Avatar: Rise of The Red Lotus

by rugby1719

The 3 surviving nations lived together in harmony after the war ended. But all that changed when the Red Lotus rose to power when the Gaang least expected it. Follow Aang as he and his friends take the fight to them before they fulfill their 110 year old plan and win. Observe as they ally with new and old friends, and discover horrific ghosts and revelations of Aang and Zukos past.

2. Chapter 2

Omashu City

First the weekend was supposed to be spent for the gaang in the Fire Nation and celebrate their best friends 10 year coronation anniversary. Then after the Red Lotus attacked and stole a spirit mask, they were going to spend the weekend planning out their strategy to go after them and get the other masks. But now, the rest of their weekend and all through the next week was spent in Omashu, getting things set up for King Bumi's funeral. When the gaang got the message sent out from Aang, informing them all of Bumi's death, they dropped everything to be there for him as the city gave their king, and Aangs best friend, a proper burial. the Red Lotus would just have to wait.

At the end of the week and the kings funeral ending, Aang and the others were in one of the taverns in the city, sat around a table in silence as they just waited on their food before eventually having to leave and get back to work. But everyone was really just waiting to see Aangs reaction as he was rather silent the whole funeral. "Sooo... Uh... Aang... anything you wanna talk about? Like maybe... about how you're feeling" Katara asked.

Aang looked up at his girlfriend. "Why?" He asked her. "We all know Bumi died right after I spoke to him and he had a heart attack in bed. And we all know how I, like many other people, feel about the fact that he's now dead... His grand daughter Havi will be crowned Queen of Omashu in a few weeks and things will go back to normal like they never happened"

"Aang, you... You were pretty silent the whole service. You couldn't even say anything when they asked if you had any words" Katara said and put her hand on his. "Are you sure you're-"

"I'm fine" Aang simply said, before giving out a sigh. "Look I... I knew this day was bound to come. We all knew for a long time, I mean he was over a hundred years old, its a miracle he stayed alive this long. It definitely didn't make his death any less impactful though when the time finally came" Aang then started to fidget with his hands. "It's just... Before he died, he said some things that made no sense. Like, more than the crazy stuff he usually says. And the worst part is I'm not even able to figure out if any of it was true or not now"

"Really? What did he say?" Zuko asked him.

"He said that the Red Lotus were in the Southern Air Temple, about to take me and probably use me for whatever they had planned for the world at the time, or worse, kill me" Aang said. "My mind has been racing the last week after that. Both about Bumi, and who it could have been that was after me. I can't imagine ANY air nomad working for these guys, and to kidnap a child of all people? It's just insane to think about... I knew almost every air nomad in that temple for years, and none of them gave off any sort of impression like that"

"Well, what else did Bumi say?" Zuko asked. "Maybe he hinted at who it could have been"

"Vaguely. He said their leader at the time was a ruthless monster, not exactly any surprise there. But then he said 'trust none of them, even those you were once closest too' so it could be literally anyone, IF it's anyone at all" Aang said, still unable or unwilling to believe the idea that one of the air nomads he grew up with was a traitor to him.

"It has to be someone who knew you were the Avatar right?" Sokka asked. "What about... I dunno, Gyatso?"

Aang shook his head. "No. Not him" Aang quickly said.

"Aang come on, be practical... If one of them was with the Red Lotus, we have to also assume that-"

"IT WASN'T HIM!" Aang shouted again, slamming his fist on the table, that shout made Sokka and most of everyone else gasp in shock from his sudden outburst, except Toph who just casually drank from a glass. Aang then looked around at the other people inside of the tavern look at Aang pretty concerned, so Aang dialed it back and calmed down. "I-I'm sorry... About that" He said and rubbed the back of his head. "Anyway, uh... It wasn't him. It couldn't have been" Aang said again in a calmer tone. "Monk Gyatso was with me for most of my life in the air temple and was my closest friend. If it really was him he had many many opportunities to kidnap me and didn't" He said. "If it was someone that knew I was the Avatar though, it could have been any of the master air nomad elders. They're the only people who knew me at the time from when I was a kid... But then again, a week before I left the air temple my identity as the Avatar as public to the entire temple, so like I said it could have been anyone a that time"

Toph had her feet kicked up on the table and drank out of a mug. "I don't mean to sound all negative and change the subject and all, but uhhhhh... does it REALLY matter trying to figure out who it was who tried to kidnap you? I mean it was over a century ago and they're all dead now anyway" She said. "I dunno. It might just be me but feels more like we should worry more about the Red Lotus who are around today" She added.

Aang looked over at his friend. Usually Toph was the type of person to say what's on her mind, whether it was what people wanted to hear or not. And this was something he really needed to hear. "You're right Toph... We really do need to focus on these guys" Aang said. "So, what did you guys find out anyway? about the masks"

"Pakku is going to meet us at Air Temple Island with his old water bending master, Master Tinak's belongings, so we can sift through it all to find something hinting at the location of the water spirit mask" Katara said.

"Piandao said that there's no luck finding the air spirit mask... But he said he'll find everything he can get that might help with the search" Sokka said next. "Though he did say that it needs an air bender to wear it for it to work, so It won't even be useful to them... Though, I'm sure you can put it to better use Aang" Sokka added.

"Well we'll keep looking for that mask for the time being... I guess it wouldn't hurt to get an extra fighting edge on these guys" Aang said back.

"What about you Aang? Did Bumi manage to say anything about the Mask of The Core?" Katara asked.

Aang sighed and shook his head. "Seems like we're going 3 for 3 with no luck... Bumi had the mask shipped out in a delivery caravan decades ago that was delivered and then shipped out again under new names countless times to each location it went to. In the end he had no idea where the mask could be now, or rather never remembered where the mask was supposed to end up at the end"

"Gee that's really... not helpful" Zuko said and drank from his glass. "There's no way a guy like Bumi would just send that mask away and not even keep a note where it is... He had to have written it down somewhere"

"As a matter of fact he said he did" Aang said. "Only one small problem... There's several decades worth of documents and ledgers to sift through, and they're all organized Bumis way, so incredibly UNorganized to the rest of us. So it's gonna take a while" He said. He then groaned a bit and rubbed his head. "This is so frustrating... Look, our best chance right now is to go with Pakku and finding the water mask. We'll worry about the other 2 afterwards"

Toph groaned out loud. "This sucks!" Toph said. "Why couldn't these guys just keep all of this with their little club? Isn't that the whole point of the White Lotus or whatever?"

"This was in the middle of the war and the Fire Nation reeking havoc all over the world. They couldn't risk the chance of their order and their nations various secrets being exposed to the Fire Nation, so when the order went into hiding for all those years they had to keep everything hidden and secret from even themselves" Aang explained.

"That's stupid" Was all Toph said back. This was one of those examples of her saying what's on her mind that wasn't helpful.

Zuko then got up. "Well good luck with that. I'll have to take my leave now and stay in Omashu for now" Zuko said. "I can't just leave with you guys like I used to, especially after the attack, so security will be with me at all times... Well except right now obviously. Plus I'm still Fire Lord, I have to make an appearances until then, but once I can leave I'll head straight there"

"Don't rush anything for our sake Zuko, you still have a nation to run... We'll see you in the city" Aang said as he and everyone got up too. "Lets go guys. That mask won't find itself" He said.

Everyone started to leave the tavern together, everyone but Katara and Aang when Aang had his hand grabbed by Katara. "Aang, are you sure you're ok? I know you said you are, but I know you can't just not think about one of the air nomads being a bad guy" She said to him.

Aang sighed and looked down at her hand. "Of course I'm not ok" He said. "But it's not about the fact that somebody was a traitor, that I can accept... it's just... Bumi seemed really worried when he used his dying breath to tell me about the Red Lotus. Almost like... I don't know. Like he thinks that person is still here today"

"I doubt that" Katara simply said. "Unless if there's a hundred year old air bender somewhere we don't know about I'm sure Bumi was just confessing to you at the last minute of his life"

"Yeah... maybe you're right" Aang said and sighed. "I just wish I could know who it was... but let's worry about that another time" He said then left with his girlfriend to catch up with the others.

---

Republic City

When the funeral ceremony was over and the gang was ready to head out of Omashu, everyone except for Zuko left on Appa and headed straight for the bustling developing city that is Republic City. The city that was once just the small Fire Nation colony of Cranefish Town, was the first place outside of the Fire Nation to experience the advancements of industrialization after the war was over and the colonies were given back to the people to rule. Over time, when Aang learned to accept that the world was changing in ways that he doesn't have control over, Aang and Fire Lord Zuko made plans to make a settlement that can be for all of the nations to thrive in and not in separate nations anymore. And thus, Cranefish Town would slowly get bigger and bigger until finally Republic City was made.

Aang let out a sigh as he could see the city in the distance coming up. "Republic City... It looks amazing every time we return to it" He said.

"Why do you guys have to keep talking about how nice these cities look?" Toph asked in a frustrated tone and crossed her arms. "We get it! It's full of people and buildings. It's not that impressive..."

"Oh lighten up Toph" Aang said. "Pakku should be arriving at Air Temple Island soon. We're going to land there and wait for him to come with the stuff needed to potentially find the mask" Aang said to the gang.

"Actually, you mind dropping me off at the Police Station?" Toph asked. "I gotta get back to my detective work, and nobody is as good as me at snatching up criminals getting interrogations done like me" She said and stretched her arms and legs out one by one. "Besides, I doubt I'd be much help looking through books and other dumb shit like that" She added.

"Ah well, suit yourself" Aang said, changing course slightly to get to the city instead of the island. Appa flew through the rather tall buildings of the city, navigating his way around rather well before finally arriving to the police station in the city, full of mostly metal benders as the police force of the city, all trained by Toph herself. Once Appa landed, Toph got off and back onto the ground and said her goodbyes to the gang before they took off.

As Appa flew off and Toph was about to walk into the station, she sensed the footsteps of an old man coming out the door. Without even needing to guess she knew who it was. "Captain Xamur Ming! My favorite old man, next to the dead one we just buried" Toph said and went up the stairs to shake the hand of her boss. Xamur Ming, who wass the captain of the Cranefish Town's police enforcement team, but when the town was evolving into Republic City he needed more people enlisting in the police force. Needless to say, he was more than excited to partner with Toph Beifong and her metal bending school to use them as cops for the last few years.

"Ah good to see you Detective" Xamur said and shook her hand back. "I hope you're ready to get back to work. Because we have a whole lot of bad guys for you to interrogate"

Toph sighed. "Seriously? Can't you guys find someone else to handle that when I'm not around?"

"Nobody else has your magic touch" He said and pat her shoulder.

"Heh... Yeah I know, I just like to hear how good I am at this job" Toph said with a smirk.

The two then went into the building together and walked through the main lobby, to the station on the other side of the lobby where all the cops were. "Oh, speaking of which there's actually some things we need to talk about before you get back to work" Xamur said to her, leading the detective to his office. Once inside, Toph took a seat while Xamur went through his desk until he pulled out a bottle of booze, and two glasses. "I'd say I hope you had a good vacation, but uhhh... I heard about the capital attack. Then I heard about King Bumi... I can imagine that was a rather hard week to deal with"

"Ugh, you have no idea" Toph said with a groan. Once Xamur poured a drink and passed it down the table, Toph grabbed it and took a sip from the glass. "We just got back from Omashu amd it feels like I've been running amok over all the crazy shit we've been dealing with"

"Were you close with the king?" He then asked.

"Not as much as Aang... but he and I got along a lot over the years. And a lot fights in his personal arena too, to decide who the better earth bender is... We tied every time" Toph said with a chuckle. "Is that the only thing you wanted to talk about though?"

"Nope" Xamur said and poured himself a drink too. "As you know or may not know, the city council is looking to evolve the police force into a bigger and more refurbished department than what we currently have"

"Uh... what does that mean captain?" Toph asked confused.

"It means that I'm retiring in a few months and they want an actual chief of police to take my position. Not a captain" He said to her and took another sip from his drink. "They've been waiting for me to give them my recommendation for who should lead the department"

"Ah I see... You need my help to sift through the crappy choices right?" Toph asked and smirked a bit. "Who have you considered to take the role as chief?"

He then sat down in his chair leaning back and had a big smile on his face. "...You" He said.

Toph blinked her badly functioning eyes a few times. "I'm sorry... I think my hearing is getting just as bad as my seeing. Did you just say me?"

"Well, yeah" He said. "You've been a tremendous adversary when you came in to help with the growing crime in this growing city. I can't think of anyone else that deserves to lead the department in the coming years" Xamur said to her. "That is of course... If you want the job" He said.

"Holy shit... Yeah I'd definitely love that!" Toph said with a big smile on her face. "Oh god this is amazing... I've always thought about becoming a police chief but I didn't think it'd ever happen with the fact that I'm blind" She said.

"Eh, there's not a lot that you'll have to do that involves reading or writing. That's what secretaries are for after all" He said. "And like I said, this won't be for another few months until you officially get the promotion, so just keep doing what you're doing until then and I'll keep you updated" He said.

"Will do Xamur... thanks again. It means a lot to me" Toph said and finished the drink she had before going out of the office, with a wide smirk on her face, she then cracked her knuckles. "Alright! Where's these criminals ladies? I got skulls to crack!"

---

Air Temple Island

When Aang had spent his time renovating all 4 of the Air Nomad temples, he had a fifth temple made on a small island just off the coast of Republic city. This was where He and Katara lived together without having to be bothered by people from the mainland, and the island also acts as a home for the Air Acolytes that Aang has been teaching in the ways of the Air nomads and their culture, once he learned that air bending wasn't what kept the culture alive. Appa eventually landed on the island, and Aang Katara Sokka and Suki got off of him. "Appa seems kind of old to keep doing these long flights, don't you think Aang?" Suki asked as he rubbed the flying bison.

"No way. Flying Bisons have a life span of about 4 decades" Aang said. But when he does eventually get too old to fly around he'll be relaxing here full time" Aang said as Appa walked away to a part of the island that was all for him, his own makeshift stables where he can eat and sleep. "Oh don't tell him I told you but but I just learned that Appa is actually overweight for a Bison. But we love him just the way he is"

"Uh how in any way would we be able to tell him... you know what never mind" Sokka said. "Speaking of animal companions... where's hawky?" He asked and looked around.

Just then, an Air Acolyte came over to greet the avatar and friends, with both Momo and Hawky on him. Or rather, with the two of them trying to attack each other. "Ah, you're back... C-Can you take your hawk please?" The Acolyte asked.

Sokka groaned. "Hawky! Bad Hawky!" Sokka said before holding his arm out and whistling a few times. Hawky then flew away from Momo and the acolyte to land on Sokkas arm. "Good Hawky... Did you miss me while I was away?" He asked and scratched the bottom of the hawks beak.

Momo let out a hiss, and was about to fly over to where Hawky was, but then Katara grabbed hold of Momo and held onto him tightly to keep him from attacking the hawk again. "Momo quit it!" Katara said with a groan. "Honestly Sokka I don't know why you still keep that bird around"

"Hey! first of all this is a dragon hawk. And second I finally got reunited with him after the war, after a certain someone, ahem... YOU" Sokka motioned to his sister with his finger. "Sent him away and didn't even bother to tell me"

Katara rolled her eyes. "I was helping Toph write a letter to her mother" She said.

"I'm aware of that! But you could have still done something like give a return address for him to come back to me" Sokka said back. "It was a miracle I managed to find him as it was... and now I keep him as a companion during my travels and use him to keep in touch with Suki" He said.

"Ugh. Whatever. He's not that great of a pet" Katara said.

"Oh please! You're just mad he doesn't have a belly to scratch" Sokka said.

"Well, that's definitely part of it" Katara mumbled, as she was cradling Momo like a baby and scratching his belly to keep him from attacking Hawky again. "Can you just keep him away from Momo please? They clearly still don't like each other"

"Fine by me... You guys can do all the boring mask searching stuff while me Suki and Hawky spend some quality time together" Sokka said, then almost on cue, Zuko's airship had arrived at the island dock, and a Water Tribe style ship sailed for the dock as well. Most likely being Pakku. "Ah, you just gotta love that timing" He said.

Both ships docked at the island and Pakku came up the walkway, as well as Zuko and Iroh accompanied by royal guards. "Ah, good to see you all again" Pakku said with a smile on his face.

"Master Pakku! Always a pleasure to have you around... Zuko, Iroh, glad you could make it safely" Aang said, then noticed the guards. "Uh... Do they have to be here?" He whispered and motioned to the royal guards.

"Sorry Aang. Like I said It's rather precautionary now with the Red Lotus still out there and we're not in the Capital City anymore" Zuko said. "But this burden is still on all of us, to find the next spirit mask before they do"

"Yeah. I don't want to think about what will happen if they get anymore" Aang said. "Pakku, did you get everything you could find?"

Pakku nodded. "My previous masters personal belongings as promised" He said just as another White Lotus member walked by with crates full of various scrolls and books. "If he wrote it down anywhere, we'll find it" He said.

"Great. Bring it inside and we'll get to sorting through it all in no time" Aang said, then moved out the way to let the people walk by. But then when Iroh walked over he put his hand on his shoulder. "Do you mind if we speak privately for a moment?"

Iroh looked at him rather confused at first, but still obliged to go with him. With a motion to his guards to stay back and not follow him, he and Aang walked away from the group as they went into the temple. Sokka and Suki also branched off from the group but in a different direction as to not disturb the other 2. Aang and Iroh walked away to a wooden gazebo on the island, built in a spot that was facing Republic City. Iroh couldn't help but sigh, while leaning on the side and staring at the city. "It still brings me so much joy seeing the world as it is today... you, my nephew, your friends who have all done incredible things... You have all made this a world that all the nations can truly live together in harmo-"

"Yeah I didn't bring you over here for a social gathering and catch up on things Iroh" Aang said bluntly to the old man. "This is about Bumi"

Iroh looked over at Aang, his confusion returning now when he said that. "What about him Aang?" He asked.

"Before he died... he used his dying breath to tell me about the Red Lotus. He told me that the Red Lotus were in my air temple, about to kidnap me when I was only 12 years old" he said to him and had more of a serious face on him now. "And... He told me you and the other members decided to not tell me about it. Which means YOU knew all about it and at any point decided to tell me"

Iroh simply listened to Aang speak. There was no way to talk his way out of this, or in better terms, no point to avoid the subject. "And... What is it you want to know?" He asked.

"What I want to know!?" Aang got closer to him. "I want to know who betrayed me! I want to know why you thought I shouldn't know, like you were choosing what was good for me! I'm not a child Iroh, I'm the Avatar. You want to have a partnership with me as Grand Lotus, can't just keep secrets from me! especially something like this"

Iroh sighed. "Around the beginning of the war, When the White Lotus didn't yet go into hiding, and the remaining Red Lotus members were killed in Sozins palace, our own members tried to get a look at the bodies and piece together who was there and who wasn't there... They believed that at the time there was about one or more members of the Red Lotus who died back at the Southern Air Temple specifically, who were attempting to take you away before the attack... Not only that but they believed the leader of the Red Lotus at the time was there somewhere among the dead nomads too"

"What?" Aang asked, taking a step up to Iroh intrigued. "Who?" Aang asked him.

"We don't know. Honestly, we don't" Iroh said. "We just know that they were planning to kidnap you at a young age, and most likely mold you into their own personal fighter to use in all of their plans for the world. If they weren't going to get their hands on the spirit masks again then they'll have to use something else to get an edge in their war with society... that's where you came in, or rather where you were supposed to come in, but then you left and they waited too long for you to return" He explained to him. "And when the White Lotus rejoined together after the war, we went through every bit of knowledge we had in our society and pieced that only bit of information out about the leader. I chose not to tell you about the Red Lotus nomads because... well because we didn't want you to think so much about your past in a much more negative setting. You didn't deserve to have that kind of suffering" He said.

Aang sighed as he listened to Iroh explain it all to him. "So... you're really not sure who the leader was?" Aang asked.

"If I had to guess, it was an air nomad elder. They're the only ones that could have the knowledge and experience to lead the Red Lotus productively... Can you think of any elder that seemed strange to you?" Iroh asked him.

Aang leaned on the railing, looking out at the city while thinking about the elders of his temple. "Well... There was the main elders, who said that I have to leave the Air Temple immediately to start my training early. But that just narrows it to 5 of them and I can't really ask any of them who it was now" Aang said. "They were always grouchy and rude, but they would never abuse their roles as the elders of the temple. Something like this is too insane for them to even consider pulling off"

"This is why we wanted to keep this secret from you... I meant no disrespect when we made the decision Aang. I just simply wanted to keep you from overthinking the fact that someone in your temple was a traitor. And that you cannot get any closure as to who exactly it was all those years ago" Iroh said.

"But why did Bumi tell me then?" Aang asked him. "He could have just said anything else with his dying words but he said that. He made it sound like... I don't know... He sounded like he thinks they're still around too. Like one of those Red Lotus air nomads are still out there and probably leading this new group"

"Bumi was probably just paranoid in his old age and thinking about the worst possible scenarios for this new Red Lotus group... But trust me Aang, as bad as what I'm about to say may sound, if there was another air bender out there who survived the temple raids then the Fire Nation would have found them in the hundred years they were looking for you" Iroh said.

Aang sighed, rubbing his head and trying to cool down and concentrate. "I guess you're right... Thanks for speaking to me about this Iroh" Aang said. "But this is the last time you and the White Lotus keep secrets from me. Do you understand? I'm very willing to work with you guys, just as much as you're willing to expose yourselves to the world to work with the me. But this teamwork we have going on, doesn't work if you're hiding things from me"

Iroh was hesitant at first, but then nodded at Aang. "You're right... I apologize Aang" He said then sighed. "I forget just how grown up you are now in what feels like so little time... I still see you as the 12 year old boy we brought onto our ship in the South Pole. So... young and helpless. In a new world and no clue what to do"

"Yeah... well, I think I can say we all learned from our past one way or another. Now I'm 22 and have to save the whole world all over again" Aang said. He stood back up straight after a while. "Alright, we should get back to it and find this water mask" He said, with that conversation over, he and Iroh left the gazebo, walking down the walkway together to get to the temple. They had a lot of work to do and will need everyone focused and working.

---

Well, everyone but Sokka and Suki. Because as Aang and everyone else was searching through Pakkus masters old belongings, they were out on the beaches of Air Temple Island. They were watching as Hawky flew around freely to stretch his wings out and just enjoying the time together. "This is nice... Those idiots inside are spending all day looking at old ass documents till their eyes melt, all so it'll probably just lead them nowhere, and we're here on a beach alone" Sokka said, then heard the caw of his hawk in the distance. "You were included in that too Hawky!"

Suki giggled a bit as she wrapped her arms around Sokkas arm, like she was hugging it. "So... What did Piandao want to talk about with you the other day?" She asked him. "Seemed pretty important"

"Eh... Important is a weird way to put it. He basically just said that there was a southern water tribe Council member position available in Republic City"

Suki raised an eyebrow and looked up to see his face. "Oh? And, what did you say to that?"

Sokka shrugged. "I just said I'll think about it. But... I dunno, politics doesn't seem like my thing. And I don't know if I can handle being forced into settling down after all these years out in the world"

"Oh... Settling down..." Suki said, saddened by that statement a bit. She knew that feeling all too well, being from Kyioshi Island most of her life. The thought of just being stuck in one place was scary to imagine... But being stuck in one place with someone you love? Almost makes it worth it, some would say. "Sokka... Uhmmm... Remember when I was going to talk to you in the Fire Nation? And then we got interrupted?" She asked him.

"Oh yeah. It completely slipped my mind with everything going on... What did you want to talk about?" He asked her.

Suki took a deep breath, and then sighed. "In a month or two I plan to leave Kyioshi Island, and move into Republic City... And... I was thinking we could move there together" She said.

"What?" Sokka asked rather shocked, given the circumstances. "But... What about the Kyioshi Warriors?"

"I'll be choosing a new warrior to take my position before I go. But I think it's time for me to get out of that Island again. It feels so small compared to everywhere else we've been to in the world" Suki said. "I want to open up a self defense school in the city. to teach girls how to fight. And... Well, It works out already if you have a career waiting for you as a councilman. We can both live there together" She said.

"I don't have anything waiting for me Suki" Sokka said, sighing too as he let go of her and walked over to the water of the beach and look out to the view. "I don't want to become some asshole politician. I've meet enough in every nation to know that life isn't for me. Leading people... It just... It isn't in me like I thought it'd be. All I know is how to fight and prep for war"

Suki walked over towards him and held his arm again. "We're not at war anymore Sokka" She said. "Come on, what is so bad about it? You of all people wouldn't be like those other politicians around the world. You have the knowledge and experience to make a real difference"

Sokka let out a scoff. "Piandao said the same thing to me when I told him I wouldn't be a good fit for the job. As if that's what everyone believes that's what makes a good... Look, I just don't think my place is sitting behind a table. My place is out there to the people that need me"

"What about me Sokka?" Suki asked back frantically and let go of him. "I need you! I need to know you're ok... Do you know how scared I get whenever you go out for one of your tours of the Earth Kingdom? Or care apparently? I want us both to settle down somewhere together and not have to worry about being ready for war constantly... Don't you want a life like that with me?"

Sokka frowned as he looked at her. "Of... Of course I want that life with you..." He said. "Suki... I-"

"Hey lovebirds!" The duo were interrupted by Katara showing up, back at the top of the beach still on the boardwalk. "There you two are. We think we found something... Uh, Am I interrupting something?"

Sokka and Suki looked at each other with frowns on their faces, upset that they were interrupted once again. With no choice but to back off the subject for now, they shook their heads and looked back at Katara. "No... We can talk about it later" Sokka said. "Wait, you guys already found something?"

"It's too soon to say but we found something that should lead to the mask. The others are reading through it now... Come on you should come see it too" She said, before turning around and walking away.

Sokka sighed when she left, he whistled to call Hawky back to his arm and then walk away past Suki. "We're not done talking about this" He said to Suki.

"Yeah... We're not" Suki said with a sigh too as she walked with him. Suki had a bit of regret bringing up the moving situation. Should she have said anything to him? Would Sokka have really left everything he loved to live with Suki? She definitely thought. Maybe Sokka loves adventuring more than Suki after all. Or maybe... he doesn't truly know what exactly to love in this world yet. Whatever it was, Suki hoped to hear an answer soon.

Once inside of the temple, after Sokka let Hawky go somewhere to fly freely again as he and Suki went inside, they observed as Katara, Aang, Iroh, Zuko, and Pakku were in the room sat around together. Most of the belongings that they currently went through were all tossed away in one corner, most likely being the useless stuff so far. But the only thing that they seemed interested in was an old handmade book. "Check this out guys" Zuko said, handing them the book

Sokka picked up the old book. "What's so special about this?"

"This was the journal of Master Tinak. My old master" Pakku explained. "A long time ago he left for a hunting expedition to find and kill some sort of sea monster that was terrorizing the tribe at the time, he took a ship and crew with him and sailed off from the North Pole... That was when he went to hide the Mask of Rogue Waves as well"

"And... I'm assuming this is a journal he wrote in during that expedition?" Suki asked.

"Yeah. This is one of the only things we've found so far that was documented at the same time of hiding the mask so this is a good sign" Pakku said as Sokka gave the book back. Pakku was reading through the book, with everyone listening in to him reading. "Day 1: The hunt for this elusive beast of a creature has begun with me and my crew setting sail outside of the safety of our Northern Water Tribe. The journey ahead will be long and treacherous for many reasons than just the creature of the sea. Even with our bending, we will be up against the powers of nature, and the powers of the Fire Nation should they be out there still hunting us down. But it is our duty to not just our people but ourselves, that we see this mission to the end. No matter how dangerous it may be ahead. I had just left and said goodbye to my star pupil student Pakku, a boy that I believe will grow to take my place as master. The crew has many different people they are fighting to see again at the end of this hunt, and the person I'm fighting for will be him, for I have so much more to teach him about not just the tribe he lives in, but of the whole world that he walks on"

Pakku continued with reading Master Tinak's book, with hope that a lead will pop out the more he keeps reading. Unfortunately the book goes on for page after page, about the hunt Tinak went on trying to find the monster mentioned over and over. At least once in nearly every single page. Nothing about the mask that he had to have on him at the time. The book goes on and on about the year that Tinak and his crew spent out at sea together, as their sailing took them all around the northern and north western part of the world, about various times they were in port and meet some friendly faces to even getting in a few battles with not only the monster but with Fire Nation ships in the area. Even one that caused them to get beached at an island with friendly villagers on it. It seemed like a good place the mask would be mentioned but not even then does it say anything about the mask, and their stay on that island lasted only 3 rather quick days. Then it was just back to hunting the sea monster but to no avail. In the end, the journal ended rather uninteresting, with Tinak being unsuccessful in the year long hunt. "Day 345: The hunt was over. We cast a vote with the crew after the eleventh month of our journey that was only supposed to be just 6 months out at sea. With no success to kill the beast, we decided to finally return home, with our heads held high but the morale on the ship tarnished with the realization that our hunt was over for us. Tomorrow, we will return to the Northern Water Tribe. The rest of the people back at the tribe will most likely more than excited to see us once again after being gone for so long. I wish I could say I was happy too but none of us were. We could all see it on each other that not winning was just as hard on us as losing. I guess in the end, the only good thing that came out of this was that nobody on the ship died, for that, I cannot be frustrated. For we may not have succeeded in taking the life of the monster, the monster also was unsuccessful in taking any of us with it. The battle was over for now... But we will return to finish the job when the creature least expects it" Pakku finished up reading the book once he flipped the page and saw it was blank. "Uh... That's it"

"That's it? That's all Tinak wrote down for a year straight, about a stupid sea monster?" Zuko asked, groaning that they spent hours reading the thing, with no leads to even show for it. "There's gotta be something we missed"

"Could he have just dropped the mask into the ocean?" Katara asked. "That sounds like a more likely place to put it if he was getting rid of it. It would get rid of the mask for good and keep the Red Lotus from getting it"

Iroh shook his head. "No. The White Lotus were ordered to hide the masks, specifically in places we can retrieve them again once we find a way to dismantle the masks and remove its spirit energy in them... Tinak would have had to hide the mask somewhere that nobody would think to search for it but still able to reach it when the time comes to get it"

Everyone was pretty frustrated to say the least, except for Aang, who was just tapping his chin and deep in thought. "That... That passage about the island he was stuck on with the natives. Something about it seemed strange " Aang spoke up. "Can I see that journal?" He asked.

"Huh? Oh sure" Pakku handed Aang the book, and Aang immediately started to go through the book. "I'm not sure what you're going to find in it though. He doesn't mention anything about the mask in that page"

"No he doesn't... But it's the only page in the entire book that he doesn't at all mention the sea monster either" He said as he got to the passage. "Day 108: Our battle with the Fire Nation vessel ended rather tragically. We won against our attackers in the end, but our ship became so badly damaged that we had to dock at the nearest island we could find before our ship sunk. Just when we thought we were clear from anymore fire benders on our tail, fire bending villagers native to the island greeted us. We were prepared to fight for our lives but found out rather quickly that the natives were friendly. They in fact had no connection to the tyrannical rule of the rest of the Fire Nation. These were an ancient civilization that preferred secrecy over war, so after a bit of conversation with their islands leader we came to the mutual agreement that they would help with our ship. And in return we will leave never to return again. A rather fair trade in our case" Aang read out loud. He then proceeded to read the next page. "Day 109: Ship construction was underway. Our crew is working tirelessly so we can sail off again and get back out into the open seas... As the hours pass I take the time to stretch my legs and wander around this island practically cut off from the rest of the world at war. The thought of staying here passes my mind a few times. How peaceful this land is, it makes me almost forget about the devastation that is being inflicted across the rest of this world. These people have a way of life that is entirely different from what we know about the Fire Nation, it makes me wonder more and more how they lost their way and turned into what they are today. They could learn a thing or 2 from these people that they have strayed so far from, but that will have to wait for another time it seems" Aang then put the book down and looked up at the group. "The mask... It's on that island. I know it is"

"Fire bending natives on an island... It sounds like the Sun Warriors" Zuko said. "We gotta get over there right away"

"Wait a moment Zuko" Iroh said standing up. He went over to the wall where they had a map of the whole world set up, and Iroh drew a circle on the map where the Sun Warriors live, which included their main ruin city off the north coast of the fire nation, and several much smaller islands off the coast. "The sun warriors inhabit multiple different small islands in the northern Fire Nation territory, in addition to their own city. We need to find a way to narrow it down to just one place"

Aang flipped through the book once again, skimming through the pages about the island. "It doesn't mention anything about which island it could have been. I doubt that Tinak would have even known which one it was either... He doesn't seriously expect us to check all of them does he?" Aang asked out loud, until he stopped at one page. On the page was a scribble on the bottom corner of the page. Aang stared at the scribble intensely, thinking that it was more than just a scribble. He then tore the corner piece off the paper, and took it to the map.

Sokka looked at what Aang was doing rather confused. "Uh Aang? I think you might be reaching a bit if you think that doodle is at all significant" He said.

Just as Sokka said that, Aang put the piece of torn paper up against the map, comparing the doodle to the various islands. The others looked at him and what he was doing like he was going insane, but they were all humiliated when Aang proved them all wrong once he stopped right next at one of the islands. "Then why is this doodle drawn exactly like one of these islands?" He asked him.

---

Misho Island

In a time when the Dragons roamed the planet, the Sun Warriors who lived on the various islands they currently lived on named their islands off of dragons that inhabited and protected those islands. The one that Aang, Katara, Sokka, Suki, and Zuko were all currently headed to on Appa was named Misho Island, named after one of their dragons that the island worshiped specifically more than any other dragon that would stop by the island. But that was a long time ago and like most of the dragons in this world, Misho was dead too. Aang looked back at the group on Appas saddle as they flew over the ocean. "We're almost at the island. The place is small, but it will still take a while to search the village and the rest of the island. We'll have to get help from the natives to find this thing"

"A shame Toph couldn't come with us this time but she's got her cop duties to take care of... speaking of, Zuko how did you convince your guards to let you go out without them?" Katara asked him.

"Well, not very easily that's for sure. Retrieving this mask is my burden just as much as the rest of you, but I couldn't scare the Sun Warriors and bring my own personal security force to their islands. It only helps that I'm staying in Fire Nation territory so that definitely helped keep them at bay" Zuko said as he looked out of the side of Appa, to see Hawky flying alongside them on the side. "Sokka why the hell did you bring that thing?"

"That thing is my pet hawk and he is a member of our gang too like it or not, asshole... Besides, the acolytes asked me to take him with me because he and Momo keep on fighting" Sokka said. "So... I've never seen the Sun Warriors. what are they like?" He asked.

"They're an ancient tribe of fire benders who used to worship the dragons, when they were all still around and not hunted down for sport" Zuko said. He made sure not to mention two of them were till alive, as he promised to them that he and Aang would keep them secret. "They're kind of... Well pretty strict with their traditions lets just say, and they don't like outsiders if they can help it. So just stick by me and Aang and we'll talk to them. Maybe with some luck we can get them to help us find the mask too. I'm sure they'll want us gone from their lands as soon as possible"

"Here we are guys! Get ready to greet the Sun Warriors" Aang said. He lowered Appa down to Misho Island, but as the gang got close to the island they noticed something rather off about the village on the south side of said island... It was completely uninhabited and destroyed. Everyone looked out in horror as they saw the village was in ruins. It wasn't like it was destroyed recently, more like it was years ago. But they could all see the desecration of such an ancient and long lasting civilization from war. Buildings were badly destroyed if not fully demolished by the battle that affected this land.

"Oh... Oh god... This is horrible" Suki said in a distraught tone as they walked around. "Was this the Red Lotus?"

"No... These burnt up ruins look years old. Besides, the Red Lotus couldn't possibly know where the mask was before us" Aang said. "This... This had to have been the Fire Nation"

"How could they do this to their own people?" Suki asked.

"Knowing my father and grandfather, they don't need a good reason to do something like this... I just hope everyone got out safely" Zuko said. "Oh shit... What if they found the water mask?"

"If they did find it before us they'd never know it's true power without a water bender to wear it. Either they threw it away somewhere on the island or threw it away some place else... which is worse" Aang said back. "What do you think Katara?" He then asked and looked back, but seeing that Katara was gone. He raised an eyebrow and looked around for her. "Katara?" He then felt Zuko nudge him to get his attention, and then Zuko pointed over to one of the village homes destroyed. Katara was inside looking around. Aang could already tell that she found something bad in there if she was being that silent inside, so he went in to see his girlfriend and see what was in there. He Went through the front entrance, seeing Katara look around in a mixture of horror and sorrow as she stared at one specific part of the house. A wrecked and burnt up handmade baby cradle, with a badly burnt stuffed toy inside. "Oh man..." He mumbled seeing it. "Katara? You... You ok in here?"

"No... I'm not" Katara said, looking down while hugging her own arms. "Seeing this village this way is hard to see on its own... But thinking about the people that lived in it is worse" She said and picked up the toy. She sighed and put it down again. "I thought we were done with shit like this when we were kids... But the older we get it feels like nothings changed. We're still sifting through the burnt up scraps of the Fire Nations war crimes"

Aang let out a sigh too and went over to Katara, putting a hand on her shoulder in an effort to comfort her. "I know what you mean all too well. This is just horrible to witness and it never gets easier as time goes on" He wrapped his arm around her, and puller her in closer, and she did the same and wrapped both of her arms around him. "Come on. Lets get out of this place and find that mask. Then we can leave and put this behind us"

"Feels like that's all we can do these days..." Katara said, building up the strength to leave with him.

As the two left, and continued to search around the village, Sokka and Suki walked together in another part of the village, going through the different houses, trying to pick through the debris. "Jeez... In the last few days of us being on the search for these masks, never once did I think that our search would wind up in a place like this" Sokka said, while tossing pieces of the house outside to make room and looking around for anything left behind that would indicate a mask. He eventually then looked at Suki who was doing the same. "Hey... Uh... Is this a bad time to talk about moving in together?"

Suki sighed, tossing the stuff in her hand and looking at her boyfriend. "Kind of... But what's the point? You made your case clear that you don't wanna live in the city. I'm not going to change your mind, because I can't" She said in an annoyed tone.

"Suki come on. Don't be like that" Sokka said and walked over to her. "Look. I... I just wasn't expecting it is all. I just never thought you'd want to leave the Kyioshi Warriors"

"I'm not 'leaving' them... not in the way you're thinking" Suki said. "I'll always be a Kyioshi Warrior. But my skills can be much more put to better use out in the world and teaching more people to fight than just on our island" She turned her head and looked right at him. "I've wanted to do this ever since I meet *you*. You inspired me to want to have our warriors leave our island and help in the war. So when the war finally ended I went back to live in Kyioshi Island and... And it felt so small compared to everywhere we had been. I spent years trying to get used to it again but the truth is the only times I actually felt happy was when I was with you and the others going on our various adventures around the world since the war ended"

Sokka looked away a bit. He of course knew how that felt, which is why he continued his work around the Earth Kingdom for the last few years. Its what made him feel free and not tied down in the Water Tribe, a place he never truly felt like he belonged in. "Well... I... I know how that feels all too well" Sokka said to her. "I'm sorry Suki. I didn't mean to make it sound like it was a bad idea or anything. With everything going on this last week alone, where I plan to settle down never really crossed my mind until today"

"Well yeah that's true I guess" Suki said. "I for one also thought this mission we're on now would be simple, but of course it gets more and more crazy when you least expect it. And we haven't even got to meet the Red Lotus yet"

Suddenly, a few fire balls hit the village, getting everyone's attention. They immediately ran out of the houses they were all in and headed straight for the middle of the village to see who the attacker was, all ready to fight. Suddenly however a wall of fire surrounded the group, and spun around them, slowly getting smaller around them. "You gotta be kidding me! Fire benders?" Sokka asked as he and the others backed up to each others backs.

Zuko and Aang both acted quickly with the fire, both absorbing the wall of fire to clear the flames out from them. The two of them were about to redirect the flames back at their attackers, only to find out who exactly their attackers were. Someone the two sides know pretty well.

Omonu, the Sun Warrior Chief, noticed the trespassers on the island and immediately widened his eyes. "Zuko? Aang?" He asked.

Zuko and Aang saw who it was too, the two of them lowering their guard. "Oh wow... Chief Omonu!" Aang said. "Guys stand down. He's a friend" Aang said to the others.

Omonu motioned to the small group of Sun Warriors to also stood down and come towards him. "Aang? Zuko? What are you two doing back here? And you brought more people this time?" He asked in a bit of a pissed tone. "We told you not to tell anyone about the Sun Warriors! or did you forget the things we taught you a decade ago!?"

"W-Woah! Calm down Omonu..." Aang said trying to deescalate the situation. Clearly Omonu wasn't happy of their sudden presence, but it seemed as if he was more unhappy than he should be.

"Aang who the hell are these people?" Sokka whispered, with his hand clenched on the handle of his club that was on his side.

"They're the Sun Warriors. The people who helped me and Zuko with our fire bending" Aang whispered back then took a step towards Omonu. "Look, Omonu... I'm sorry for bringing our friends here here but we had no choice. Long story short we're here to find something called the Mask of Waves"

Omonu raised his brow as he got closer to them. "What would you possibly want with that mask? Members of the Water Tribe gave that mask for us to keep safe almost half a century ago, and keep it safe from anyone trying to take it"

"Yeah we know... There's a group of people planning to take it, and they don't wanna use it for good purposes" Aang said. "They already have one of them. And we have to get the other 3. Or, other 2 I should say. The air mask won't be necessary to get"

Zuko took a step up to the chief as well. "Omonu you can trust us... We're only here for the mask and nothing else. I promise"

Omonu looked at the two of them, taking a deep breath in then a sigh. "Of course I trust you..." He said, and walked up to them. "Apologies you two. We haven't had a rather good few days here... Smugglers and robbers have made their way to these islands of ours once again and are stealing anything they can get their hands on to sell. We think they've recently arrived here"

"What?!" Aang asked back. "Oh you gotta be kidding me... First the Red Lotus now smugglers? They could have taken the mask before we got it and they don't even know what that thing is!" He said.

"Calm down Aang. I'm sure that wherever they hid the mask its somewhere that's not easy to get their hands on" Katara said to him and walked over to him to this time pat his shoulder. "Lets find where this mask is on the island, before we consider the possibility that it's been stolen"

"Chief Omonu... If you don't mind me asking" Sokka spoke up. "Why didn't you guys get any of your valuables when this island was raided by Fire Nation troops?"

"Fire Nation troops?" Omonu asked him confused. "Who told you that boy? This village wasn't raided by the Fire Nation"

"What?" Sokka asked back. "Then... Who did raid it?"

"This destruction was the Earth Kingdom" He said back.

Those words made the whole group go wide eyed, shocked to hear that. "W-What?!" Aang asked. "No way... The Earth Kingdom would never do something like this. They fight with honor during the war not like the Fire Nation"

"What they did to our brothers and sisters on this island was far from honorable boy" Omonu said. "20 years ago, Earth Kingdom soldiers sailed to Misho Island ready to kill and ask questions later. They didn't care that the island was full of peaceful villagers... They attacked this place with brute force. Outnumbered and outmatched, those monsters raped and murdered our people, torched everything that was still standing from the earth strikes... Very few survived in the end and came straight to our mainland city for refuge. Eventually one of them left to try and get help from the Fire Nation... That boy was never heard from again"

The groups shock turned into horror when they listened to what Omonu describe the things that the Earth Kingdom savages would do to Fire Nation civilians. "They did... W-What but... Are you sure it was the Earth Kingdom?" Aang asked, speaking frantically, distraught and pretty in denial. "I-I mean, what if it was just bandits or something? It couldn't have been Earth soldiers. The Fire Nation had gained all of the Earth Kingdoms territory on the west coast, they couldn't possibly get that close to the Fire Nation!"

"Actually Aang... They could have" Zuko said to him. "I was a kid at the time so I don't know all the details. But uh... 20 years ago after my uncle abruptly ended the invasion of Ba Sing Se, and my grandfather Azulan died, the Fire Nations hold on the Earth Kingdom was in shambles for weeks. The Earth Kingdom used that opportunity to try and attack us back, directly at our own nation... It failed, of course, but in the time we had reports in various locations in the outer Fire Nation area of Earth bender attacks. We never got any reports of them attacking the Sun Warriors, but the times match up pretty well so It's very likely they were attacked too and we never even knew... until now"

Aang put his hand over his mouth, shocked to hear about this. "Oh my god... I... I had no idea about this" Aang said.

Omonu sighed and shook his head while looking down. "It's the cruel effects of war Avatar... it's why we stayed out of the affairs of the world as a whole and don't take a side. Because neither side are good people" He looked back up. "As for why we didn't do anything with the valuables of this island? We only came here to retrieve the dead bodies of our people. After that and up until now, we stayed away from what was left of this island as it only brought bad memories. It wasn't until we heard that smugglers were looting these places that we returned"

"They will not get away with this Omonu. When we find this mask, I promise you I will find out who led that attack on these people and bring them to justice. AND we will find the smugglers and get back anything that was stolen. You have my word" He said to the chief.

"I sure hope I do have it" Omonu said to the young avatar.

"That being said, it's crucial that we find this water spirit mask or know if it's gone or not. Do you know where the Sun Warriors would have kept it?"

"Ah..." Omonu exclaimed, rubbing his forehead. "I was a child when that mask arrived. Where EXACTLY the mask was kept is a mystery to me, but I would know a few places they would keep it on this island for safe keeping" He said to them. "There is a temple in the center of the island, up on that tall hill up ahead" Omonu said and pointed to the hill in question that they could see from the village. "There is also a shrine on the eastern side of this island. It's where the Sun Warrior elder goes every morning to pray as the sun rose"

"Those two places would be ideal to hide artifacts... We shouldn't stay here long, so lets just split up. Sokka, Katara, Suki, head over to that shrine. Me, Zyko and Omono will head up to that temple"

the group began to walk in different directions to get in their split up groups. Just at the last minute however Suki quickly walked over to Aang. "W-Wait! I'll go with you guys" Suki said. "In case you... You know, run into any trouble up the hill or something"

Both Sokka and Katara seemed confused, Sokka a lot more confused at he sudden change. "Uh, Suki we should stay together so we-"

"It's fine. Sokka." Suki interrupted him in a more stern tone towards him. "You'll be fine on your own, right?"

Sokka sighed, not wanting to argue with Suki right now, telling what it was she was doing now. "Yeah... Whatever" He said

Aang gave a raised eyebrow of confusion watching the interaction. Not wanting to get involved either as they were on a time crunch, he just nodded his head. "Alright... Uh Suki you're with us then" Aang said. "Why don't the rest of the Sun Warriors stay here in the village and with Appa, and sift through anything in the village that they can find?"

"I guess that works" Omonu said, and motioned his people to go through the village for any valuables that survived the attacks. After that the groups headed off to their destinations, eager to get this mission done and win one over on the Red Lotus before it's too late.

---

The walk on the beaches of Misho Island were calming on Sokka and Kataras side. The sibling duo walked in silence mostly, as both of them had Sukis comments on their minds. Sokka knew more about what that was about, which Katara definitely could tell. "So... What was that about?" Katara asked her older brother.

"What was what?" Sokka asked back.

"Seriously?" She asked. "You and Suki? The weird dig she threw at you back there over not going with you? Look it's clear something is going on between you two since Air Temple Island, so just tell me"

Sokka closed his eyes, letting out a frustrated sigh. "She's moving into Republic City and wants me to become a councilman representing the Southern Water Tribe"

Katara gave a hard look of confusion after hearing that. "Uh... Ok? Is there more to that? Because I'm missing how this leads to..." Katara stopped in her woods and in her tracks, with both feet planted in the sand below them. "Oh my god... you said no?"

Sokka stopped too, a little ahead of Katara "What was I supposed to say Katara?" Sokka asked.

Katara scoffed at him in disbelief. "W-What are you... What the heck do you think you're supposed to say?!" She asked him. "Sokka, how could you turn down an opportunity to not only involve yourself in our tribes politics but live with Suki. Why wouldn't you want that for yourself?"

"Because I'm not a politician, I'm a warrior" Sokka said back. "I'm doing well for myself traveling the Earth Kingdom every 6 months on and off. And I'm happy doing it... Why can't everyone else be?"

"Because..." Katara sighed at her brother. She was trying to find the correct way to tell him he can do more in his life than being alone for 6 months. "Look, I'm your sister and I love you very much... Which is why I think that doing this is very good for you to-"

"Stop!" Sokka interrupted her. "I don't need anyone telling me what's good for me and what's not good for me! I've dealt with that my entire life everywhere I go. Well not anymore"

"Sokka I didn't mean it in a disrespecting way-"

"Yeah I know what you meant. You've been doing it the way you mean since we were kids, like I didn't know how to take care of myself compared to you, Aang, Toph, everyone!" Sokka then went up closer to Katara.

All Katara did was give him a blank stare, all throughout his sudden outburst. "Are you finished?" She asked Sokka, making the man nod. "Good... Now listen Sokka, as I was saying, I didn't mean it disrespectfully, or rather in any way you apparently think that was in a bad way... What I meant was, what's so bad about finally being able to settle down with your girlfriend?" She asked him. "I know you like the work you do, traveling the Earth Kingdom to take adventures and jobs fro the townsfolk. I hear about the stories from various villages in the Earth Kingdom talking about a water tribe warrior riding into town, and leaving after helping every villager whether it be moving a few boxes for an old lady or taking down bandits or wild animals while wielding a club in his hand"

Sokka couldn't help but go from pissed off to giving a slight smile from the way Katara spoke. "That's uh... accurate I guess" He said to her, trying not to seem like she was buttering him up with all the compliments.

"You've been doing it for 5 years now... Doesn't it get lonely out there? For all the months you're away alone?" She asked him.

"Well..." Sokka rubbed the back of his head. "I mean, I guess sometimes..." He said as the two continued to walk along the beach. "I'm not always alone though. I've meet other adventurers and mercenaries in the time I've been in the Earth Kingdom. Some of them are not very nice people, but they're never a problem for me to deal with... the rest I've meet are all pretty good people. No problems with any of them when I meet them, and helpful in fights too. You'd probably know a handful of the ones I've meet, but those people prefer to remain anonymous for... uh personal reasons" Sokka said as they walked. "Ya know, when I started my adventures and travels, I did meet this cool water bender bounty hunter a few times named Lian. She wasn't exactly interested in making friends, but she's a real badass in the bounty hunter world"

"That so huh? I hope you're not trying to say that to make me jealous" Katara said to him in a teasing tone, and nudged him.

"Oh please" He said back to his little sister. "Of course she's not as good as you... Well, I guess we'll never find out until you two meet, but that's for the future. But if it makes you feel any better though, as good of a water bender she is she usually uses her spear more than her bending"

"Really? That seems weird... I mean, it'd make more sense if she was a non bender, but a water bender only using a spear?"

"Well it's no ordinary spear. It's a spear that turns into a trident... not very different obviously but still cool" He said to her.

"Huh... Where is she now? Still adventuring?" Katara asked.

"Nah. Nobodies heard from her for a few years after one of her missions. She most likely retired" He said.

"Well maybe some day, probably soon, you can retire too" She said and nudged him again. "If not for yourself, you should at least do it for Suki. It'd mean a lot to her"

"I know it will. And don't get me wrong, I don't want to do this type of work my whole life... It's just...I guess I just I don't know if I'm ready to give it up" Sokka tried his best explaining to her.

"You'll know when the time is right" Katara said to him. She then pat his back. "Hopefully that time comes soon though"

---

As Katara and Sokka walked around the east side of the island, Aang Zuko Suki and Omonu walked towards the north side of the island. The only way upthe steep hill was a pathway up north so that's where they're headed. Though they weren't exactly in a hurry they had to get there as soon as possible so the determination was through the roof with everyone... But not enough for Suki to complain about the dragon hawk that was on her shoulder. Suki let out a groan as she rubbed her shoulder a bit with Hawky still on her. "Why did this damn bird come with me and not Sokka?" Suki asked out loud

"Perhaps he's grown attached to you knowing your close with Sokka" Zuko said to her. "Speaking of Sokka by the way.. Wanna tell us about what that was about back there?" Zuko asked.

"Not really" Suki bluntly said back. Zuko stayed silent after that, as unlike Sokka he didn't feel like arguing with Suki over her and Sokkas love life was a good idea. Especially with Omonu with them.

"Ah... That's uh... H-Hey Omonu!" Zuko said, trying to desperately change the subject. "How long has this smuggler thing been a problem?"

"This isn't the first time we've had to deal with them if that's what you're asking" Omonu explained. "Ever since your war ended and the restrictions on sailing in Fire Nation waters ended, it opened up the opportunity for different type of invaders coming around where they shouldn't be. Thieves trying to find anything not nailed ton to take for themselves... Every few months these people come around our land thinking it's abandoned, and we have to scare them off to get them to stay away, but they always keep coming.

"Oh gosh... I'm so sorry Omonu. I wish I had known about this. I could have helped you guys" Zuko said to him.

"It's just what we have to deal with. You've seen the traps we have set up in our city, we've always had to deal with trespassers. Yet even still that doesn't deter most of the people we've had to get off our island... It's only been more of a problem since the war ended" Omonu said.

"So Omonu, do you know what this mask is capable of? And also how we'll know where it is supposed to be?" Aang asked the chief.

"Well like I said I was young when those water tribe visitors arrived with the mask" Omonu said to him. "I happened to be on this island around the time they showed up. I'll never forget when they gave us a demonstration to show why the mask was dangerous for a water bender to wear, and the man nearly sent a tsunami to this island. And as for where they locked the mask up, I think the island Sun Warriors put the mask inside of a wooden crate painted red, so that'll help" He said.

"Damn... one mask managed to do that?" Zuko asked.

"Well it's filled with chi and spirit energy so it's not the most unbelievable thing. Especially since we've seen what the fire spirit mask can do" Aang said back.

"We haven't seen it yet... Well not in person. Just the aftermath. But even that was dangerous" Zuko said. "It begs the question though. Iroh mentioned the masks change peoples bodies too so what do you think the fire and water one will do?" He asked.

"We'll find out when we meet these Red Lotus guys" Aang said. Just then as they made it to the pathway, Aang immediately noticed that a ship in the distance, that was docked on the northern beaches. He immediately crouched down. "Get down!" He whispered to the group. Everyone got down and hid behind a few bushes nearby, able to spy on the new visitors that arrived.

"I take it this isn't the boat you took to get here?" Suki asked quietly Omonu, whose only response was a head shake to sign no. "Great... Who are these guys? The smugglers?"

"Worse... Pirates" Aang said back to answer the question. "I recognize these guys... Me Katara and Sokka had a bit of a run-in with them 10 years ago, after stealing a water bending scroll" He said as they saw people leave the ship and get onto the beach. A good amount of them looked a lot like the same pirates that the trio had to deal with. It wasn't exactly hard for Aang to remember how they looked since they looked rather unique.

"Oh shit. These are those same guys?" Zuko asked back. "They tried to blow me up a while back too"

"Seriously? When?" Suki asked.

"Back during the time I was banished. Admiral Zhao hired them to-"

"Ah, so when you were an asshole. Got it" Suki said back, cutting him off during his sentence.

Zuko raised an eyebrow. "What's that supposed to mean? Because I was briefly a bad person that makes it ok if I were to-"

"Shhh shut up!" Aang whispered to Zuko, making him frown as he wasn't catching a break right now. Aang then pointed out to 4 people that got out of the ship. They all looked and dressed too clean to be pirates. But from the different type of clothes they had on resembling 3 different nations, and the brief descriptions that the surviving palace guards gave involving the invaders, Aang knew who they were. "It's them... The Red Lotus" Aang said.

Everyone looked confused and in disbelief at first, but took their time to get closer at the 4 of them. One was a man whose body and face was covered from wearing a dark crimson red hooded poncho, with a pair of twin swords attached to sheaths on his back. Another was a girl, dressed in typical dark blue water tribe getup but more fit for a fighter, and a spear attached to her backside as well. The big guy of the group, who stood about 1 to 2 feet taller than his 3 friends, and a much more visibly bulky muscular physique than not just the group but more than any of the pirates that their with. He wore a dark green sleeveless gi, a balaclava face mask covering most of his face but not to be mistaken with the masks they're already searching for. And unlike his friends, he had no weapons on his person, but his giant arms and fists were definitely his weapons. And finally the long haired man up front of the group, wearing a long black unbuttoned coat that went down to his legs, with grey robes underneath, while holding his bow staff in his hands. As Aang and the others watched as the 4 of them walked together, speaking to the pirates, he looked over at Omonu. "I think we found your smugglers" Aang whispered.

"This doesn't make any sense... Those are definitely the guys my guards described. But what are they doing here? HOW did they even know to come here?" Zuko asked put loud.

"They must've followed us... Or worse, someone told them we tracked the water mask here" Suki said. "But what's with the pirates?"

"That's probably how they got out off the Capital island so quickly without us catching them. They must be using them as transport, and now manpower" Aang said. "This is bad guys... Now we really have to get that mask" Aang said to the group. "We gotta get up to that temple before they do. They could start circling the island any moment"

"What about Katara and Sokka? And the rest of the Sun Warriors? They're still out there" Zuko mentioned to Aang.

"Oh man good point... Oh I know" Aang pulled out a paper and ink brush he had in his bag to quickly write a message for Katara and Sokka, warning them that they're not alone "The Red Lotus are here... Get back to Appa... and have everyone meet us... at the temple" Aang said out loud as he was writing down what to put down on the paper. He crawled over to Hawky, to then put the note inside of the tube hooked onto him. "For once I'm actually glad Sokka brought that bird" He said before having Hawky fly off, back to where Sokka went off too. The 4 of them then got up and went up the hill, once the coast was clear for them to make a run for it. A series of thoughts went through Aangs head as they headed for the temple, mostly involving how the Red Lotus could possible have known to come here. No way in the world it was just some random coincidence they'd arrive here, which means someone has been talking to them behind their backs.

The arrived to the temple within a few minutes. Although the temple wasn't burned down like the village, the temple like the rest of this island is in ruins after being abandoned for 20 years. Dust and cobwebs everywhere around the outside of the temple, they could only imagine how the inside will look. "Oh sweet. Looks like this place wasn't destroyed. It was probably never even touched too since the raids. Our luck is starting to actually look up for once in this hunt" Suki said. And as the group made their way into the temple, they saw 2 things. One, the inside had natural lighting thanks to how the Sun Warriors. And two, they could inside of the temple was ransacked. "Aaaand spoke too soon"

"Oh you gotta be kidding me" Aang said as they looked around the temple, moving various broken objects that the thieves that were here didn't choose to take. As well as a snuffed out campfire in the middle. The fire looking to be about a few days old. "I think we found the real smugglers Omonu. And it looks like we missed them"

"Oh no... Guys" Zuko called out to the front of the temple. He held up a broken up red crate with nothing inside of it.

Ononu had a shocked expression on his face. "That's the crate the mask was kept in!" He said. "Oh god they found it, and left Misho Island with it! That mask could be anywhere now!" He said frantically and with a lot of panic

"Omonu relax" Aang said to him and went over to him. "I promised we'd find those smugglers and we're going to keep that promise" He said. "The important thing is that the Red Lotus doesn't have the mask. This gives us more time to find it, and hopefully without the Red Lotus right on our tail"

"So we basically went through all of this so far for nothing?" Suki asked, groaning out loud. "This can't possibly get any worse for us, can it?"

"Be careful what you ask for, Kyoshi Warrior..." All 4 people immediately turned as they heard a new person speak from the entrance of the temple. It was the black coat long haired staff wielder from the beach just earlier, where up close they could see he looked to be at least 3 decades old. And with him, was the crimson hooded poncho guy as well, also around the same age as Amun. "... Fate has a funny way of acting when you least expect it" He said to the gang.

All 4 of them got into fighting stance, anticipating the worst to happen after finally being face to face with the same palace invaders they somehow managed to miss at the Capital. "You must be the Red Lotus" Was all Aang said, with his own glider staff in his hands.

"No we're the other group of people searching for the same spirit masks" The man sarcastically said to the avatar as he slowly took a few steps inside of the temple. "If you wish to put a name to the faces though before the masks eventually cover them, I am Amun. You probably don't remember me... unless, do you remember me?" Amun asked Aang, with his head tilted a bit.

"W-What?" Aang asked, while narrowing his eyes a bit for a few seconds. "I've never meet you in my life"

"Ah... That's a real shame. Because I know you all too well. I've seen you dozens of times over the years but you've never once seen me" Amun said. "Maybe you don't know me, though in time you'll know exactly who I am, but for now I think Omonu will know this one all too well" He motioned the other one to come over. The poncho guy walked further into the temple alongside of Amun.

The man took his hood off, to reveal his bald head and tribal tattoos along his face. "How ironic. The Mask of Waves was on my home island all along" He said in an equally calm yet dark tone as Amun.

Once Omonu saw his face, he went wide eyed and shocked at what he saw. He slowly lowered his fighting stance down, recognizing the adult aged man in front of him. "Uri...? Is that you?" He asked, walking closer to the man.

Uri just stood there and watched as his former chief he followed walked up to him. "Hello Omonu... It's been a while" He said.

"Oh Uri... It's been so long" Omonu said with a smile on his face.

"Omonu come back!" Aang whispered. "He's luring you in Chief don't trust-"

Obviously Omonu didn't listen to him. "I haven't seen you in so long... You've grown up so much" He said to Uri.

Uri's blank look went from blank to a glare. "Ever since you told me at 16 going to the fire nation was a terrible idea? Since you told me if I left never to return?!" Uri asked him, as he walked up to Omonu getting right up close.

Omonu looked down at the boy he once spoke badly of, but as the time went he had regrets of saying that to him of all people. "Uri I... I'm so sorry Uri. I said a lot of things in the heat of the moment back when you left. I never stopped regretting the things I said, but you had to understand, our secrecy was important to the Sun Warriors. We could never go to the Fire Nation. They were not our friends at the time. They would never help us the way you think they would have"

"Yeah well I went to them! I saw the Fire Lord and I pleaded with him to help us! And you know what I learned?" Uri asked, then after not getting a response, he grabbed hold of Omonu tightly by his shirt and pulled him in. "DO YOU KNOW WHAT I LEARNED?!" He shouted, which echoed through in the whole temple.

Omonu gasped out loud as he was forcefully grabbed, he was so in shock that he didn't fight back against one of his fellow Sun Warriors. "W-W-What did you learn Uri?"

"... You were right" Uri said. "The Fire Lord... he laughed at me, called me pathetic when I told him what the Earth Kingdom did, insulted our dying civilization... I was so mad at him I tried to kill him... And instead I was locked up in their prison for 5 years" He said while still holding Omonu. "I learned that nobody was our friend in this world. The Earth Kingdom, the Fire Nation... We've been on our own because the Sun Warriors was a dying race, because we would never be respected by the rest of the world that's moved on from us. But I meet a man that can change that. Amun is the man that rescued me, and for 10 years he's shown me the way to bring the world back to its original self. By destroying the corrupt in power that have strayed so far... And now... I've finally come back to save you and our Sun Warriors" He said, now his glare slowly dialing down and turning to a smile. But in the situation Omonu was in with Uri, with the way he spoke to him, it looked more like a creepy psychotic smile. "What do you say old man? We can fix things for the better. The Sun Warriors will survive... The dragons. Will. Survive" He said to him.

"Oh Uri..." Omonu put his hands on Uri's shoulders. "I should have never abandoned you when you needed us most of all in your life... But what you're speaking about, it... it shows how bad you've fallen into a bad crowd and it's too late to bring you back" He said to him. "You aren't a Sun Warrior... You haven't been one since you joined this man" He pointed to Amun, who simply smirked back at the chief.

"I told you he wants the same goals as us, but will never understand our methods to get to it" Amun said, and pat Uri's back as Uri had a distraught face hearing those words from Omonu, with tears in his eyes. "Now deal with him" He said.

With that, Uri slowly leaned in to Omonu. "I guess... I don't need you... maybe I never did..." He whispered to him, before managing to use all of his strength to throw Omonu to the side of the temple. He got thrown so hard that he flew towards the wall of the temple until his back hit the wall super hard, cracking a dent in the concrete wall. The other 3 gasped in shock seeing what just happened to the chief of the Sun Warriors. Zuko was the first to run towards Uri as he was standing sideways from Zuko, but just then Uri pulled out one of his swords, pointing it right at Zukos direction and nearly stabbing Zuko from him running into it. "Make your move Fire Lord... Give me a reason to kill you" Uri threatened.

Zuko stayed still, staring down Uris sword that was a foot away from him, and over at Omonu who laid unconscious against the wall. As he stayed there, looking back and forth at Uri and Omonu, he noticed an odd detail about Uri's sword at first but snapped out of it to look back at Uri. "Look... What happened to you was my fathers doing... I had nothing to do with you getting sent to prison, but I would have helped you like I helped many of our wrongfully locked up prisoners in our nation" He said.

"More lies! As usual, nothing but bullshit from the royal family!" Uri shouted at him, still with his sword drawn at Zuko.

"Enough Uri. It's not their time yet" Amun said to him. Uri stayed hesitant to move away, but obliged with Amun and walked backwards from Zuko.

"What's that supposed to mean dude? Not our time?" Suki asked him.

"You'll understand when that very time comes" Amun said back. "As for the mask... Well that's a shame it's gone, but this isn't the end for us. We have connections around the world just like you do. We'll find who has that mask, it's too valuable not to sell to some clueless idiot, even if it's not to a water bender"

"You're not going anywhere Amun! None of you Red Lotus are!" Aang shouted.

"Yeah yeah I'm sure you'll do something real bad to us without actually killing us" Amun said, brushing Aangs threats off. "We have big things in the works and we don't have time for pointless fights. Those fights will come later, don't think this will be the end for us either, Avatar... But if you really want a fight so badly... Uri, keep them busy until we leave" Amun said.

As Amun made his leave from the temple, Uri stood in front of the temples exit. "Now's a good time to show the rest of you the real power of fire bending the spirits have offered us. The kind that you could ever learn from a dragon" He reached into his poncho, and out came a red mask, the kind of mask that looked similar to the blue spirit mask with a few small changes. They all knew all too well what kind of mask that really was tho.

"The Mask of Flames..." Zuko said as he backed up to meet back with Aang and Suki. "Aang... Uri's sword" Zuko said to his friend.

"Yeah what about it?" Aang asked back without breaking eye contact with Uri.

"It's called a dual dao sword... you know, like my sword that you can put together and pull apart to turn into two swords?" Zuko explained.

"Ok so what?" Aang asked not getting where Zuko was going with it.

"He has his two swords still put together in his hand. And another dual dao sword on his back. That means he has 4 swords" Zuko said.

Aang understood where he was going with that now, but it still confused the boy intensely as he did the math in his head. "What... That makes no sense. Why would he need 4 swords?" He asked back.

Uri put the fire spirit mask on his face. The moment the mask connected to his face, Uri began to groan in the beginning, bending over as zmoke and steam came from his body. He shouted his lungs out, letting the spirit energy enter his body through the now glowing mask. Aang Zuko and Suki watched in shock seeing the effect of the mask up close. They got rather worried for themselves as they saw Uri lit up in flames too, having no idea if they should take it off now or not, or better yet if they should even go near him at this point of the mask process. A shame they didn't try, because after a little while of Uri screaming, he calmed down and started to chuckle in a maniacal way while still his body was still on fire. Uri slowly stood up straight with his entire body on fire, though it was as if he wasn't being hurt one bit by the flames coming off of him. His poncho and pants were perfectly fine despite the fire, either made to be fireproof or he had a lot more control over the fire surrounding his body than it seemed, either way the whole scene was already terrifying for the trio. And it only got worse when Uri showed off one more feature the mask gave him... 2 extra arms. Uri took out the second dual dao sword, and took the swords apart so all 4 hands could grab all 4 swords. Uri put up a fighting stance ready to strike the team in front of them, and if the fight against the palace guards was any description of his fighting ability, this won't be an easy fight.

"Oh... That's why the 4 swords" Was all Aang could say just before Uri charged at them. Mainly Aang and Zuko were the only two able to take him on, because not only Uri's body was up in flames but so was his 4 swords. Aang and Zuko had to maneuver around the man, dodging and blocking sword attacks from Uri. "Suki get Omonu out of here! We'll handle Uri!" Aang said with pieces of earth surrounding his arms to use as bracers against Uri's swords.

"W-What about Amun?" Suki asked while backing up from the fight, heading towards Omonu.

"What about him?" Zuko asked before letting out a grunt as he was kicked back into a pillar. He ducked down from a swipe from Uri's sword, that managed to cut through a few inches of stone. He jumped out of the way and kneed Uri in the gut and shoved him into the same pillar. "We can't do anything while this guy is on us. Just wait for Katara and Sokka then we can-AGH!" Zuko shouted when Uri shot at Zuko with powerful flames from all 4 hands. Suki had a look of horror, thinking he was just killed, but then immediately relieved when she saw Zuko slowly manage to bend the flames arounf him to avoid them hitting his skin. He jumped out of the way of his fire blasts fully intact and no burns. "Sorry about that... Anyway wait for them to arrive, and come up with a plan or something!"

Uri shot out flames at Aang next. Aang acted quickly with his glider by spinning it around like a windmill as fast as possible in order to blow the flames away from his direction. "And... You know... Hurry!" Aang said, having trouble with keeping up with the flames being blown at him, but had no intention of stopping. Zuko came over to shoot a fireball out at Uri's head. The fireball connected perfectly, but it also didn't effect him in the slightest, because, obviously it didn't. So he tried a bigger one, and still nothing. And then another one and still nothing. So then after having enough, Zuko pulled back his hand then shot it straight forward, creating a massive amount of flames to come out hard as possible. The flames this time didn't hurt Uri as usual but it did knock Uri off balance, like he was getting blown by heavy wind, in order to get off of Aang. So that's progress... sort of.

While Aang and Zuko continued to fight Uri with little success, Suki dragged the still unconscious Omonu out of the temple so he nor Suki ended up in the crossfire of their fight. Almost on cue too, just as she laid him down outside, Suki saw Appa arrive with everyone from the village. Katara and Sokka jumped out the moment Appa landed on the hill, they headed for Suki while the 4 Sun Warriors that came with Ormonu immediately went over to Omonu who was on the ground still. "Oh finally!" Suki said to them as they got together.

"What happened to Omonu?" Katara asked her.

"He's unconscious... got hurt bad in the temple" Suki said. "Listen Aang and Zuko are in there fighting one of those crazy Red Lotus guys. He's got the fire spirit mask on and he's worse than we thought he'd be" She said.

Katara and Sokka both had shocked faces hearing that, even more now they heard the fight in the temple. And boy did it sound like it wasn't going well. "Oh god... Suki are you ok?" Sokka asked, going over to his girlfriend.

"I'm fine Sokka. I got out safely" Suki said and put her hands on his, their past problems going away quickly as they had bigger problems to deal with. "Look we can't worry about that right now. The rest of the Red Lotus are about to sail away with pirates" Suki said and pointed at the ship down the hill.

"Shit... W-What about the water mask?" Katara asked back.

"It's gone... Long story. But right now we gotta deal with these guys. Uri needs to be distracted so that the others can get to the ship" Suki said.

They could hear the demonic type battle cries coming from inside the temple. Even without being able to see Uri, they knew nothing good was in there. "Ok... Ok..." Sokka tapped his chin for a few seconds frantically trying to come up with a game plan on the spot. "Ok. Katara, wait for Zuko to come out of the temple then you two and a few of the Sun Warriors go after that ship before it takes off" Sokka went over to said Sun Warriors who were tending to their chief. "Hey, did you hear that?" He asked them. "Omonu is gonna be alright. But we gotta keep the rest of those guys from leaving this island. So we need help from one or 2 of you" He said. The Sun Warriors all looked at each other. It was rather strange for them to have to take orders from an outsider like Sokka, but with no other choice but to fight back and seek justice against the people that attacked their own leader, they simply agreed with the outsider. "Alright good. Just stay put"

Sokka ran back to Appa, to get one of his weapons from out of the saddle. As he did, Hawky landed on the rim of the saddle and cawed at Sokka. "Not now Hawky. You stay put too" He said, then jumped back down from the Bison as he found the object he was looking for. A water tribe spear. "Everyone stay put. Once Zuko gets out of the temple, get down that hill and attack the ship"

"Woah woah woah!" Suki ran over and grabbed Sokka by his arm. "Exactly how are you going to get him out with that psycho in there?"

"Well... Not easily that's for sure" Sokka gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before heading into the temple. Sokka hid behind one of the pillars of the inside of the temple, slowly peaking his head out to take a look at the fight that was taking place. Throughout the whole fight, Uri has been on the offensive with Zuko and Aang nonstop with the endurance and stamina to take them on without being worn out. It was Aang and Zuko who were having difficulties taking on Uri in the enclosed space of the temple while mostly dodging fire bending attacks and sword swipes.

Uri managed to get the upper hand after a while, by delivering a hard kick into Zuko's gut so hard he got knocked back into Aang. Both of them slammed into each other and fell on the ground groaning in pain, too dazed to recover and act in time as Uri came up to them. He cut off the fire coming out of his 2 extra arms then grabbed both Aang and Zuko by their throats without burning them... yet. He easily pulled them off of the ground and onto their knees, with both of them side by side one another and desperately trying to break free of the grip Uri had on their necks. Only Uri's now red eyes were coming through the mask, but the duo could tell Uri was smirking at the situation he has them both in. "Amun wants you two alive. He wants you to witness all he's spent 10 years planning for you since you came out of that ice"

"Wh... What... are... you talking about...?" Aang managed to get out while being choked by Uri. The way Uri spoke, it was as if Aang was supposed to know him on a personal level but it was still drawing a blank in Aangs head. Well at the moment it was all a blur thanks to Uri.

"Oh I could go on a deep conversation while you suffocate, but it's a lot easier if Amun explained things to you" Uri said to him. "In the meantime you two are going to fall unconscious and fall asleep for the time being. And hopefully the next time we meet, it'll be under different circumstances where I won't need to hold back" Uri tightened his grip more and more on the Avatar and Firelords windpipes, making it harder and harder for them to breath as it was.

At the very last moment, the two were rescued by Sokka and his spear that he stabbed into Uri's back. Uri let out a loud shout from the sudden stab, losing his grip on Zuko and Aangs necks. The two of them took deep heavy breaths of air and got out of the way as Sokka slowly raised his spear up in the air, to get Uri's body up into the air while still impaled by the spear. Uri flailed his body frantically trying to break free, where pretty soon he will get free. "Zuko! get out there and go after the ship! Go!" Sokka said.

Zuko got up on his feet while rubbing his neck. "W-What about you and Aang against-"

"GO!" Sokka shouted again, slowly losing his control on keeping Uri in the air.

Zuko quickly made a run for the outside of the temple, just as he got away, Sokka used all of his strength in order to throw the spear a few feet away, to get Uri away from him and Aang as Sokka went over to Aang and helped him up on his feet. Once there, they backed away from Uri as he also got on his feet. He glared down at his new foe Sokka, while also reaching back and pulling the spear out of his back. "You... must be Sokka" Uri said to him. "I've been told you were an excellent battle strategist. A master swordsman but with no sword to master" Uri said to him.

"I don't need a sword to take you on you 4 armed freak" Sokka said in a confident tone.

"Then you won't need this either" Uri held up the spear with his blood on the blade, engulfed his arms in flames once again then clenched down on the spear handle as hard as he could until the spear snapped into multiple pieces.

"Sokka that guy will kill you with his finger. Don't even think about trying to fight him" Aang said while grabbing Sokka's arm and trying to pull him back.

"One finger?" Uri asked and chuckled in a demonic maniacal manner again. "I WILL KILL YOU WITH FOUR!"

---

Back at the ship on the beach, Amun made it back to the pirate ship where the water bender warrior Lian, and 7 foot tall masked goliath Ruhar were waiting with the other pirates. "Where's the Mask of Waves?" Lian asked.

"Where's Uri is a better question?" Ruhar asked next.

"Change of plans. We need to leave now and find who took the mask off this island. Uri is busy holding off Aang and his friends so we can leave" Amun said then went over to the captain, the same one who Team Avatar once screwed over long ago but that didn't stop them from their work as pirates. "Captain Rom. Get your crew ready to set sail. We're leaving" Amun said.

"What?! We just got here" Captain Rom said back to him.

"Well now we're leaving. Get your shit together" Amun said as he walked past him to board the ship.

"Hey! Listen you" Rom walked with Amun. "Our deal was that I'd transport you across the oceans without the nations knowing where your going. Now I don't know if you understand how sailing an engine-less ship works or not but it's the type of thing that you don't wanna overwork the crew on" Rom then grabbed Amun by his arm to stop him. "I am the one in charge here! Not you. So I'd fix the fuckin attitude problem when you're with me or-"

Rom let out a grunt when Amun suddenly reached up to grab the captain by his neck. "Our deal, right... Our deal was that you take me and my team WHEREVER the fuck we say to go, and WHENEVER the fuck we need to go" He said to him, then let go of his neck and let him pant heavily. "You knew what you were getting into when I told you the job. And in return you get paid your whole crews weight in gold, so stop your god damn complaining and set sail already"

Rom kept panting, and leaned on the edge of the ship trying to get his breath, while Amun walked away to the front deck of the ship. "Damn freak... Why do I always get stuck with the nutjobs..." He mumbled to himself, then motioned for his crew to get ready to leave.

Just as Amun got to the front of the ship, he saw several fire benders shooting down from the hill, as well as one water bender running down the hill with water tentacles covering her arms. "Zuko and Katara..." Amun muttered. "Ruhar, Lian" He called out.

"we see them" Ruhar said back to his leader as he looked out into the distance.

"Get up on the ship you two. It's time to go" Amun said to them.

"On it" Lian jumped up from the sand, and up to the deck of the ship.

Ruhar watched as they got on the ship, and back at the people about to attack them. Specifically at Zuko, a man he's seen before long ago. "Amun we can't run away from them anymore. We don't need them alive for the mission, Zuko especially... Let me kill him here and now for you!"

"Ruhar, I've told you before he must. stay. alive" Amun said in a more serious tone to the man.

"He doesn't deserve to keep on breathing after what he did to my fami-"

"Zuko lives until I say he doesn't get to anymore Ruhar! Don't make me say it again" Amun warned him. "Ruhar we've spent years planning for this hunt for the masks. Everything is now put in motion the moment we broke into the palace and cannot be stopped now. We cannot afford to stray from the plans we've set in place"

Ruhar was hesitant to speak back as he looked back at the fighters coming closer to the beach. He took a deep breath, sucking in his pride, then let out a sigh. "He lives... If that's what must happen" Ruhar said as he jumped up to the ship as well.

Once Zuko, Katara, and 2 Sun Warriors arrived, the ship was in the process of getting into the open water. "Dammit we're too late!" One of the Sun Warriors said.

"No we're not... Katara, keep that ship from sailing off. We'll light it up!" Zuko said to her as he and the other 2 Sun Warriors got ready with their fire bending. The 4 them got ready to attack, and Lian also got ready to defend against them. With Lians water bending, she used the ocean around her to block incoming fireball projectiles coming towards the ship to burn it.

As the crew worked on sailing away, they didn't get far from the island due to the water flow underneath them flowing harder and harder back towards the beach. The sails hung up above the ship catching the wind wasn't enough to get them out of there. "Dammit! That water bender bitch is keeping us still!" Captain Rom shouted. "Lian, do something about her!"

"Do what? I'm kinda busy here!" Lian shouted back as she continued using her own water bending to block all of the fireballs. Despite her own skill and endurance, it was getting too much for her to keep up with the 3 fire benders, especially when they started to split up to attack from 3 different sides of the beach. Which was causing some fireballs to hit the ship and catch the ship on fire. "Ruhar, you do something!"

Ruhar looked back at Zuko as he got to the front of the ship. He stood still up there for a moment, only glaring down at Zuko through the eyes of his balaclava mask. It was causing Zuko to ease down on his fire bending as he noticed the big guy. Almost like he knew who that man was that was staring him down. Could it just be in his head? Or does Zuko know who he is through that mask?

It all became irrelevant to Ruhar as he held out his hands, clenching them tightly in the direction of the island. Pretty soon everyone could feel vibrations coming off the island, and eased up on the fire bending, wondering what was going on. The only person who didn't let up was Katara, still keeping the ship back. "W-Why did you guys stop? Keep hitting them! Hurry!" Katara yelled out to them.

"Katara something is wrong" Zuko said back as he looked back at her. Once he did he noticed something occurring at the back of the beach, where the dirt and earth was and not sand. Smoke was coming out of the ground, and something looked as though it was glowing from the ground. Just as Zuko realized what it was, it was already revealed to him that it was in fact a big pool of lava that Ruhar shot up into the air like a wave, and about to flow down and hit Katara. "KATARA LOOK OUT!" Zuko ran over to his friend who didn't notice the lava due to focusing on the ship. just before the lava could flow on top of her, Zuko tackled her to the side, getting him and Katara out of the way of the lava. Katara was alive, but she ended up having to let go of the waves holding the ship. The ship finally managed to take off and sail off out of the island.

Both Katara and Zuko were panting on the floor together, watching in severe disappointment as the ship ended up getting away. It would be suicide to go after them in the middle of the ocean now, at least not without the rest of the team. Katara then looked up at Zuko who was still on top of her. She quickly pushed him off. "Will you quit getting on top of me to save me? It's getting annoying now" Katara said back while getting up to dust herself off.

"Oh soooory, I'll keep that in mind next time your about to get killed" Zuko said back to her. "Look forget them. We need to get back to the others and help with Uri, before he runs off too or kills someone" Zuko said. He motioned to the other Sun Warriors to return to the hill. The 4 of them left a bit upset but they knew this won't be the last time they see the Red Lotus Just before leaving however, Zuko stopped to look at the lava flowing down the beach still. He had a flow of memories from his past come back as he watched the lava, particularly of a lava bender he once meet when he was prince of the Fire Nation. He not only helped ruin that mans life, and contributed to ending his life. On one hand He knew that man was dead and this new guy could just be a coincidence. But on the other... Well he just hopes it's a coincidence.

---

Sokka and Aang were hiding behind a pillar as Uri was shooting nonstop flames at the pillar they were hiding in. Clearly things weren't going well for the duo, being pinned down by the jacked up fire bender. "Ugh this is crazy! How are we supposed to fight a guy like this?!" Sokka asked Aang. "He makes combustion man look like a pushover!"

"Yeah I know. He's too tough to wear down and too quick to a sneak attack in on him... Well, sneak up on him a second time at least" Aang said back to Sokka. "We need something bigger to hit him with. And there's not exactly anything in this small temple to use against him and he's making it hard for us to leave" Aang said.

Just as he said that, Sokka looked around the temple. The gears in his head started to turn as he had a good idea. "What if we hit him with the temple?" Sokka asked him.

Aang raised an eyebrow at Sokka after hearing that. "You are aware I can't just throw an entire building right? I'm not THAT good of an earth bender" Aang asked him.

"No not the building. Just the roof" He said, motioning up to the concrete stone ceiling. "We bring all the pillars inside the temple down, the whole roof will collapse right on top of Uri. Lets see if a spirit mask can protect that fuckin prick from something like that"

"Hmmm..." Aang looked around the temple, liking that idea a lot. Omonu may not appreciate it, but this seems like one of those ask for forgiveness than permission type situations. "Ya know Sokka, I don't care what the others say. You're a pretty smart guy" He said and stood up on his feet.

Sokka couldn't help but smile at that, but then look at Aang with confusion when he realized what he just said. "Rude!" He said and got up too. He pulled his boomerang out of his back holster. "Whatever. I'll distract him as best I can. Get ready to start smashing when I say so" Sokka said back to him. He waited for an opportunity to throw the boomerang through the endless flames. He sure wasn't making it easy for him but once a window finally opened, Sokka threw the boomerang as hard as he could, and in a direction where he could hit Uri in his knee to make him fall down and take a knee on the floor. Causing him to lose his balance and stop with the flamethrower shots at the duo. "Now! Go!" Both he and Aang ran out of cover. The moment they did, Aang swung his glider staff so hard that his earth bending was able to break open the pillar they were using to hide.

No turning back now.

As Sokka made a run for Uri, he picked up a broken piece of stone that was on the ground. He threw it at Uri's head with one hand, then while still charging at Uri, he uppercut Uri in the head hard with his other hand. Hard enough for Uri to fall back on his back. Sokka got on top of Uri, reaching down to Uri and grabbed hold of the mask trying to take it off. The moment his hands connected with the mask, he shouted as the mask was burning red hot. He immediately let go of the ask. "Fuck! I dunno why I thought that would work" Sokka said.

Uri immediately composed himself again to raise his feet up and kick Sokka hard in his gut. Hard enough to knock Sokka back and fall flat on his back. Uri got back up and this time stood over Sokka as he was groaning and patting out the small fires that came from his shirt, where Uri kicked him. "Was that the best you have, non bender?" Uri asked the man on the ground.

Sokka managed to keep him busy on him so good that Uri never even noticed Aang destroying all of the pillars, with one left before the ceiling will finally come down. Sokka gave a smirk as he saw, past Uri's masked head, the stone ceiling was beginning to crack apart. "Nah... I got much more than that" Sokka spun his legs around Uri's legs, catching by surprise again by tripping him and getting him back to the ground. Once Aang took out the last pillar, Uri finally realized what their plan was as he saw bits of the ceiling coming down from up above. Sokka got back up on his feet and immediately made his way to the exit with Aang.

Aang and Sokka both made their way out of the temple, where they Suki and the other Sun Warriors who were still caring for Omonu, all watched and observed as the whole temple roof collapsed into the temple. Silence overcame the hill they were on as the roof finally finished being destroyed. Afew a few long seconds of silence, mainly to see if Uri was going to come outside, they saw that Uri was definitely done for and crushed. Everyone, but mainly Sokka, were all cheering as they knew that Uri was done for. "Yeah! And that's how you deal with a fighter with a spirit mask, WITHOUT bending" Sokka said.

"Uh... without bending?" Aang asked back.

"Ah... I'm the one who came up with the idea. You wouldn't have come up with something that smart" Sokka said.

"Wait so your the one who decided to demolish one of our temples?" One of the Sun Warriors asked, as he and the other one glared at Sokka.

Sokka could only blink a few times at them. "... Look, it was more of a team effort. Some may have done more damage than the other" Sokka motioned to Aang. "But the important thing is that Uri is dealt with. We have the Mask of Flames. And the Red Lotus don't have the-" Just then, a big part of the ceiling flew out of the temple, landing near the group and scaring the hell out of them. They looked back to see Uri slowly coming out of the destroyed temple. He had some various wounds and scratches on his body, but the wounds were slowly fixing themselves in front of the groups very eyes, another power thanks to the overpowered mask on his face. "Well... Shit..." Sokka said.

Uri pulled all 4 of his swords out once again, and everyone got in fighting stance ready to attack Uri once again. This time this will be in the open and not in an enclosed space so maybe they'll have a better chance against Uri... Then again maybe not. But luckily they won't have to find out because once Uri saw a ship sailing off in the distance. He smirked under his mask knowing they got away. "You know, I think it's time I took my leave before I do something Amun will chew me out for" He said, while putting his swords back together, and back into his back holsters. "We will meet again... And Sokka" He turned slightly to look at Sokka. "The stories are true of you being an excellent battle strategist... A shame your talents are wasted as the shadow of 'Team Avatar'" He said to him, before shooting fire out from his four hands and feet. He shot off into the air and flew straight off the island, at incredible speeds that nobody could catch up to him, even Aang with his glider.

They all watched him fly off in silence, in utter disappointment that they all lost. Well, nobody was killed by the psycho Uri, but it sure felt like a loss as they experienced how bad these masks really were. "What a dick" Was all Sokka could say about the situation they were in. At that same time they also noticed the others finally arrive from running up the hill. The 4 of them were panting heavily as they came up the hill. "Ah let me guess. you guys didn't have any luck?" Sokka asked his sister and friend.

"Ugh... Is it uh... is it that obvious?" Katara said while panting.

"Well we didn't do any better" Aang said. "We demolished the temple to try and take out Uri and it didn't even hurt him... How about you guys?" He asked.

Zuko was the next to speak up, still panting. "Well.. Amun and his friends see us... flying down... ready to fight... and... and... THEY RAN!" He shouted the last part with a high pitch voice crack. He saw everyone look at him after that with weird looks hearing that from him. He cleared his throat a few times, and also caught his breath to calm down. "S-Sorry about... uh... A-Anyway, they ran for the ship. We tried to stop them from sailing away but uh... Oh god you guys, it's worse than we thought. That big earth bender guy? He's a lava bender" He said

Sokka gasped out loud. "A lava bender! Oh god that's horrible!" He said right back. "... ... ... ... ... What's a lava bender?" He then asked.

Zuko rubbed his eyes in frustration at his friend. "It's a rare form of earth bending. Like more rare than metal. Lava benders have the ability to revert regular pieces of earth back into molten lava, and then use that same lava as a bending element" He explained. "A metal bender is hard enough to deal with in a fight. But a lava bender? They're as rare as they are deadly to battle against. And one of them is with the Red Lotus"

"Ah, well clearly we have our work cut out for us. I don't even wanna imagine how bad they'll be if they get the Mask of Waves. And I really don't want to imagine that lava bender getting the Mask of The Core" Aang said.

"Alright so where is the mask by the way?" Katara asked.

"No idea... smugglers came a few days ago and stole the mask. It could be getting sold anywhere in the world now and I have no idea where to start" Aang said rubbing his head. The stress was getting to him with the whole thing, a flood of emotions coming to him about everything slowly going to shit once again for the team. "That freak Amun said us he's got connections all across the world"

"Aang relax" Katara went over and put her arm on his back. "We can do this Aang. We're still here and not giving up... Amun and all these guys might be tough but we can be a lot tougher, now try and calm down so we can think of something

Aang took a deep breaths, able to calm down as he put his hand on top of Kataras. "Alright... Alright... Uh... I'm sorry for freaking out" Aang said. "All this crazy stuff is just getting to me more than I realized it would. Like with Amun trying to mess with us with this whole hunt. I feel like there's more to him than there lets on, and i don't know if I'll be ready when he reveals himself"

"Hey, there's nothing these guys can't throw at us that we can't handle. He can talk all he wants but he's the one running away from us, not the other way around" Zuko said to him. "Hey I know... Before he left, Amun said that he's going to track down whoever eventually buys that mask. Maybe we don't have his type of connections the pirates are giving him but what if we tracked down any ship that came from the northern Fire Nation area? That'll be able to narrow it down who robbed the island, then work our way from there"

Aang took a moment to think of the idea Zuko came up with. "Yeah... Yeah that's a great idea. Toph and the police in Republic city can help us find these smugglers. Then with some luck if we might still be able to find the mask before the Red Lotus gets their hands on it"

"That's the spirit!" Zuko said and pat his back. "Lets get out of here. Get back to Republic City and tell Toph about the plan" He then went over to the Sun Warriors. "How's Omonu?" He asked them.

"He's still unconscious. But he's alive" One of them said.

"Alright... You guys head back to your city and stay there. We're going to track down the smugglers as well as the Red Lotus" He said to them and went back to the team. "Alright lets go"

Everyone climbed back onto Appa, everyone getting on his saddle while Aang got on Appas neck. Aang took off with the whole team and the Sun Warriors made their own way off the island on their own boat. Each member of Team Avatar looked towards the future of their mask hunt and fight with the Red Lotus with a newfound form of determination they didn't realize just how much they will need against these guys... What they don't know is that all the hope and determination in the world won't be enough for the craziness in store for them all. But in time they'll understand why Amun insists on keeping them alive.

Appa flew over Misho Island, observing the destruction of not only the burnt up village, and also the northern beach that still had lava on top of it, in the area where Katara and Zuko were standing at first. While Zuko and Katara specifically were looking at the lava, Katara spoke up. "So... Why did you stop attacking earlier?" Katara asked him.

"Huh?" Zuko looked back at her. "Because the island started to shake. I thought an earthquake was about to happen underneath us"

"I meant before that" Katara said. "Once that big guy showed up on the side of the deck you looked like a statue staring at him"

"Oh... That" Zuko said. He looked back at the Lava that was just flowing into the ocean. "It's just... He reminded me of a lava bender I knew a decade back. Back around the time when I returned from being banished" He said

"An old friend of yours?" Katara asked.

"... No. He's a guy that I couldn't imagine likes my guts. But he's been dead for a while so it couldn't be him" He Looked back at Katara. "But this new guy is just as dangerous as he was" He said to her. "We cannot underestimate these guys... Not again"

"We won't. The fire bender and earth bender are intense but we know what to expect now... I haven't seen the water bender fight yet but she can't be any better than me" Katara said. "And Amun, well he's not an element bender as far as I can tell, but if he was I'm sure he would've showed that off by now without relying on his friends to fight for him"

"Yeah good point Katara" Aang said up front of the saddle. "Amun must have some real hold on those 3 to be able to lead them as a non bender. And to make them listen to everything he says... I wish I could have that type of power" Aang said. He then realized what he said out loud and looked back at the team, each giving him a look. "L-Like to make his teammates listen to him! Not the... you know, not the evil stuff"

"Yeah whatever you say Aang" Sokka said back and rolled his eyes.

Aang looked back in front of him while riding Appa through the ocean "Oh and Sokka..." Aang spoke up. "I know you probably don't need to hear it, but uh... Uri just said that stuff back there to rial you up. Nobody sees you as some 'shadow' in the team. Heck, your a more important part than anyone will ever be able to express to you" He said.

Sokka didn't say anything back yet as he just looked back at the other people in the saddle who looked at him. But he could only be focused on Suki, who just smiled at him and held his hand. That jester between the two spoke a thousand words that didn't need to be said to express their love, no matter what their problems were. "Trust me Aang. I know that all too well" He said, then wrapped his arm around his girlfriend to pull her in close to comfort her, well to comfort himself if anything. This has all just been one day full of nothing but bullshit for Team Avatar.

And it's only going to get worse from here.

---

Middle of The Ocean

One of the main perks of working with experienced pirates like the crew Amun got into contact with, is that they know all of the best places across the oceans and where to dock to avoid detection from any military ships at sea or any military personnel in general from where they dock, whether it be on any islands they sail to or the mainland of the Earth Kingdom. On this very pirate ship, sailing deep the oceans of the north eastern Fire Nation area, away from any other ships that could come across them, all 4 members of the Red Lotus were below deck, standing around a table together planning out their own approach at finding this mask.

"Whoever looted the island isn't stupid. They know that stolen valuables from ruined settlements sell for 5 times more in shady illegal market deals than at any regular shop. That mask will eventually be sold as a decoration for some rich idiots wall, if it wasn't found already" Amun said to the team. "Captain Rom. You have black market connections still correct?"

"Yeah... in every nation" Rom said back as he sat back from the group leaning back in his own chair.

"Good. Get in touch with them?" Amun said back.

Rom raised his eyebrow and adjusted his hat to look up at Amun. "In touch with who exactly?"

"All of them" Amun said, looking up from the map and at Rom. "Every black market dealer you know. If any of them are selling or buying any masks I want to know right away"

Rom couldn't help but chuckle. "This ah... This is a joke right?" He asked, and sat up straight in his chair. "Look pal. I'm no red lily or whatever the fuck your group is, I'm just the guy your paying for incognito travel. So I won't tell you how to do your job but clearly you don't know how-"

"Well thank you for not telling us how to do our job, Captain" Amun interrupted him. "In return I won't tell you how to do yours, so long as you get it done" Amun then pulled out from his bag, a small square box. He placed it on the table and slid it down over to the captain. Although annoyed with Amun, he was too intrigued to avoid what was in the box, so he went and picked it up. Inside was a few dozen gold pieces that shined out of the top of the box and into his face. "Like I said, contact everyone you know that would want to get their hands on stolen artifacts. Think of this as in addition to the money you'll be getting when this is over" He said to him. Rom hesitated to speak back, in fact he didn't even bother to speak, he just took the money given to him and left the room, to give the rest of them their privacy to speak. "I've noticed you seemed rather off since we got back into the ocean Ruhar" Amun turned his head to look at the brute. "Something you'd like to get off your chest to me? I may have an idea what it's about so just go ahead and say it"

Ruhar was just as hesitant to speak, just like Rom was but for a different reason. But eventually he spoke up to the leader. "I trust your word and your judgement above all. I have no bad blood with you and will stay loyal till death" He spoke out. "... We could have killed Zuko. Him, and all of those bastards on that island and get them out of our way permanently" He then said.

Amun slowly leaned forward on the table, putting his hands on said table and looking up at him in the eyes, unfazed by the size difference. "If any of them are killed before their time finally comes, they will only be martyred in their death. That may mean nothing to you with your boiling yet justifiable thirst for vengeance, but what we plan to achieve for the entire world can only be achieved if we kill them at the right time, when the world sees men and women like them as... inferior. No later and especially no earlier than that. But until that time comes Ruhar, I need your mind sharp like it's been since the day we meet. Can I count on you for this?" He asked him.

Ruhar was the next to lean over the table, looking Amun dead in the eyes. "Always" Was all he said and needed to say, before standing back up straight.

"You're not the only one waiting for blood Ruhar" Lian spoke up next. "Katara, the one and only master water bender of the South Pole... She owes me for the life of my own loved one she snuffed out. I've imagined this very moment in my head for such a long time, when I'll be able to get my hands on that bitch and kill her once and for all. All I can tell you about vengeance Ruhar is that you don't want to rush it. You need to make sure you perform it perfectly, leave no regrets behind once they're finally dead. I know because the first person I ever sought vengeance on who wronged me and my family, it was rushed, and I hated how I pulled it off. But Katara... After what she took away from me..." Lian then raised up her spear from the table, lightly hitting the bottom end down on the ground to retract out two sides of the spear to turn into a 3 pointed trident. The same weapon that Sokka described to her very sister that Lian wants to murder.

"This time it will be perfect"