Aang said. "Huh, I can't say I haven't heard weirder names."

"Ha. Good one." Darkmare replied.

So far his attitude had been good towards the Avatar. He possessed a dark aura that Aang seemed to notice as they both were facing each other. Aang thought then to be forward with the teenager again but found himself not doing so as the strange teen spoke again, this time serious.

"I'm sorry if this is sudden but I need your help." He said urgently "I think you'll be interested."

"My help? With what?" Aang asked, mildly curious.

"Nefarius."Darkmare answered. "He's the creature that you saw in that vision."

"You saw that? How?" Aang questioned. He became a bit wide eyed upon the revelation and the shock that this strange teen had seen his vision. It then dawned on him that Darkmare might be dangerous, hence he clutched his fist and glared sharply at him.

"Oh…that." Darkmare said hesitant. He seemed nervous at first and scratched the back of his head while still looking at Aang. "Wellll…you see, in this form I have a punch of magical powers and one of them allows me to go into a person's mind anytime I want. But that doesn't matter now."

Aang glared with a scowling look. 'How does that not matter? You were in my head?' He said in his mind.

Deeply, Aang had much nerve against Darkmare. He didn't like the intrusion the creature had done, nor did he seem like he could trust him. In fact, he would have spoken about it if not that he changed his attitude upon noticing the sudden serious look on his face.

"Besides, we have to hurry." Darkmare stated. "Your world is in huge trouble if we don't act fast."

Just then, Darkmare did something unexpected. He sent his hand over to the strange hourglass Aang saw on his chest and pressed on it. On that moment, the strange being became engulfed in green light before it died down revealing a young normal boy wearing black shirt underneath a green jacket and wearing blue pants.

"Let's start over." said the boy. He possessed a bright smile on his face before the Avatar before reaching his hand out to him. "Hi, I'm Ben Tennyson and you are?"

"Um, Aang." Aang said back. "Avatar Aang."

By the way things are, Aang didn't know if he should act against the boy. One moment the boy was strange and the next he stood as a normal boy who looked somehow similar to his other form. He knew he could go ahead and be seemingly opposed to him him, but chose not to as he accepted his open hand and allowed him to shake his and his own before letting go.

"Well, Aang, our worlds is in trouble and it's up to us to stop it." Ben said confidently.

The time had been strange until now coming to this point. Aang didn't know what to think about Ben or his sudden transformation. But he changed any negative feeling towards him as a bold look came over his face as glimpses of his vision came into mind. "You don't have to tell me twice." He replied.

"Okay. So will you help me?" Ben asked.

"Yes." Aang nodded.

Until now neither of them knew each other well. They both met in an awkward and strange way which has now led to what would be a great alliance against Nefarius. Now it can only be hoped that two of the multiverse most powerful teenagers would be able to defeat the biggest threat that ever lived.

AUTHOR WORDS:

And we're done. I think this chapter is as good as it had even though it had little action. There was a lot I wanted to put like certain characters, who in the end I removed because their involvement would have made the chapter longer than it needed. So if you're curious these chapters were Momo, Toph, Suki and the Kyoshi Warriors.

Anyway, by now you're probably wondering if I would take another five months to update, which I won't. Instead I've decided that I'll update at least one or two chapters a month. I'm aware it just means I'll take long but at least it's better than no update. I'm actually busy with a lot of things, which fortunately I will squeeze more time to write this story so that way by the middle or towards the end of the year we'll be in the next crossover. I apologize that this chapter took way too long to arrive. I will try not to let that repeat itself.

So for Darkmare, some of you may be wondering which form he is. So just for your reminder, Darkmare is the form Ben acquires from Raven from the Teen Titans crossover. I thought about bringing him since it's been so long and his ability to go into minds. His description on this chapter though was somewhat limited due to Aang's world being backwards compared to Ben's world. I plan on bringing other former forms like Kid Impervious (Superman form) and Eerinferno (Phantom form) soon.

Now then, on to the reviews.

REVIEW REPLIES:

Corbinskydragon1: Thank you so much for the reply. I appreciate what you do for writers. A review (especially a well detailed one) really helps writers like myself to keep writing. I love writing and honestly I don't I'll ever stop. As for Ben being an Anodite, I think you got things mistaken of the last chapter. You see, what Ben was having was the worse psychological issues (He watched his friends and their worlds die and almost witnessed his own family and world being next) and massive amount of power within him while being Ultimate Ben (The details of it will be explained in the next chapter). However, you are not far off from Ben being an Anodite or about to reveal it again (I say that because the last time he went through being an Anodite was when he and Dexter invaded Nefarius's lair). Anyway, I apologize for dearly for the super delay. I hope you're still interested in this story.

Switch-On-97: Yeah, I apologize for the confusion. I get how that can be confusing. Let me explain. If you've watched the Ben 10 crossover with Generator Rex, you would know that Rex befriended Ben before he went to his world. As such, this chapter takes place sometime after that event. The Ben in my story is an alternate version of the Ben 10 he met, which is why Rex was confused by Ben's advances. I hope this clears this up.

Tooniverse: Thank you. I'm glad you liked the chapter.

Rocker On: You sent multiple reviews (which I appreciate very much) and so I will reply accordingly to each.

Yes, he can. But he prefers just staying in his human-Alien X form.

Sorry but Chromostone won't be involved. I don't think I've used him since Hero meets Teen Titans). I'm aware of what he can do and about Aggregor losing his powers, but even if he loses them not everything will return to normal. He basically destroyed planets and people, so no there won't be an easy happy ending. It's true that Ben 10 copied much of Doctor Who but then again I can't blame them since I hear the show itself is great. Also, we'll get to finally see the Ninja Turtle form in the next chapter while the Powerpuff form will be involved majorly in an arc. There's a major reason why the alien form hasn't made its debut and if you want to know I'll have to tell you in private.

Yes, he can turn into the experiments from Lilo and Stitch. But I think if I get to that he would just have Stitch's DNA and not the others despite how cool some of their abilities are. I haven't planned out the next crossover since it's a long time away and I'm not even close to the ending of this crossover. But when I do get to it and if Ben gets Stitch's powers, he probably won't speak like Stitch.

Yes, I know and I'm sorry. I promise this crossover will end this year.

(Review from my other story) I don't really know much about Doctor Who. As for Deadpool, he's a crazy guy with a crazy power that just seems illogical. Anyway, big thanks for your suggestion. It helped partly to get over my block and write the chapter. I appreciate your reviews and hope you're still interested in this story. However, I won't get a catchphrase. I thought about it and tried to use it but found it just wasn't me.

REVIEW REPLIES END

Well that ends all that. Thank you all for reading and please keep an eye out for the next chapter. You can review, favourite and follow this story if you want. It would be appreciated very much. Bye!