Responses to Reviews:

RonaldM40196867: Probably some secondary character like Ikki, who just wasn't in the series enough to get much development.

Zigzagdoublezee: I wasn't intending that, no. Obviously I can't go into detail because spoilers.

As Always, Please Review!

Zaochen

(Who? Read on to find out!)

In the southern seas, rising from the waters between the Earth Empire, Southern Air Temple, and South Pole, there sat an island isolated from the affairs of the world. It was a relatively new island; it had only existed for a few hundred years, having been ripped off the mainland to prevent it falling into the hands of a conqueror hell-bent on domination. The woman who did this, the Avatar at the time, gave the island its new name; Kyoshi Island.

The sun rose over this island to find it shrouded in fog. Otherwise, all was calm, just as it always was. The inhabitants had never really known strife; Kyoshi Island was too small, too out of the way, and had often enjoyed special protection from the Avatar. And so they carried on living their lives, with only one minor Fire Nation raid right at the end of the Hundred Years' War to interrupt them. The grand geopolitical games of the power players in Ba Sing Se, Republic City or the Caldera seemed extremely distant.

They certainly seemed distant to Zaochen, as she stood on the headland overlooking the bay, and stared out into the fog. She was a tall woman, in her mid- 40s, with auburn hair and the look of a member of the water tribes about her. She wore a robe with blue and green patterns on it, as well as something that resembled a large backpack, but was in fact a container of water.

She often came here in the mornings, because she liked to clear her head. When the weather was better, the views were breathtaking.

She got as close as she dared to the edge of the cliff, and walked delicately along it, thinking.

And then she heard what sounded like machinery in the fog, accompanied by gentle splashes. A moment later, as she strained to see out into the distance, she began to make out an enormous grey form begin to take shape in the distance. It was evidently some kind of ship, but beyond that, she couldn't see much.

Zaochen took a step backwards, away from the cliff edge, wondering what was going on. Suddenly, there was a roar, and another shape rose from the waves; a Unagi, which roared as it towered over the ship. They were famously territorial animals, and did not like anything which approached their home. The inhabitants of Kyoshi Island had been known to feed criminals and spies to them in the past.

Nothing happened for a moment, and then the fog seemed to light up with an ethereal purple glow, centred around the big grey shape. Zaochen had to clutch her head as a terrible buzzing noise filled it, and she collapsed to the ground. The Unagi was split clean in two, the head plunging into the waves as more shapes became visible on the surface; Zaochen's eyes widened as she recognised landing craft, full of soldiers, racing towards the beach. The purple glow had also illuminated the grey ship, revealing the largest warship Zaochan had ever seen, a single-hulled beast that must have been nearly 200 metres long. Four large turrets were mounted on the bow and stern of the ship, each carrying two of what Zaochen could only assume were weapons; long tubes that stuck out, one of which had emitted the purple light. A flag was briefly visible flying from the mast high above, but Zaochen did not get a good look at it before the purple faded, and it returned to being an indistinct shape in the fog.

Zaochen gasped, scrambled to her feet, and raced towards her village. They needed to be warned.

"Invaders!" She yelled as she burst into the village.

Her home was still a very quaint place. For someone who had grown up in the metropolis that was Republic City a lot, Kyoshi Island still seemed incredibly tiny sometimes. People still lived in small wooden houses on stilts around the same statue of Avatar Kyoshi that had stood at the centre of town for generations. The world had progressed; to Zaochen, it seemed as if Kyoshi Island had been left behind.

People looked up. Many people had crowded into the street already, looking anxiously in the direction she had come, alerted by the buzzing noise that accompanied the purple glow.

"Invaders?" Several voices quaked. Several people began herding their families away, and rushing towards their houses to pack.

"What's going on here?" Several women in green robes and white face paint pushed through the crowd, folding their arms as they watched her.

Their leader frowned, and Zaochen recognised her younger sister, Bulan, through the face paint.

"We're being attacked! They've killed a Unagi! They're landing troops!"

"Whoah!" Bulan put her hand on Zaochen's shoulder. "Calm down. Slow down. Who's invading?"

"I don't know," Zaochen replied. "I didn't get a good look at them in the fog. But they're coming, and they've killed a Unagi."

There was a shout from behind Zaochen, and she turned around to find a soldier in a green uniform stumble out from cover. Everyone swivelled to look at him, and he froze. He seemed to give an awkward wave, and then turned and ran, recognising that he was outnumbered. One of Bulan's warriors went to follow him, but she held her hand out.

"There are probably more coming," she told her. "We'd be better off establishing a defensive perimeter here. Fetch the other warriors."

The Kyoshi Warrior nodded and rushed away. Bulan frowned and turned back to her sister.

"l recognised that uniform," she said. "It belongs to the government on the mainland."

"What, this is the Great Uniter's doing?" Zaochen asked.

"It looks like it," Bulan nodded. "At least that explains why we haven't heard from our ambassador to the capital in a while."

"But what are we going to do?" Zaochen asked. Military strategy had never really been her thing. "Are we going to fight?"

"We can try," Bulan told her, "but it will be a losing battle."

A commotion behind them signalled the arrival of the Chief, Jing, a woman about a decade younger than the two siblings.

"What's going on? Are we under attack?"

"It looks like it," Zaochen replied. "Should we fight?"

"Who's attacking us?"

"Kuvira-"

"Kuv- You mean to say we're being attacked by our own government?"

"Unfortunately, yes. And no, we don't know why she's doing this."

Jing did not answer. She looked around as squads of Kyoshi Warriors began to swing into action, assembling improvised barricades in streets and looking out into the surrounding countryside, where the sounds of enemy soldiers were growing increasingly louder.

"Should we fight?" Bulan repeated, with more urgency.

Suddenly, a metal strip flew out of the undergrowth and slammed into a Warrior, pinning her feet together and causing her to fall over. More strips followed, aiming for hands and legs and even necks. Zaochen looked on in horror as one Kyoshi Warrior went down clawing at her neck, a metal strip encasing it firmly. The enemy did not restrict their attacks to just the warriors either;

"Looks like we don't have a choice any more," Jing frowned.

By now, scores of Imperial troops were streaming out from cover towards the village. Kyoshi Warriors raced towards them, and once they got among Kuvira's troops they got to work. Many Imperials fell at their feet, unable to move because of the chi-blocking techniques the warriors used, but for every man and woman who collapsed in an unfeeling heap on the floor, ten replaced them.

Seeing this, the sisters looked at one another. Bulan pulled out an old-fashioned war fan from her belt, while Zaochen uncorked the large bottle of water that was strapped to her back. With a hand movement, a large blob of water floated up over her shoulder and hung there, ready to be flung at any attackers. But Jing grabbed their arms.

"No!" She said. "We're going to lose!"

"So we surrender?"

"Eventually," Jing nodded. "There's not much else we can do. But I want to buy you time. You need to leave."

"What? We can't leave?" Bulan was horrified. "My warriors-"

"It will make no difference to them whether you stay here with them or leave. The best thing you can do for them is raise awareness. Take your mother, leave this island. Tell the world what has happened here. Get help for us!"

Bulan still looked like she wanted to protest, but Zaochen grabbed her arm.

"We have to go!"

"You can go!"

"This is an order from your chief," Jing was trying to be authoritative now. "The best thing you can do for us is come back with the Avatar in tow. Preferably the Fire Nation and United Republic too."

Bulan growled, but turned away.

"Fine, how do we get off this island then?"

"Don't you have an old submarine parked at the docks? That should let you slip past any blockade they'll have established." Jing pointed out.

"Good enough," Bulan ran away. "Zaochen, you're driving!"

Zaochen looked at Jing. The chief nodded encouragingly at her.

"We're counting on you," she told her. "Please don't let us down."

"I'll try not to," Zaochen replied. A huge responsibility had just been placed on her family's shoulders.

The waterbender looked around once more and then took off after her sister, the sounds of a battle they were destined to lose ringing in her ears and an uncertain future ahead.