Hey, guys! Welcome to the new chapter of Avatar: The Blue Spectator Chronicles! I hope you guys will enjoy it...anyway, I don't own anything, except for my OC's.
NOW LET'S GET ON WITH THE STORY!
"Water."
A man wearing Nothern Water Tribe clothes weaves a stream of water from the ground as he twirls it around him before thrusting it to the side.
"Earth."
A man wearing Earth Kingdom attire kicks the ground, bringing up a large rock as he punched it to smithereens.
"Fire."
A woman wearing Fire Nation attire crouches down as she summons hot flames from under her feet, before leaping up as she did a spinning high-kick that spreads the fire around.
"Air."
A man, wearing Air Nomad clothing, lands on the ground gracefully as he then proceeds to make a circular motion with his hands and summons a gust of wind as he formed it into a ball and throws it at the readers.
"Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony." Katara's voice was heard as we see a glimpse of each individual nation and people living in harmony. "But that all changed when the Fire Nation attacked," Katara says as we see hundreds of Fire Nation ships invading other cities and burning them to the ground.
"Only the Avatar, master of all four elements, could stop them," Katara says as we see the Avatar standing on top of a pillar as he grinned, and his eyes glowed blue as he proceeds to perform multiple bending techniques at once. He started out by summoning a Tsunami, then splitting a mountain in half, generating giant torrents of fire by his hands and feet, and summoning an air sphere around him that levitated him off the ground. "But when the world needed him most...he vanished," Katara says as the Avatar suddenly vanished, and we fast forwards a hundred years later, where we see the decimation left by the Fire Nation as they burned everything sight without mercy, not caring who gets in their way as long as they achieve victory in the war.
"A hundred years have passed, and there was no sign of hope of the Firebenders ceasing their attack, but that all changed when my brother and I've discovered a boy who fell from the stars, an alien soldier named Naxon Ecojifan." Katara says as we see her past self, and Sokka looking up in shock as an unknown object fell down from the sky and crashed down as they investigated the crash site, and were surprised to see a wounded Naxon came out of his ship as he crashed down on the floor, and Katara look down at him worriedly while Sokka stared at him suspiciously.
"Naxon explained to us about the war going on his own planet Elysium, and how the Ventis, a race of hostile aliens led by the great and powerful General Tes'lar, effectively dominated them," Katara says as we cue to space, where we see General Tes'lar commanding his Ventis army to take down the Detanons, who tried to fight back but were quickly overwhelmed as they were forced to retreat.
"But the Detanons haven't lost hope as Naxon and his uncle formulated a plan to prepare a base for the Detonans on Earth. Once the base was constructed, Naxon and his people will reunite to end their war once and for all." Katara says as we see the Detanons retreating to a large tower and ran over to the escape pods while Naxon and Tarkal were formulating a plan. After agreeing with his uncle's plan, Naxon had left for Planet CV-52, but not before giving one last somber look at his planet as he promised his people that he will come back and flew off.
"After explaining his backstory, we had agreed to help him and taken him in as one of our own. A few weeks after going on a fishing trip, my brother, my friend, and I have discovered the new Avatar, an Airbendender named Aang." Katara says as we see her past self, Sokka, and Naxon finding Aang trapped in an iceberg as his eyes and tattoos were glowing brightly. "And although his airbending skills are great, he has a lot to learn before he's ready to save anyone," Katara says as we see Aang standing in a meadow with a grin on his face as he created an air sphere and jumped on it as he laughed and rolled across the meadow, but lost control as he crashed against a stone column and fell down.
"But luckily, he's not alone as Aang will get help from an old friend," Katara says as we see Aang standing on top of a mountain's peak, looking down at the four nations that he will be protecting as Aang feels a little bit nervous, but calms down as a blue glove was placed on his shoulder, and Aang looks up to see Naxon giving him a reassuring smile while wearing his Blue Spectator Armor as Aang smiled and grew determined as the Avatar, and The Blue Spectator looks down at the four nations fearlessly, ready to face whatever danger comes their way.
{Book 1: Water-Chapter 3: The Southern Air Temple}
It was a beautiful morning on a small, luscious island as we zoom in and see Naxon and the others packing up for their long trip as they had previously decided to stay a couple of nights on the island to gather up some supplies and give Naxon a few days to get used to his new Blue Spectator abilities while also explaining to Aang and his friends about his new abilities and the history of the Blue Spectator and his spectator group, the Multi-Color Spectators. Suffice it to say, Aang and Katara were amazed by the story while Sokka seemed skeptical, but after seeing Naxon's abilities in action, he started believing Naxon a bit. Anyway, after a few days of training, Naxon had managed to get a decent grasp of his new abilities, although he couldn't control his energy abilities yet as he could only produce a blue shockwave right about now, so he and the gang decided that it was time that they gather up their supplies and head out to Aang's old home, the Southern Air Temple.
"Wait until you see it, guys! The Air Temple is one of the most beautiful places in the world!" Aang says to his friends excitedly, who were sitting on Appa's saddle as Naxon was helping out Katara with their luggage while Aang was checking that the knots on Appa's horns were securely fastened and Soka...was still lying down on the ground on a sleeping bag as he snored loudly.
"Aang, we know you're excited, but it's been a hundred years since you've been home." Katara says to the young boy worriedly as Naxon nodded.
"Yeah, man, a lot of things can change in a hundred years. Changes that you might...not like." Naxon says as he and Katara didn't share Aang's enthusiasm, knowing full well that the Southern Air Temple was most likely deserted and destroyed due to a surprise ambush by the Fire Nation a hundred years ago...Katara and Soka had informed Naxon what really happened to Aang's people a couple of days ago while Aang was off playing with Appa.
"Don't worry, guys, I'm not that naive to think that nothing changed had over the past century, but that's why I'm so excited to go there! I can't wait to see the next generation of Airbenders! I bet they're going to be really cool!" Aang says cheerfully before jumping off Appa as Naxon and Katara turned to each other worriedly.
"I-I don't think he remembered about his people being...you know, extinct," Katara says as Naxon shakes his head with a sigh.
"No, I think that Aang knows full well what happened to his people. He's just in denial. Trying to imagine that nothing horrible happens to his people, but this is why we have to go to the Southern Air Temple. So that Aang can finally realize the reality of the situation and gives him some closure." Naxon says as Katara frowned but nodded as they continued loading up their luggage.
"Wake up, Sokka!" Aang shouted while landing on the ground softly due to his airbending as he walks over to a sleeping Sokka and pokes him. "Air Temple, here we come!" Aang says enthusiastically as Sokka wakes up and groans as he glared mildly at Aang.
"Sleep now. Temple later." Sokka grunted out sleepily before turning around as he closes his eyes and falls back to sleep. Aang, whose big eyes blink in surprise, looks discontent with Sokka's lazy attitude but then smiles mischievously as Aang grabs a nearby small, thin stick and turned back to a sleeping Sokka.
"Sokka! Wake up! There's a prickle snake in your sleeping bag!" Aang shouted with a fake alarmed look while moving the stick up and down Sokka's sleeping bag as the Southern Water Tribe teen lazily opens one eye...before yelling out in horror as he quickly rises and hops around, all the while still inside his sleeping bag as Naxon and Aang laughed at this while Katara giggled.
"Aah! Get it off! Get it off!" Sokka screamed in fear before tripping as he slams headfirst against the ground and slowly raised his dirt-covered head to reveal an irritated look as he figured out the small prank that Aang gave him.
"Great! You're awake! Let's go!" Aang says happily before turning around as he started marching towards Appa with a grumbling Sokka glaring at him as he struggled to break free from his sleeping bag. Meanwhile, elsewhere, we cue to a harbor, where several massive Fire Nation ships could be seen lined up next to each other as we also see Zuko's small, unimpressive, half-froze/half-broken ship docked in between them.
"Uncle, I want the repairs made as quickly as possible. I don't want to stay too long and risk losing their trail." Zuko says while making his way down the walkway of his ship with his uncle as Iroh followed after his nephew lazily.
"You mean the Avatar and the Blue Spectator?" Iroh says disinterestedly as Zuko turned to him sharply and glared at him.
"Don't mention their names on these docks! Once word gets out that the...A word is alive, and that he is friends with someone as powerful as him, every Firebender will be out looking for them, and I don't want anyone getting in my way...wait, who's the Blue Spectator?" Zuko asked confusedly as Iroh was about to answer, but then-
"The what now?" A confused voice says as the duo turned around and were shocked to see the leader of the Fire Nation Navy walking up to them with a fierce glare as Zuko glared back at him while Iroh simply stares at him silently. Standing before them was a 38-year-old male with short dark brown hair pulled back into a ponytail, dark brown sideburns, light skin, Amber-colored eyes, and wears a standard Fire Nation Military Uniform. His name is Zhao, leader of the Fire Nation Navy.
"Oh, Prince Zuko? I'm surprised to see you here." Zhao says with a sneer as Zuko scoffed and crossed his arms at him in contempt.
"Captain Zhao," Zuko says with a clear dislike in his voice as Zhao smirked at him smugly.
"It's Commander now, Prince Zuko," Zhao says before turning to a silent Iroh as he bows to him with respect. "And General Iroh. The great hero of our nation."
"Retired general," Iroh says while bowing back as he frowned slightly at being called his nation's greatest hero, but didn't say anything as Zhao turned to back to a fuming Zuko and smiled at him mockingly while placing his arms behind his back.
"The Fire Lord's brother and son are welcome guests anytime. What brings you to my harbor?"
"Our ship is being repaired," Iroh explains while gesturing to their ship, which was still banged up thanks to Aang and Naxon's attack as Zhao's eyes widen slightly.
"That's...quite a bit of damage."
"Yes. You wouldn't believe what happened." Zuko says hesitantly as Zhao nodded and waited for his explanation as Zuko tried to come up with something...but failed as he turned to his uncle. "Uncle! Tell Commander Zhao what happened!" Zuko says as Iroh's eyes open wide in surprise and glared at his nephew subtly before turning to Zhao with a big, fake smile on his face.
"Yes. I will do that. It was incredible...what? Did we crash or something?" Iroh asked his nephew confusedly as Zuko glances at his uncle uncomfortably and nodded hesitantly.
"Yes! Right into...an Earth Kingdom ship!" Zuko says as Iroh mentally facepalmed at his ridiculous lie, and Zhao raised an eyebrow in disbelief.
"Really? You must regale me with all of the thrilling details. Join me for a drink." Zhao says with a smirk while getting into Zuko's face as the young teenager squirmed uncomfortably in his face and awkwardly looks away.
"Sorry, but we have to go," Zuko says while walking away as Zhao watched him go with an evil smile.
"Prince Zuko, show Commander Zhao your respect." Iroh scolded his nephew, stopping Zuko in his tracks as he turned around and watched in disbelief as Iroh turned to face Zhao and smiled at him broadly. "We would be honored to join you. Do you have any ginseng tea? It's my favorite." Iroh says cheerfully as Zhao smirked and nodded as they walked off. Zuko grunts in anger as he firebends a small arc out of annoyance at his uncle's antics, but reluctantly decided to follow after the adults as he grumbles curses under his breath. Back with Naxon and the others, we see them soaring through the skies on Appa as Aang and Katara were sitting on top of the bison's head while Sokka and Naxon were sitting in the back as the young alien soldier was resting peacefully against Appa's saddle, but then his sleep was ruined by Sokka as the young teen's stomach started growling loudly, much to Naxon's annoyance as he opened his eyes and glared at him.
"Hey, do you mind? I'm trying to get some Z's." Naxon says as Sokka smiled at him sheepishly.
"Sorry, sorry." Sokka apologized before glaring down at his stomach. "Hey, stomach, be quiet, all right? I'm trying to find some food." Sokka says, scolding his stomach as if he was his child as the young Water Tribe teen started going through his luggage and pulls out a small bag as he licks his lips hungrily and sticks his hand into the bag to pull out some delicious snacks...but came out empty-handed as he gasped in shock. "Hey! Who ate all of my blubbered seal jerkies?!" Sokka asked, causing Naxon and Aang to wince as they gave an annoyed Sokka a sheepish look.
"Oh, that was food? I used it to start the campfire last night. Sorry, Sokka." Aang says apologetically.
"And I ate some when I got hungry during my training a couple of days ago," Naxon says with a guilty smile on his face as Sokka stared at the boys with his jaw dropped in shock.
"You two what!? Aw, no wonder the flames smelled so good! And I knew that your breath smelled familiar!" Sokka yelled while pointing at Naxon accusingly as the alien teen smiled nervously and scooted away as Sokka was about to continue complaining, but then suddenly Appa races past and ascends up to some mountains as Aang beams and turned to his friends excitedly.
"The Patola Mountain range! We're almost there!" Aang shouted while basically bouncing in his seat in excitement as Katara smiled at this at first but then frowned as she turned to him uneasily.
"Aang, before we get to the temple, I want to talk to you about the Airbenders."
"What about 'em?" Aang asked cheerfully with his usual innocent look on his face as Katara felt bad about breaking this depressing news on him but realized that she needed to tell him, so with a heavy sigh, Katara gave him a serious look.
"Well, I just want you to be prepared for what you might see. The Fire Nation is ruthless. They killed my mother, and they could have done the same for your people." Katara says as Naxon suddenly pops up in between them while resting his head and arms on Appa's saddle as he nodded solemnly.
"What's she is saying might be the truth, Aang. Remember when we first appeared on the Southern Water Tribe and Gran-Gran mention something about your people being...well...extinct?" Naxon asked cautiously as Aang's excitement dies down and began pondering over what his friends are trying to say as he frowned subtly.
"Well, I guess something might have happened to them...but just because no one has seen an Airbender, it doesn't mean the Fire Nation killed them all. They probably escaped!" Aang says hopefully as Naxon and Katara glanced at each other knowingly as they knew that the Airbenders likely haven't escaped, but didn't want to break Aang's hope, so with a sigh, they turned to Aang and nodded hesitantly as the young Airbender beams and grabs onto Appa's reins.
"Yip-Yip!" Aang shouted as Appa roared and flies past to begin the last ascent up the side of a mountain as he flew through the clouds. Aang holds onto the reins tightly as Katara held onto to Aang tightly while shutting her eyes as Naxon held onto Appa's saddle and Sokka held onto Appa's saddle and fur respectively as Appa's flight speed slowly stops, and the group was surprised to see the Southern Air Temple resting on top of a large mountain as Aang smiled widen and he turned to his shocked friends as he held out his hands proudly.
"There it is! The Southern Air Temple!"
"Aang, it's amazing!" Katara says in awe with her brother nodding in agreement as Naxon stared at the large building silently, memorized by its beauty as stars appeared in his eyes.
"It's so beautiful!" Naxon says as Aang smiled at his friend's reaction and turned to look at the temple as his happy smile slowly turned into a worried frown as he saw that there was hardly any Airbender insight.
"Where is everybody?" Aang thought to himself confusedly as he tries to look for an Airbender, but couldn't spot one as he felt his spirits deflate a bit. "M-Maybe, Katara and Naxon were right. Maybe s-something really did happen to my people...wait, what am I thinking? They're probably hiding from plain sight on the fear of the Fire Nation spotting them! Yeah, that's right." Aang thought to himself nervously while shakily grabbing his reins as Naxon, Katara, and Sokka noticed him staring at the Southern Air Temple quietly, and the teens turned to each other concernedly, knowing that soon enough, their innocent friend will soon have his face slapped with reality and when he does, Naxon and the Water Tribe teens will make sure to be there to comfort him.
Meanwhile, in the Fire Nation Harbor, we see a number of tents lined up in front of the ships with one of the bigger tents being guarded by two Fire Nation Soldiers as we zoom in and see Zhao standing in front of a large map of the Avatar World that was hunged up on a wall as Zuko was sitting on a table behind him with an irritated look on his face while his uncle Iroh was currently inspecting some weapons that are placed against the wall.
"...And by the year's end, the Earth Kingdom capital will be under our rule," Zhao says as the young commander was currently regaling them of his invasion plan to Zuko and Iroh. "The Fire Lord will finally claim victory in this war," Zhao says with a smirk while turning around to face Zuko as he saw the young teen rolling his eyes at him in annoyance.
"If my father thinks the rest of the world will follow him willingly, then he is a fool!" Zuko says angrily as Zhao smiled at him amusedly and walked up to him as he sat beside the scared teen.
"Two years at sea have done little to temper your tongue. So, how is your search for the Avatar going?" Zhao asked as Zuko flinched and was about to come up with a lie when suddenly Iroh knocks over a weapon display behind them as the Former Fire Nation General cowers at the noise and the damage that he unintentionally caused as Zhao turned to glare at him in annoyance and Iroh smiled at him nervously.
"Eh...my fault, entirely," Iroh says sheepishly while placing his hands in his sleeves as he slowly walks away.
"We haven't found him yet," Zuk says aggressively, trying to pretend that he was frustrated with not being able to find him yet as Zhao smirked mockingly and scoffed.
"Did you really expect to? The Avatar died a hundred years ago. Along with the rest of the Airbenders." Zhao says through slanted eyes as Zuko sweated nervously and looks away as the Commander spotted this and raises his eyebrow suspiciously as he leans into Zuko's side. "Unless you have found some evidence that the Avatar is alive? And what about this Blue Spectator you were walking about earlier? Who's he?" Zhao asked as Zuko panicked mentally, but composed himself as he took a deep breath and slowly to turn to Zhao with a fierce glare.
"No. I haven't found the Avatar nor any evidence suggesting that he's alive. And this Blue Spectator thing is a silly rumor that I heard from a couple of villagers about a teenager being as strong as the Avatar and wielding strange, somewhat magical abilities. But I can assure you that it's all just make-believe." Zuko says as Zhao raised an eyebrow at him in disbelief before sighing as he stood up and placed his arms behind his back as he started circling around Zuko.
"Prince Zuko, the Avatar is the only one who can stop the Fire Nation from winning this war. And if the rumors are true about this 'Blue Spectator' person being just as powerful as the Avatar, then he can be either a friend to us or a foe. Either way, he seems too powerful to be left unchecked." Zhao says while stopping in front of Zuko as he leans and narrowed his eyes at him. "And if you have an ounce of loyalty left, you'll tell me what you found about them." Zhao threatens as Zuko steeled his nerves and glared at him angrily.
"I told you, I haven't found anything," Zuko says, slightly more aggressive than before as Zhao was unfazed by this and continued glaring at him as Zuko stood up and turned to him stoically. "It's like you said. The Avatar probably died a long time ago." Zuko says in a softer yet slightly mocking tone as Zhao narrowed his eyes at him in annoyance. "And like I said before, the Blue Spectator is just a rumor and nothing else. Come on, Uncle, we're going." Zuko says to Iroh, who nodded as they were about to walk out of the tent when suddenly, the guards appeared and stopped them from leaving as a third soldier enters the tent.
"Commander Zhao, we interrogated the crew as you instructed. They confirmed Prince Zuko had the Avatar and a person claiming to call himself, 'The Blue Spectator', in custody, but Prince Zuko let them escape." The Fire Nation Soldier says as Zhao smirked evilly while Zuko mentally cursed at his crew members as Zhao walked up to him and smiled at him tauntingly.
"Just a rumor, huh? Oh, and remind me, how, exactly, was your ship damaged again?" Zhao asked as Zuko remained quiet but looks down in defeat as he growled in anger.
"Come on, guys! Let's go!" Aang shouted excitedly while landing Appa on the base of the snow-covered stairs of the Southern Air Temple as he jumped off his large beastly friend and landed on the ground as he ran off with a laugh.
"Wait, for us, Aang!" Naxon yelled as he and the others jumped out of Appa and ran after a cheerful Aang as they started climbing up the set of stairs that will take them to the Air Temple above.
"So, does anyone know where can I get something to eat?" Sokka asked while clutching his growling stomach with both of his hands as he had a sour look on his face.
"You're lucky enough to be one of the first outsiders to ever visit an Airbender Temple, and all you can think about is food?" Katara asked, irritated as she and the others caught up with Aang, and they turned a corner as Sokka shrugged at his sister's response.
"I'm just a simple guy with simple needs."
"Which roughly translates you being an idiot," Naxon says with a smirk as Sokka glared at him comically, and Katara and Aang laughed as they finally reached the top of the Southern Air Temple and Aang beams as he spotted something that made him smile widely.
"Hey, guys, look! That's where my friends and I would play airball!" Aang shouted to his friends while pointing at a large stadium consisting of many tall poles. "And over there is where the bison would sleep," Aang says while pointing at a large barren area. "And...and..." Aang says before trailing off as he went silent, and the trio turned to each other worriedly as they approached Aang, who was staring at the deserted remains of his home sadly as his clothes ruffled against the wind.
"What's wrong?" Katara asked as Aang sighed heavily.
"This place used to be full of monks and lemurs and bison. Now there's just a bunch of weeds. I can't believe how much things have changed." Aang says while squinting his eyes with sadness as he continued staring at his barren home solemnly. Katara and Sokka give each other sympathetic looks while Naxon walked up to Aang as he placed his hand on his shoulder and smiled at him lightly.
"So, Aang wants to show us how this airball game works?" Naxon asked, trying to distract Aang from his sadness as the Water Tribe siblings realized what he was planning and played along as they walked up to the duo.
"Yeah, can you teach us how to play the game?" Sokka asked as Aang turned to his friend in shock before beaming as his usual happy smile returned. A few minutes later, we see Sokka and Naxon glaring at Aang playfully while standing on a couple of poles as they were guarding their goal on their side of the airball court, and Aang glared back at them with a smirk as he stood on one of the tall poles while suspending a hollow ball with his airbending as he lets the ball roll over his shoulders, tosses it from side to side, and lazily tosses it up in the air.
Sokka was confused by his actions while Naxon narrowed his eyes at Aang, who was standing on the podium calmly with his eyes closed and arms placed behind his back as the ball returned, and Aang nonchalantly jumps up as he kicks the ball away with a powerful air swipe. Naxon tensed up while Sokka jaws dropped in disbelief as the hollow ball rapidly shoots across the poles, changing direction as it crashes into several poles, but steadily moving closer toward Sokka and Naxon's goal as it races quickly towards them and Naxon smirked as he held out his hands and managed to catch the ball, but the force of the impact sends him skidding back a few feet as he accidentally rammed into Sokka and the boys were sent flying through their goal as the screaming boys crashed into the snow behind it.
"Ha, ha, ha! Aang 7, Sokka, and Naxon 6! I win!" Aang cheered while jumping in joy as the boys emerged from the pile of snow, and Katara appeared as Naxon smiled at Aang's enthusiasm while Sokka frowned in annoyance.
"Making him feel better is putting us, especially me, in a world of hurt," Sokka grumbled as Naxon rolled his eyes and stood up as he held out his hand for Sokka, who grabbed it as the alien teen hoisted him to his feet and then the boy's eyes widen in shock when they saw an old Fire Nation helmet lying in the snow as it looks to be battered by the elements and shows signs of cracks and burns.
"No way, Katara, you better see this," Naxon called out for her nervously as Katra runs up to the boys and gasps at the sight of the helmet.
"Fire Nation," Katara says as the boys nodded soberly.
"We should tell him," Sokka says with Naxon and Katara nodding in agreement as the Waterbender turned to Aang, who was still playing with his ball on the Airball court.
"Aang! There's something you need to see!"
"Okay!" Aang says cheerfully as he ran up to his friends, and Katara's determined look to tell Aang the truth shifts to one of insecurity as she glances at the helmet and back at the approaching Aang as she made her decision and suddenly shifts her weight and brings her arms up. With one swift moment, Katara swings her back and manipulated the overhanging snow to fall down, obscuring the helmet and Sokka from sight as Naxon managed to dodge the snow on time, but didn't have time to ask Katara why she did that as Aang runs up to them.
"What is it?" Aang asked with Sokka brushing the snow off his head in the background as he and Naxon glanced at Katara confusedly as the young teenage girl innocently holds up her hands behind her back.
"Uh...just a new Waterbending move I learned," Katara says sheepishly as Aang smiled at her accomplishment.
"Nice one! But enough practicing, we have a whole temple to see!" Aang says while turning around to run away as the boys turned to glance at Katara seriously.
"You know, you can't protect him forever," Sokka says as Naxon nodded.
"Yeah, it's only a matter of time before he finds out what REALLY happened to his people," Naxon says as Katara sighed but didn't say anything as she followed after Aang and the boys reluctantly did the same as the group made it to the courtyard with a fountain in the middle as the water was frozen.
"Katara, Firebenders were here," Sokka says sternly while crossing his arms as the trio were standing near the entrance of the courtyard while Aang was running ahead of them, having the time of his life. "You can't pretend they weren't."
"I can for Aang's sake," Katara says while walking past her brother and friend as she followed after Aang and the others did the same. "If he finds out that the Fire Nation invaded his home, he'll be devastated."
"The more you'll prolong this, the worse his reaction's gonna be. Trust me, I know from experience." Naxon says solemnly as the Water Tribe siblings turned to him worriedly, never seeing him this sad before as they were about to ask what he meant by that, when suddenly Aang spoke up.
"Hey, guys! I want you to meet somebody!" Aang shouted as the trio looked ahead and saw the young Airbender standing in front of a statue of a monk.
"Who's that?" Sokka asked as Aang smiled broadly and turned to look up at the statue proudly.
"Monk Gyatso! The greatest Airbender in the world. He taught me everything I know." Aang says with a sad smile while staring at the statue quietly as Katara walks up to him and places her hand on her shoulder.
"You must miss him."
Yeah." Aang says, downcasted before walking away as the trio watches him go curiously.
"Where are you going? The air temple sanctuary. There's someone I'm ready to meet," Aang answered while walking up some stairs that leads to a corridor behind the statue. Katara looks at Sokka and Naxon questioningly as the boys shrugged and started walking after Aang as the group reached the entrance of the Air Temple Sanctuary.
"But Aang, no one could have survived in there for a hundred years."
"It's not impossible. I survived in the iceberg for that long." Aang says hopefully while walking up to the door as Naxon sweatdrops.
"I think that's something completely different, Aang," Naxon says as Aang ignores him and looks up at the door excitedly.
"Guys, whoever's in there might help figure out this Avatar thing!" Aang as Sokka suddenly pops up with an eager look on his face.
"And whoever's in there might have a medley of delicious cured meats!" Sokka shouted as Katara gave him an annoyed look while Naxon facepalmed at his idiocracy and Aang simply blinks at him as Sokka rubs his arms together and practically starts drooling at the thought of getting some food as he charges at the door, but it will not budge as he simply smacks into it, head first. Naxon and the others laughed as Sokka slides down to the floor and sighs in disappointment as he rests against the floor and Aang walks up to him as Sokka looks up at him sadly. "I don't suppose you have a key?"
"The key, Sokka, is Airbending," Aang explains as he takes a deep breath and spreads his arms as he then thrusts them forward, sending an air current into both of the tubes, which were placed on the door as the wind current travels through the pipes as Aang's wind makes one of the blue curled tubes turn around, and when it does, the tube changes colors to purple as the wind blows out like a horn. The process is repeated for the other two blue tubes as well as when all of the three blue tubes have turned and become purple, the doors were finally unlocked as they slowly start to open, revealing the sanctuary inside as the teens peered into it curiously.
"Hello? Anyone home?" Aang asked as he received silence and turned back to his friends, who shrugged as Aang decided to walk into the room, and the others did the same as they ventured deep into the sanctuary and disappear into the darkness.
"So a couple of preteens bested you and your Firebenders in battle?" Zhao asked Zuko while pacing around as the scared teen was sitting in a chair with an angry look on his face as Zuko was being flanked by two Fire Nation Soldiers and Iroh was simply sitting on the sidelines, drinking some tea as Zhao turned to Zuko with a sneer. "You're more pathetic than I thought," Zhao says as Zuko glared at him.
"I underestimated them once, but it will not happen again!" Zuko says firmly as Zhao narrowed his eyes at him and placed his arms behind his back.
"No, it will not. Because you won't have a second chance." Zhao says, shocking Zuko as he sits up from his chair and marched over to him.
"Commander Zhao, I've been hunting the Avatar for two years, and I-"
"And you failed!" Zhao shouted while angrily turning around as he briefly spreads flames in an arc, causing Zuko to instinctively backed off as he landed back on his chair, and Zhao walks up to him intimidatingly as he glared at the scarred prince. "Capturing the Avatar and his new partner, the Blue Spectator, is too important to leave in a teenager's hands. They're mine now." Zhao says as Zuko glared at him and contorts with anger as he tried to jump at Zhao but was held back by the two guards as Zuko smirked at him mockingly for his failed attempt to attack him. "Keep them here," Zhao ordered his guards, who nodded as Commander Zhao turned around to walk away as Zuko panted in anger and kicks the table in front of Iroh, breaking it in two as Iroh remained unfazed by his nephew's anger and raise his cup to the guards.
"More tea, please," Iroh asked with a hint of amusement in his voice as Zuko glared at him in annoyance.
Meanwhile, back with Naxon and the others, we see the gang venturing further down into the sanctuary as the only light illuminating the room was from the light coming from the open door behind them. Peering through the darkness, the group were surprised to see a large number of statues of people, lined up in a circular pattern as Naxon, Aang, Katara, and Sokka walks through them while looking around curiously as Naxon couldn't help but feel slightly creeped out by the statues as the young alien boy felt like they were staring at him ominously. Shaking his head at the ridiculous thought, Naxon walks past Sokka, who looks incredibly disappointed by the contents of the mysterious room as he crossed his arms and huffs.
"Statues? That's it?! Where's the meat!?" Sokka cried out in misery as Naxon rolled his eyes at him while Katara and Aang ignored Sokka's antics as they looked around confusedly.
"Who are all these people?" Katara asked as a pensive Aang shrugs.
"I'm not sure, but it feels like I know them somehow." Aang says before spotting a statue that made him gasp as he pointed at it. "Look! That one's an Airbender!" Aang says while pointing at a statue of a man with airbending mastery tattoos as Katara spotted another statue of a woman dressed in Water Tribe clothing as she pointed at it.
"And this one's a Waterbender!"
"And, I'm guessing that one's an Earthbender," Naxon says while pointing at another statue of a man wearing Earth Kingdom clothing as Katara nodded.
"Yes, and it seems that they're lined up in a pattern: Air, Water, Earth, and Fire," Katara says while pointing at each respective statue as they all seem to be in a circular-like pattern all around the surprisingly large room.
"That's the Avatar Cycle!" Aang added in cheerfully as Katara and Naxon's eyes widen in realization, and they turned to each other in shock.
"You don't think-"
"Oh, I do." Katata interrupted Naxon with an excited smirk as she then turned to a confused Aang and smiled at him widely. "Aang, don't you see? They're all Avatars. All of these people are your past lives!" Katara exclaims, shocking Aang with the revelation as he looked around in awe.
"Wow! There are so many!" Aang cried out in amazement as Sokka walks up to them and hears what his friends say as he scoffed and crossed his arms.
"Past lives? Katara, you really believe in that stuff?" Sokka asked skeptically as Naxon noticed Aang stopping in front of a statue of an old man wearing Fire Nation clothing and stared at it silently as Naxon raised an eyebrow at his bald friend's weird behavior and walked over to him.
"It's true!" Katara says as Naxon made his way over to Aang and was about to ask him what was wrong when suddenly Naxon's Blue Spectator Coin started glowing faintly as some of the eyes from the statues around them started glowing blue and their heads slowly turned towards Naxon, freaking him out as he was about to call out for Katara and Sokka, but then Naxon spotted the statue of the old man that Aang was busy staring at as Naxon squinted his eyes and couldn't help but to feel that he had seen him before as he placed his hand on his chin thoughtfully.
"When the Avatar dies, he's reincarnated into the next nation in the cycle," Katara explains to a bored Sokka as the pony-tailed teen turned his head and raised an eyebrow at what he sees as he nudged Katara and pointed at the boys as Katara was surprised to see them staring at the statue of the old man silently as Sokka and Katara shared worried looks and walked over to Naxon and Aang as they grabbed onto their shoulders and shook them.
"Aang! Naxon! Snap out of it!" Katara says, snapping the boys out of their daze as they blinked and turned to a worried Katara and Sokka.
"Who is that?" Katara asked while pointing at the statue.
"That's Avatar Roku," Naxon answered as Aang nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, he was the Avatar before me," Aang explains as Sokka turned to look at the statue with a sneer.
"You were a Firebender? No wonder I didn't trust you when we first met." Sokka says while wrinkling his nose in disgust as Katara glances at the base of the statue, and raised an eyebrow as she turned back to her friends.
"There's no writing, how did you two know his name?" Katara asked Naxon and Aang as the boys shrugged.
"I'm not sure. I just know it somehow." Aang says.
"This is going to sound weird, but my Spectator Coin told me his name through our physic connection. There also seems to know more about him, but my coin refused to tell me any more information about him." Naxon says while pulling out his Blue Spectator Coin as everyone stared at him with surprised looks.
"You two just couldn't get any weirder," Sokka growled irritably while crossing his arms as Naxon was about to make a sarcastic retort, but then the group flinched as they heard a sound outside and turned around as they saw a long-eared shadow approaching them.
"Hide!" Naxon hisses to his friends, who complied with his request as Katara and Aang ran off to hide behind a statue while Sokka and Naxon went to hide behind the statue next to them as the group continued watching with bated breath as the figure's menacing shadow looms over them.
"Firebender. Nobody makes a sound." Sokka whispers while holding his club as Katara gave him an irritated look.
"You're making a sound!" Katara whispers harshly as the boys shushed herm and Katara slapped her hand over her mouth as she and the others noticed that the figure was getting close to them.
"That Firebender won't know what hit him. Naxon, Aang, Katara, you three are going to ambush the guy and tackle him to the floor before he knows what's going on. While he's distracted, I will knock him out." Sokka says as the team nodded and grew tense as the figure drew closer to them, and Naxon and the others sprung out of their hiding places as Naxon, Aang, and Katara were about to jump at the Firebender...but then relaxed as they realized that the shadow wasn't coming from a Firebender, but instead it came from a small white/brown-haired lemur-like animal as he has green eyes, a black nose, large bat-like ears, and a lemurs tail.
"Lemur!" Aang exclaimed excitedly as the lemur tilted his head curiously at the group, and Naxon smiled at the little animal as he crossed his arms.
"Aww, it's kind of cute. But what's exactly a Lemur?" Naxon asked as Aang was about to explain what he was, but was interrupted by Sokka as he started approaching the small lemur while holding a fork and a knife that he pulled out of nowhere.
"I tell you what he is...dinner!" Sokka says while drooling as Katara and Naxon were quick to glare at him sternly.
"Like hell, you are!" Naxon shouted as the lemur grew scared by what Sokka said and scampered back in fright as Aang saw this and smiled at him reassuringly.
"Don't listen to Sokka. You're going to be my new pet."
"Not if I get him first!" A hungry Sokka shouted as he charged over to the lemur and tried to grab him, but the screeching animal easily dodged him as he took off running, and a drooling Sokka chased after him.
"Oh, no, you don't!" Naxon and Aang shouted fiercely as he and Aang chased after Sokka and the scared lemur as they ran out of the sanctuary and made their way down the hallway as Sokka tried to snatch the small bat-eared animal, but once again, the lemur proved to be more agile than the pony-tailed boy as he ducks down from his grab and bounces off from a wall as the lemur runs down the hallway with the boys following after him.
"I want to eat you!" Sokka shouted as Naxon and Aang narrowed their eyes at what he said and turned to each other as they smirked, and nodded as Aang used his airbending to increase his speed and runs pasts a surprised Sokka as Naxon used his enhanced abilities to swiftly run past Sokka.
Sokka grew annoyed at Aang and Naxon's abilities as he took out his club and tried to strike at the boy's legs, but Aang and Naxon nimbly avoids the attack as Aang used his airbending to run on the side of the wall while laughing loudly with amusement as he does so and Naxon simply used his Spectator abilities to clung onto the ceiling like a spider and started running on the roof as Naxon looks down and laughed at Sokka's shocked look. Running ahead of Sokka, the boys leaped off as they landed back on the ground, and Aang quickly turns around as he directs an airball at Sokka, which knocks his legs from underneath him as Sokka flips in the air comically before smacking face-first onto the ground as he groans.
Sharing a high five, Naxon and Aang quickly caught up with the lemur as the small animal exits the corridor and sits on the ledge of the balcony as he turned his head and saw the approaching Aang and Naxon heading towards him at full speed as the lemur pricks his ears and suddenly takes flight, revealing to have bat-like wings as he flew through the air with a scared look on his face. Naxon was surprised that the small lemur could fly, but Aang wasn't fazed by this as he runs out of the corridor and, without slowing down, jumps over the ledge of the balcony as he fell towards the lemur and used the rock's around him as stepping stones to climb down after the lemur as Naxon shakes amusedly at Aang's antics and gets an idea as he smirked and runs out of the corridor as he pulled out his Spectator Coin and jumped out of the balcony as he spread out his arms with a joyful smile on his face.
"It's Morphing Time!" Naxon shouted as a bright blue glow covered his body, and once the light dies down, we see Naxon falling through the air in his Blue Spectator armor as Naxon summoned his trident and held it above his head as he spins it around rapidly and uses it as a propeller to soar through the sky.
"Aww, come on! He can fly now!?" Sokka yelled out in annoyance while appearing on the balcony as Aang hears him and looked up as he was shocked to see his alien friend flying close to him.
"I didn't know you can fly," Aang says with an amazed look on his face as Naxon shrugs and smiled at him sheepishly.
"Me neither." Blue Spectator admitted with a laugh as Aang smiled and laughed as well as the boys continued chasing after the small lemur. Back at the Fire Nation Harbor, we see Zhao walking towards his tent as he walks past the two Fire Nation soldiers guarding it and entered the tent as he smiled mockingly at an angry Zuko, who was sitting on a metal chair with his uncle sitting near him on his own chair as Zhao approached them.
"My search party is ready. Once I'm out to sea, my guards will escort you back to your ship, and you'll be free to go." Zhao says as Zuko turned to him with his usual angry glare.
"Why? Are you worried I'm going to try and stop you?" Zuko says as Zhao blinks at him before laughing as he stared at Zuko amusedly.
"You? Stop me? Impossible."
"Don't underestimate me, Zhao!" An enraged Zuko shouted while standing up from his chair as he glared at the calm Commander Zhao. "I will capture the Avatar and the Blue Spectator before you!"
"Prince Zuko, that's enough," Iroh says to his nephew sternly while getting up from his chair as Zhao scoffed at Zuko's threat and crossed his arms with a confident smirk on his face.
"You can't compete with me. I have hundreds of warships under my command and you? You're just a banished prince. No home, no allies. Your own father doesn't even want you."
"You're wrong! Once I deliver the Avatar to my father, he will welcome me home with honor and restore my rightful place on the throne! He might even crown me on the spot when I deliver the Blue Spectator as well." Zuko says as Zhao rolled his eyes and marches over to the scarred teen as he narrowed his eyes at him.
"If your father really wanted you home, he would have let you return by now, Avatar, or no Avatar, and not even capturing the Blue Spectator will make him love you again. In his eyes, you are a failure and a disgrace to the Fire Nation." Zhao says, stunning Zuko and Iroh with his cold words as the banished prince composed himself and glared at Zhao furiously as he growled.
"That's not true!" Zuko shouted with his hands lighting up in flames as he felt his anger boiling with fury.
"You have the scar to prove it," Zhao says with a smirk as Zuko's eyes widen and finally snapped as he let out a cry of frustration and jolts up out of his chair and into Zhao's face as he growled at him angrily.
"Maybe you'd like one to match!" Zuko threatens darkly as Zhao narrowed his eyes at him.
"Is that a challenge?" Zhao asked, slightly mockingly as Zuko glared at him furiously.
"An Agni Kai. At sunset." Zuko says as he and Zhao entered a glaring contest, neither backing down as Zhao sighed heavily and took a couple of steps back as he placed his hands behind his back.
"Very well. It's a shame your father won't be here to watch me humiliate you. I guess your uncle will do." Zhao says while turning around to walk away as Iroh slowly walked towards his angry nephew and gave him a serious look.
"Prince Zuko, have you forgotten what happened last time you dueled a master?" Iroh asked as Zuko's demeanor darkened, and he tightened his fist in anger as he glared.
"I will never forget."
Meanwhile, back with the gang, we see the lemur landing on the ground as the small animal erects his ears, and Aang suddenly appears as he landed softly and wordlessly launches forwards as he tried to grab onto the lemur, but missed as the bat-eared animal swiftly jumps out of the way and runs through some ripped drapes of a couple of nearly destroyed tents as Aang, without thinking, chases after it. Shortly after Aang left, Blue Spectator landed on the ground as he lets go of his trident, and it disappeared with a flash of blue light as he chases after Aang and the lemur and entered one of the tents as he looks around for them.
"Aang! Aang, where are you?" Blue Spectator asked as he looked around the room for his young bald friend, but then Naxon stopped in his tracks at the sight of multiple skeletons littered across the ground. Eyes widening in shock, Naxon took off his helmet as he stared at the scene in horror and felt his body go numb as Naxon shivered from the aura of death that lingered around the tent.
"W-What happened here?" Naxon asked shakily as even though he was used to seeing death due to growing up in war, Naxon was still affected by a loss of life as he looks around the tent and was about to step forwards when suddenly his Blue Spectator Coin started glowing as Naxon peers down at it confusedly and gasped in shock as his coin projected a small blue beam that expanded around the tent as a big flash of light occurred.
Wincing a bit from the sudden flash, Naxon groans as he rubbed his eyes and slowly opened them, only to real back in shock as he saw a group of people who look and dressed liked Aang hanging out with each other, enjoying their peaceful lives until it was ruined by the sudden appearance of several Fire Nation Soldiers as they stormed into the Air Temple and begins burning everything in sight, including the Monks as the ruthless Firebenders burned them all to ashes. Naxon watched in horror/anger/despair as he saw numerous people getting burned alive before his eyes, even children as Naxon felt like he was going to get sick by what he sees, but composed himself when Naxon noticed a group of Firebenders chasing after an old monk into a tent. Naxon narrowed his eyes at the old man, feeling like he had seen him before his eyes widen in shock as he realized that the man looked similar to the old man statue that Aang showed him earlier and quickly followed after them as he cautiously made his way over to the tent where Aang's old teacher and the Firebenders entered.
Opening the tent, Naxon was shocked at the sight of Monk Gyatso trying to defend himself from the troop of Firebenders, but due to being overwhelmed and having a lack of any true fighting experience, Monk Gyatso was losing badly as he could barely counter any of the Firebender's attacks. Naxon gripped his fists in anger as he wanted to intervene and save Aang's teacher, but knows that he can't do anything to save Monk Gyatso due that what he was seeing was only a vision of the past. Sighing in defeat, Naxon continued watching the fight as even though Monk Gyatso put up a pretty decent fight against the Fire Nation Soldiers, but eventually was taken down with a fearsome pyro kick as Monk Gyatso fell on the ground and panted heavily as all of the Fire Nation Soldiers crowded around him and took on firebending stances as they prepared themselves to kill the old Monk.
Eyes widen in worry, Naxon watch as Monk Gyatso shakily picked himself from the ground and glared at all of the Firebenders which such ferocity that it reminded him of his uncle as Monk Gyatso closed his eyes in concentration just as the Firebenders blasted him with hot flames as the old Monk screamed in pain, but managed to find the strength to continue with his plan as he raised his burned arms and started sucking out the oxygen from out of the Firebenders's body, much to their shock as they stopped spewing out the fire and struggled to breathe as a heavily burned Monk Gyatso used the last of his strength to completely dry up the oxygen from the soldier's bodies, causing their bodies to shrivel up as they moaned in pain and fell down on the ground dead as the old Monk smirked slightly before succumbing to his injuries as he promptly and fell down as he closed his eyes and trembled as he uttered one last breath.
"Wherever you are, Aang, please stay safe and enjoy your life, my son. You deserve it." Monk Gyatso says hoarsely before groaning as he laid his head on the rock and finally succumbed to his death.
Naxon blinked at what he sees as he felt something cold hits his face and touched it as the young Spectator realized that he was crying over what he sees and wiped away his tears as he looks around and realized that he was back in the tent as he sighed heavily and looks down at the skeletons as he noticed that a few of them were wearing old Fire Nation armor and grew angry as he raised his foot and crushes one of the Fire Nation skulls into dust as he growled angrily.
"Those Fire Nation scum are just as bad as the Ventis. They need to be stopped." Naxon says, realizing that the Fire Nation was more ruthless and dangerous than he thought as he looks down, and his anger slowly turned into sadness as he spotted what seems to be a skeleton of a child and sighed solemnly as he puts on his helmet. "Katara is wrong. It's not fair that we're keeping this from Aang. He needs to know about this now before he finds out for himself. But the only question is, where is that, kid?" Naxon asked himself thoughtfully just as a small meow was heard behind him as he turned around and saw a small orange tabby cat peering up at him curiously as Naxon smiled at the sight of it.
"Oh, hello, little guy. What are you doing all the way up here in the Air Temple?" Naxon asked while bending down as he noticed that the cat wore a red collar with the name 'Apollo' written on it. "Apollo, huh? Is that your name? How did you get here, little guy?" Naxon asked while scratching his chin as Apollo purred in delight and then ran off to the exit of the tent as he turned back to Naxon, as if expecting the young teen to follow after him as Naxon raised an eyebrow at this.
"What? Do you want me to follow after you?" Naxon asked as Apollo, surprisingly, nodded and ran out of the tent. Blinking at what he saw, Naxon shakes his head as he decided to reluctantly walked out of the tent and saw Apollo sitting by a nearby tent. "Where are you taking me? What are you trying to show me?" Naxon asked as Apollo didn't say anything but gestured at the tent beside him as Naxon turned his head and was surprised to see Aang's shadowy figure inside. "Wait, is that Aang? How did you know that I wanted to find-" Blue Spectator asked before stopping mid-sentence as he realized that Apollo disappeared. Blinking, Naxon briefly wondered how the cat disappeared before shaking his head as he went inside the tent to check on his friend.
"Aang? Are you here, buddy?" Blue Spectator asked as he looks around the tent and frowns solemnly as he saw various skeleton littered across the ground and what was worse was that Naxon saw Aang standing in the middle of the tent, looking completely frozen by what he sees as Naxon at first thought that he was traumatized by the dead corpses, but quickly realized that the source of Aang's depression was that sight of the dead rotting corpse of his former teacher laid right in front of him.
"Oh, no," Naxon says worriedly as he finally figured out that this was the same tent where Monk Gyatso died and quickly went over to a still frozen Aang as he gave his bald friend a sympathetic look. "Oh, Aang, I'm so sorry," Naxon says as Aang ignores his friend and falls to his knees as Aang lets out a mournful sigh and started crying as Naxon felt his heartache in sympathy for his friend and was about to continue comforting him when suddenly Sokka showed up as he entered the tent with a big smirk on his face.
"Hey, guys, did you find my dinner yet?" Sokka asked happily as he saw Aang sitting on his knees with his head cupped in his hands as Naxon tried comforting him, but it didn't work as Aang continued crying. Feeling sympathetic for his young friend, Sokka sighed as he walked further into the tent and approached the bald monk as he gave him a reassuring look. "Aang, I wasn't really going to eat the lemur. I was just fooling around, so please stop crying, okay?" Sokka asked, thinking that was the reason that Aang was crying as Naxon turned to him and gestured his head over at the pile of Monk Gyatso's bones as Sokka's eyes widen in solemn realization and sighed heavily as he placed a hand on Aang's shoulder.
"Aang, I'm sorry, I wished you didn't have to see that. Everything will be all right. Come on, let's get out of here." Sokka says, not wanting for Aang to see any more of the Fire Nation's destruction as Naxon nodded in agreement and the boys were about to drag Aang out of the tent when suddenly Aang's arrow tattoos begin to glow a bluish-white as the bald-headed boy suddenly lifted his head, and the boys were shocked to see his eyes glowing brightly as Aang had an emotionless look on his face.
Back with Katara, we see her walking down the circular pattern of the Avatar statues as she stops at Avatar Roku's statue and looked up at him as Katara saw his eyes suddenly glowing blue, and the young Waterbender gasps in shock as she took a couple of steps back and watched in awe as all of the other Avatar Statues eyes started glowing one by one as Katara realized what was going on and panicked as she quickly turned around to run out of the sanctuary to search for her friend. Unknown to the young Waterbender, however, she wasn't the only one being notified of Aang activating his Avatar State as every single nation in the world was being informed of the Avatar's return, including the Fire Nation as one of the Fire Sages told his comrade to alert the Fire Lord that the Avatar has come back.
"Aang, come on, man, snap out of it." Blue Spectator says while nudging his friend, but Aang didn't budge as a whirlwind begins to form around him, and the wind began kicking up as a small sphere started forming around Aang.
"Whoa!" Sokka yelped while holding up his arms to protect himself against the raging winds as he and Naxon were about to call out to Aang again when suddenly the air sphere around Aang expands and sends the teens flying backwards as the roof explodes by the force of the hurricane and debris is catapulted high into the air. "Aaaah!" Sokka screamed in fear as he spins through the air and was about to be smacked against the wall, only to be saved by Naxon as the Blue Spectator used the wind generated by the tornado to his advantage and glided over to Sokka as he grabbed the startled Water Tribe teen and landed on the floor as Naxon looked him over.
"Are you okay?" Blue Spectator asked worriedly as Sokka shakily nodded.
"Yeah, I am. Thanks for the help, man." Sokka says as Naxon nodded back, and the boy's attention was drawn back over to Aang, who was in the center of the raging tornado as the boys quickly took refuge behind a large rock and watched as Aang continued feeding more and more wind into his tornado as Katara suddenly appears, and runs up to the boys as she gave them a confused/worried look.
"What happened?!"
"Aang found out that Firebenders killed his mentor Gyatso and now he's throwing a hurricane-sized tantrum...literally!" Blue Spectator shouted over the winds as Katara gasped in shock.
"Oh, no! It's his Avatar Spirit!" Katara yelled while raising her hands to protect herself against the winds and the flying debris as Katara turned over to give Aang a sympathetic look. "His sadness/anger must have triggered it! I'm going to try and calm him down!"
"Not without me, you won't!" Blue Spectator shouted as Katara nodded, and the teens stood up from their cover as they started making their way to Aang.
"Whatever you're going to do, just do it fast before he blows us off the mountain!" Sokka yelled as Naxon and Katara nodded solemnly and fought through the storm to get to Aang as the sphere of wind that engulfs Aang slowly starts to rise in the air, and Katara and the Blue Spectator were pushed back by the strong wind currents that fill the remains of the building as the sphere ascends higher and higher.
"Remember your firebending basics, Prince Zuko. They are your greatest weapons," Iroh says to his nephew sternly as the duo were standing around in the Fire Nation arena with Zhao squatting ahead of them as he was bare-chested and barefooted as he was also wearing a cape over his shoulders.
"I refuse to let him win," Zuko says, ignoring what his uncle was telling him as he was dressed in similar attire to Zhao. Signing at his nephew refusal to listen to him, Iroh stepped aside as Zuko stoically stands up and turns around swiftly as his cape drops from his shoulder, but Zuko didn't care as he glared at Zhao, who did the same thing that Zuko did earlier as both opponents faced each other.
"This will be over quickly," Zhao whispered confidently as the Fire Nation Soldier standing on higher grounds noticed that the duo has readied themselves for battle and rings a large gong as both Firebenders got into the firebending stances and glared at each other as Zuko, of course, made the first move as he starts to lower his arms, leaving a trail of fire behind as Zuko then proceeds to direct a strong fire blast at Zhao.
Zhao swiftly moves to the left, out of the way of the blast before moving back to the right to avoid another blast made by Zuko as the young prince went to the offensive and shoots two more strong fire blasts at Zhao as the middle-aged Admiral crosses his arms in front of him and takes the blasts head-on as he smirked at an angry Zuko. Panting in frustration at not being able to hit him, Zuko angrily grinds his teeth and performs a roundhouse kick, spraying flames towards Zhao, who creates his own flames to push away Zuko's blazing attack as the scarred teen squints his eyes in determination and directs another powerful flame kick in Zhao's direction as the smirking Firebender holds his own fire ready and launches forward as he swings his arms over the ground and severed Zuko's next attack. Standing up coyly, Zhao grinned at a tired-looking Zuko as he was unfazed by the former prince's barrage of attacks, and the young teen felt annoyed by this as he panted heavily with fatigue.
"Basics, Zuko! Break his root!" Iroh shouted from the sidelines as Zuko heard his uncle and for once decided to follow his advice as he took a deep breath and took on a determined look as he glared at Zhao.
Smirking in amusement at his glare, Zhao decided to attack offensively as he proceeds to ferociously attack Zuko with a strong fire blast and the young prince quickly raised his hands to catch the fireball as he was thrown back a bit by the force of the attack but was able to divert elsewhere as Zuko smirked at the Admiral cockily. Narrowing his eyes in anger, Zhao takes a step forward as he directs another powerful blast at the prince, using both his arms this time as Zuko was thrown back by the attack again, but still diverts the fire away from him as an annoyed Zhao takes another step forward and fires again with the same result on Zuko's side.
Growing frustrated by the teen, Zhao decided that he was done fooling around as he firmly plants his foot down and holds his both wrists together as he fires a stronger stream of fire over at Zuko, who was unprepared to catch a powerful blast of fire like that as he was thrown back upon impact and slides back several meters over the ground as he groans in pain. Lifting his head, Zuko was shocked to see Zhao jumping up as he soared through the skies and drops down towards him as the middle-aged Admiral lets out a loud scream and lands at Zuko's feet as he erects himself and thrusts his fist forward to deliver the final blow.
Zuko's eyes widen in fright as he watched the fire getting closer and closer to his face and flashbacks of the incident with his father flashes into his mind as Zuko's fear was replaced with unbridled anger and at the last possible second, Zuko rolls out of the way out of the attack as he swirled his feet around and swipes Zhao's legs from underneath him as the older Firebender yelped in shock and crashed down on the floor with a pained groan. Smiling confidently at having to be able to finally hurt Zhao, Zuko stands up and steps forward as he slides in fire at Zhao's feet, who steps back as Zhao is caught off balance and wobbles backward as Zuko keeps repeating his move, directing his attacks at Zhao's feet in an attempt to throw him off balance as Zhao falls back in distress.
Iroh smiles approvingly/proudly at seeing his nephew beating an experienced Admiral as Zuko directs a powerful kick at his adversary and Zhao barely pushes it out of the way while staggering back ever further as Zuko kicks him again and this time, he succeeds in knocking the commander over as Zhao falls down and rolls over the ground as he ends up on his back. Zuko quickly used this to his advantage as he runs up at him and threatens him with an outstretched arm, ready to deliver the final blow as Zhao brings his head up and looks at Zuko as he glared at the young teen furiously.
"Do it!" Zhao challenged as Zuko grunted in anger and thrusts his fist forward, emitting another fire blast as Zhao closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable pain to come in...but nothing happened as Zhao opened his eyes and saw that Zuko only blasted the cement a mere few inches from his face as Zhao scoffed at this and stood up as he smirked up Zuko smugly. "That's it? Your father raised a coward!" Zhao yelled as Zuko narrowed his eyes at him.
"Next time you get in my way, I promise, I won't hold back," Zuko says with anger clearly audible in his voice as he turns his back to Zhao and started walking away as Zhao watching him go in shock before growing angry as he stood up and suddenly aims a powerful kick at Zuko, spreading his flames as they were about to hit a surprised Zuko, only to have his uncle intervene as Iroh grabs Zhao's foot and dissipates the fire as the old man tosses Zhao back, and the middle-aged man landed on the ground as he slides away on his back.
"Why you little-" Zuko says, pissed off that the older Firebender was about to strike his back when he wasn't looking as he was about to charge at Zhao but was stopped by his uncle.
"No, Prince Zuko! Do not taint your victory!" Iroh yelled firmly as Zuko sighs but nodded as Iroh turned back to an angry Zhao and scoffs at him as he shakes his head in disappointment. "So this is how the great Commander Zhao acts in defeat? Disgraceful. Even in exile, my nephew is more honorable than you." Iroh says with Zuko glancing over at his uncle in surprise upon hearing those last words as he felt a little bit touched. "Thanks again for the tea. It was delicious." Iroh says suddenly cheerfully as he and Zuko turn around to walk away as Zhao sighs heavily and rested his head on his knees as he watched them go socially and grunts in anger at his humiliating defeat.
"Did you really mean that, Uncle?" Zuko asked his uncle softly as they made their way over to the gates of the Fire Nation arena.
"Of course. I told you ginseng tea is my favorite." Iroh says while smiling at him slyly as Zuko smiles slightly and rolled his eyes as they made their way back to their now repaired ship. Back with Aang, we see the young bald-headed boy still being suspended in the air in his air sphere as strong winds are rampaging through the rubble of the destroyed building, and Naxon, Katara, and Sokka held on for dear life on some stones as they were trying their best to not get blown away.
"Aang!" Katara yelled as she and Naxon slowly made their way over to a floating Aang while Sokka stood behind his cover as he watched his friends trying to calm down the angry/sad Avatar. "I know you're upset, and I know how hard it is to lose the people you love. Sokka and I went through the same thing when we lost our Mom!" Katara yelled with Sokka nodding in agreement as Naxon stepped up.
"Yeah, man, and I went through the same when the Ventis killed my family!" Blue Spectator shouted with a pained expression on his face as he could never forget seeing a group of Ventis slice and maim his family to death as their deaths still haunt them to this day. Shaking his head, Naxon went back to the situation at hand and looked up at Aang as he gave the boy a soft, solemn smile. "I know that you're devasted by Monk Gyatso and the other Airbender's death, but you don't have to go through this by yourself, Aang!" Naxon shouted as Katara nodded firmly.
"He's right, Aang! We'll be to help you through your grief, Aang, but only if you let us!" Katara shouted as Aang remained quiet for a few seconds and the trio briefly shared nervous looks as they believed that their talking didn't work, but everyone sighs in relief as Aang begins to descend and the wind started dying down as the air sphere that surrounded Aang disappears. Sokka cautiously peeked out from his cover as he walked over to Naxon, and Katara and the trio glanced over at Aang worriedly as they walked over to him.
"Katara, Naxon, and I aren't going to let anything happen to you. Promise." Sokka says as Katara and Naxon nodded.
"We'll be there for you, Aang. Always." Naxon says sincerely as tears ran down Aang's glowing blue eyes, and Katara grabbed his hand as the glowing fades away and he collapses from exhaustion into Katara's arms.
"I-I'm sorry," Aang says with a saddened expression as the trio smiled down at him reassuringly.
"It's okay. It wasn't your fault." Katara says as Aang sighs sadly and leans against Katara's chest.
"But you were right. And if the Firebenders found this temple, then that means they found the other ones, too. I really am the last Airbender." Aang says while tearing up as he started crying again and Katara wasted no time in hugging him as Naxon and Sokka joined in and the group stayed silent for a few moments as they comforted Aang for the loss of his people. A few minutes later, after Aang calm down enough to stand up and Blue Spectator transformed back into his civilian form, the group went on to pack their stuff to leave as the gang noticed that a certain bald-headed monk was nowhere to be seen and realizing where he could be, Katara, Sokka, and Naxon made their way to the sanctuary as they found Aang standing in front of Roku's statue and walked over to him.
"Everything's packed. You ready to go?" Katara asked Aang, who sighed as he turned to his friends worriedly.
"How is Roku supposed to help me if I can't talk to him?" Aang asked softly as Naxon placed his hand on his shoulder reassuringly.
"We'll find a way, Aang. Don't worry." Naxon says as Aang sighs, but nodded as the trio were about to leave, but stopped as they heard something and turned around as they saw the flying lemur from before standing on its back legs in the middle of the doorway. "Oh, hey, he's back," Naxon says, surprised as the little lemur chirped, and jumps to the right toward where Sokka is standing as the animal reaches his feet and drops the load he was carrying, which were a variety of fruits. Sokka grins widely as the lemur quickly dashes away, and the young Water Tribe teen wasted no time to drop down to the floor as he begins stuffing his faces with all of the fruits.
"Looks like you made a new friend, Sokka!" Aang says happily as Sokka burped and looked up at him with an exhilarated grin on his face.
"Can't talk! Must eat!" Sokka says while pushing the food into his mouth with his hands as he continued eating. Naxon and the others rolled their eyes at him as the lemur suddenly appeared and climbs onto Aang as he hides behind his head with his tail curled around Aang's neck.
"Hey, little guy!" Aang says cheerfully to his new friend as he petted the small lemur and the bat-eared animal purred against his touch. After Sokka stopped eating, the gang made their back to Appa as Naxon and the Water Tribe siblings were fiddling with their luggage while Aang, Appa, and the small lemur were standing a few feet away from them as they were admiring the beauty of the Southern Air Temple.
"You, me, and Appa are all that left of this place," Aang says to the lemur, who was perched on his shoulder as the bald-headed boy had his hand placed on one of Appa's large arms. "We have to stick together," Aang says firmly as the animals let out a small grunt as if agreeing with what he said as Aang smiled and turned to his friends. "Katara, Sokka, Naxon, say hello to the newest member of our family," Aang says as the trio smiled at what he said and walked towards him.
"What are you going to name him?" Katara asked curiously as Sokka was eating a peach and suddenly the lemur leaps off his arm as he snatches a startled Sokka's peach and returns back on Aang's shoulder as he started eating the peach, much to Sokka's annoyance as everybody laughed.
"Momo," Aang says with a small smile on his face as Naxon smiled and petted the newly named Momo's head.
"I think I'm going to like you, little guy," Naxon says before yelping in surprise as Momo suddenly leaped towards him and travels down his body as he stared curiously at one of Naxon's pockets and fishes out what seems to be a remote-like device as he started playing with it. "No, Momo, don't pay with that." Naxon scolded while snatching the remote from out of the lemur's hand just as Momo had pressed a button on it as the small remote started flashing rapidly.
"What's that thing?" Katara asked Naxon curiously.
"Oh, it's nothing, don't worry about it," Naxon says, somewhat nervously as Katara raised an eyebrow at him before shrugging as Naxon mentally sighs in relief and hid his remote in his pocket, not noticing that it was flashing as Naxon turned around to walk towards Appa as the others did the same. Mounting on, Appa, Aang grabbed onto his reins as he was about to snap it, but stopped as he turned around to look to the Southern Air Temple and frowned sadly as he sighs sorrowfully.
"I'm sorry that I left guys...please forgive me, father." Aang thought to himself sadly as he snapped the reins and Appa let out a loud roar as he took off into the air. Unknown to the group, however, we cue to deep space as we zoom in to one of Saturn's many moons and see two Ventis Lietenants interrogating a heavily injured Detanon male as one of them had their foots placed on his chest, keeping him in place while the other Ventis had her blaster hovering over his face.
"Where is Commander Tarkal, thrash?" A female Luitenant Ventis asked the injured Detanon as she looks similar to the rest of her species, except that she wore a long purple robe with her Ventis armor placed beneath it, and her ears were far longer as they reached down to her waist. Her name is Clefta.
"We know that Tarkal had survived the fall of Elysium, and no rebellion is truly dead until the leader is vanquished." A male Ventis says while hissing at the panting Detanon as the Ventis looks similar to the rest of his species, except that he wore ventis armor with black trousers, a black sash that was wrapped around his chest, and he has a small tuft of hair on his head. His name is Wrath.
"So, where is he?" Clefta asked threateningly as the Detanon glared at her and stood up as he held his bleeding stomach. The Detanon is a 32-year-old man with spikey black hair, brown eyes, Caucasian skin, and wears similar armor that Tarkol wears as his body was also littered with scars, blood, and he was missing his left arm that Wrath was happily eating. His name is Vanclief.
"My name is Vanclief. Lieutenant in the Detanon Resistance. My safe return will be-"
"I grew tired of your disobedience. Wrath, if you would, my dear." Clefta asked while rubbing Wrath's arm sensually as he grinned savagely and nodded.
"With pleasure." Wrath says as he reached down and grabbed onto Vanclief's arm as Wrath then ripped it out of his body, and the young Detanon yelled out in pain as fountains of blood squirted out from the stump that used to be his arm.
"Aargh! You son of a-" Vanclief shouted before grunting in pain as Clefta backhanded him with her blaster as she then pressed it onto his forehead as Clefta grinned sinisterly.
"Ah, ah, ah, don't you know it's wrong to curse in front of a lady?" Clefta asked playfully before growing serious as she hovered her finger over her trigger. "Tell us where Tarkal is, trash. We know that he's planning to establish a base. Tell us where it is, and we might let you live," Clefta says with a sadistic smile on her face as Vanclief coughed out blood and glared at her defiantly.
"My name is-" Vanclief says before stopping as a beeping sound came from under Clefta's dress, and the female Ventis raised an eyebrow as she stood up and reached into her dress as she pulls out a small remote-like device.
"What is it, my love?" Wrath asked while making sure that Vanclief didn't try any funny moves as Clefta pressed a couple of buttons on her device and raised an eyebrow at what she sees as she hums.
"Interesting. It seems some low life activated their distress call not far from here. On some small planet named, 'Planet CV-52'." Clefta says as Vanclief eyes widen in recognization.
"Naxon." Vanclief says before shutting his mouth as he cursed his idiocracy and hopes that the large aliens didn't hear what he said, but of course, they did as they turned to him in surprise.
"Naxon? Who's that?" Clefta asked.
"I think he's the nephew of Commander Terkal." Wrath informed as Clefta felt delighted by the news and turned over to grin evilly at Vanclief as he seems to be sweating nervously under her gaze.
"Well, if our special friend here won't tell us where Tarkal and his base is, maybe the Commander's nephew will."
"Never! He would never tell you anything, you alien bitch!" Vanclief yelled angrily as Wrath narrowed his eyes at him for screaming at his mate and was about to charge at him, but was stopped by a clam Clefta.
"Let me handle this," Clefta says to her lover as he grumbles but nods as Clefta nonchalantly walked over to Vanclief and bends down as she smiles at him ominously. "You're a brave warrior, my friend. You deserve a better death...but then again, I don't take kindly to men calling me a 'Bitch', so honey, if you would?" Clefta asked while grabbing onto Vanclief as she then tossed him over to her mate, who grinned down at the scared Detanon as he licks his lip and opens his mouth as he began ripping out all of his body parts before eating them as the young Detanon soldier's scream could be heard all across the moon.
And done! I hope that you guys enjoy the chapter and I can't wait to write the next one!
Anyway as always, I will catch you all later.