After some debate about where to go, they went back to the cave. Violet didn't want to stay in the Fire Nation, in case they came looking for Jack-Jack, but she didn't know where else to go. She thought about going back to the Air Temple. Part of her really wanted that to be where they all celebrated their reunion. But that was probably the first place the Fire Nation would look.

They looked at Jack-Jack in awe as he walked around the cave. They were in the presence of the Avatar.

"So…what now?" Woody asked.

"Easy. We raise him and train him until he's old enough to fight, and then we send him in to defeat the Firelord," Barley said.

"Easy?" Ian said. "It won't be easy! Just because he's the Avatar doesn't mean he's guaranteed to win. Syndrome could still kill him."

"Oh, maybe we can wait until a full moon, and Alberto can just bloodbend Syndrome," Luca said.

"I like that idea," Alberto said.

"Or Violet can just kill him," Dash said, pretending to pull the air out of someone's lungs.

"No!" Violet said. "I mean, if I have to…but let's give Jack-Jack a chance first."

"Where is he bending-wise right now?" Mike asked.

"I think he can do just a little of each of the elements," Barley said. "He didn't really absorb any of my lessons, I don't think. Which is fine. I mean, he is just a kid."

"Can we get him in the Avatar State?" Dash asked. "Then maybe the other Avatars will do all the work for us."

"And how would we get him in the Avatar State?" Violet asked.

Dash shrugged. "I dunno. Maybe if we make him mad." He picked up a stick and poked Jack-Jack's face.

"Stop that," Violet said, grabbing the stick. "If he was able to access the Avatar State, I think he would have done it when he was in that machine." He was probably too young and inexperienced to use the Avatar State yet.

They decided to sleep on it. It had been a long day. They'd be able to think clearer in the morning.

Dash let Mirage's lullaby go through his head again as he tried to fall asleep.

"You may never be mine

But you're always on my mind

I love you, I'll love you for all time

So fly across the sky

Find where you belong tonight

And maybe I'll see you shining bright"

Now that he was reunited with Violet, he felt conflicted when he thought of his mother. Mirage had saved his life, and she'd raised him with obvious love and affection. But she'd also basically kidnapped him. What if he'd been allowed to run away from the temple and stay with Violet, his true family, all those years?

Mirage had also helped in the destruction of the Air Temple, and she'd enabled Syndrome's cruelty and bloodshed by standing by while he waged war on the world.

He got up and paced around outside, getting more and more worked up. The fact that she was dead made him feel guilty for thinking anything negative about her, even if his concerns were valid.

"Can't sleep?" a voice said. It was Sulley.

Dash shook his head. "Sullivan…you know my mom? Mirage?"

"Of course." He hadn't talked to her much, since most of his professional interactions were with Syndrome, but he'd seen her around the palace.

"She did so many bad things," Dash said. "She helped wipe out the airbenders! And she just sat there and let Syndrome wage war on everyone! Was she a bad person? Am I a bad person for loving her?"

"No, you're not," Sulley said. "At least you can recognize and acknowledge the bad things she did."

"Was she a bad person?"

"I mean, remember, there wasn't much she could do," Sulley said. "She didn't have the power in her relationship with Syndrome. And if she's complicit, so am I, and the Fire Sages, and everyone else who could have stepped in but didn't."

Dash supposed that was true.

"She wasn't perfect," Sulley said. "She's done a lot of bad things in the name of the Fire Nation. So have I. I don't think it's black and white. She was complicated. So your complicated feelings toward her are valid."

Dash nodded. "Thanks, Sullivan."

"Call me Sulley."

Dash hugged him. "Thanks, Sulley."

He went back into the cave and went over to where Violet was sleeping. She had her arms wrapped around Jack-Jack, refusing to let him go now that she'd finally found him again. He smiled and lay down next to them, quickly drifting off to sleep.

The next day, Buzz went out to work on the airship. He wanted to upgrade some of its features.

Luca timidly came out. "What are you doing?"

"I'm trying to reconfigure the fuel line to see if I can make this thing go faster. Wanna help?" He'd noticed Luca's fascination with the airship's inner workings. He wanted to foster the kid's creativity, and he could also use the help.

"Okay!"

He smiled and gave Luca a bag of tools.

The kid was a fast learner, and by the afternoon, they were finished. They returned to the cave.

Mike and Sulley had gone out for food. When they came back, there were two women with them.

"They were walking around the village, asking for the Avatar's friends," Sulley said. "They said they knew you, Barley."

"Master Edna!" Violet and Barley cried, running over.

"Miss Fritter!" Ian gasped.

Violet hugged Edna. She'd heard from Barley that Edna was alive, but she didn't think that she would see her again this soon.

"Violet! Dash!" Edna beamed. "I always hoped I would see you again."

Dash looked at her shyly. He clearly didn't remember her.

"This is Master Edna," Violet said. "A friend of our parents. And one of the most skilled airbenders ever. She can help us defeat Syndrome!"

Edna shook her head. "He took my bending."

Violet's heart dropped. "What?"

"He has all the elements now," Miss Fritter said.

At least he had no one to teach him airbending. Unless…

"Did he make you teach him airbending?"

Edna shook her head. "He didn't have to. The machine gave him an innate understanding of how to use the elements."

Violet gasped as if she'd been punched.

"He's coming to destroy the Earth Kingdom. Today."

The world seemed to stop.

"He's already sent armies there. And he's heading to Ba Sing Se as we speak."

"We can't wait," Barley said. "We need to go stop him."

"Us?!" Ian exclaimed.

"Well, who else is gonna do it?"

"We wouldn't stand a chance! We're not the Avatar!" Ian said. He couldn't believe his brother was actually suggesting they go face the Firelord. A Firelord who could now bend all four elements. "Couldn't we just…evacuate the Earth Kingdom?"

"Where?" Barley countered. "There's, like, a billion people in the Earth Kingdom." And they would all be displaced, imprisoned, or killed if Syndrome succeeded.

"There must be something else we can do," Ian said desperately.

His pleas were met with silence.

"Come on, guys, we can do this," Alberto said.

"Yeah," Luca said, although he sounded unsure. "There's—" He stopped to count, including Woody and Buzz although they weren't benders. "—ten of us, and only one of him."

"And his hundreds of guards," Ian said. "You're all crazy if you think we won't be captured or killed immediately."

Mike started pacing. "Okay. So we need to take out or distract the guards."

"Ian and I can do that," Barley said.

"What?" Ian exclaimed.

"You can metalbend their ships and armor," Barley said.

"And Barley can fly a ship, if we can find another one somewhere," Buzz said. "Then we can split up the air troops. Lead them in different directions."

Ian wanted to argue. He still thought it was a suicide mission. But they couldn't just sit by and let Syndrome destroy the Earth Kingdom. "Fine."

"Mike and I will fight the troops on the ground," Sulley said.

"We'll help," Luca said.

"Dash and Violet, you go find Syndrome," Barley said.

"Kill him, if you can," Alberto said.

Violet nodded. She still didn't like the thought of taking a life, but in this case, it was definitely necessary.

They got into the airship they'd stolen from the Ember Island Players, and Buzz started heading toward the Earth Kingdom.

It was Dash's idea to bring Jack-Jack. The team was split on that one. Ian, Barley, and Violet thought they should leave him with someone else to raise him in secret in case they were all killed. Dash said maybe he'd be useful in battle if he somehow got into the Avatar State, and Alberto said they could even use him to lure Syndrome away from Ba Sing Se. Violet didn't like the thought of using her little brother as bait, but she supposed they should take any advantage they could get.

They approached the Earth Kingdom. Luca could see airships dotting the skies, hanging menacingly over the land. Below, swarms of troops marched over the hills. From up here, they looked like insects. He couldn't see Syndrome, but he must be down there somewhere as well.

"If we're captured, they'll take our bending for sure," Luca said, biting his nails anxiously. He couldn't bear the thought of losing what was now such a big part of him. And if he took Alberto's bending, Syndrome could learn bloodbending.

"Let them try," Alberto said.

Buzz landed on one of the hills, near a large lake. "Alberto, Luca, I'm gonna let you off here." Hopefully, the water would give them a strong advantage. "I'll let Mike and Sulley off over there so you can divide the army."

Luca nodded and hopped out of the airship. Alberto started to follow him.

"Wait," Violet blurted out.

He stopped and turned to look at her. He looked worried and tense, and she couldn't tell if it was because of the conversation, or because they were all about to run out to their deaths.

Her eyes locked onto his. She may never see those eyes again. Her entire chest felt like it was on fire with a wave of emotion, trumping any hesitation or need for words.

She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him. He froze for a second, like he didn't know how to react. Then he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer.

His lips were surprisingly soft. And he was surprisingly timid with them.

She felt like she was in one of her air balls. Peaceful, isolated from the rest of the world. She didn't want it to end. She didn't want to go back out into the real world, where the war was raging and everything was terrible.

Finally, reluctantly, she pulled away and put her hand on his cheek. "Come back. Please." Her voice was hoarse, and he could see tears welling up in her eyes.

"Do I get another kiss if I do?" he joked, trying to lighten the mood.

She smiled. "Sure. We both make it back in one piece, you can have as many as you want."

The airship took off. Alberto stared after them, a lovesick grin spreading across his face.

Luca giggled. "Ooh, Alberto's in love!"

Alberto shook his head with a small smile. "Shut up, Luca." He followed Luca down to where the soldiers were.

The soldiers saw them and began shooting flames at them. Together, Luca and Alberto raised a massive wave out of the lake, extinguishing the flames and soaking the row of soldiers in front of them. Luca froze the water. In a flash, the soldiers froze into ice statues.

Alberto grinned, an excited gleam in his eye. "Who else wants some?"

~~~~

Ian's heart was pounding. They were getting closer to the cluster of airships. They were about to die. He knew it. There was no other way this could end.

He felt a strange mix of emotions. A heavy sadness, a cold numbness, an odd, almost electrifying thrill…If someone had told him a few months ago that he would be here doing this, he wouldn't have believed it.

He turned to Barley. "Barley…in case we…we don't…" He faltered.

The pain in Ian's voice broke Barley's heart. He put his hand on Ian's shoulder. "Ian…"

"Thank you," Ian said. "For looking out for me. My whole life, but especially after Mom disappeared." He would never be able to properly express how much it meant to him.

Barley hugged him. "I'm sorry I couldn't do more, to protect you from…" He waved his hand vaguely at the world outside. "All of this."

Ian shook his head. "You did everything you could."

"I'm so proud of you, and the person you've become," Barley said. "And Mom and Dad would be, too."

Tears welled up in Ian's eyes. He hugged Barley tighter.

The other airships had started to notice them. Ian could see them slowly turning around to get a better view of them. And a better angle for shooting them down.

Barley opened the door. Ian used metalbending to rip open the door of one of the Fire Nation airships. Barley took a running start and jumped. Ian held his breath. Barley managed to grab the edge of the doorway and pull himself into the airship.

He turned and waved at Ian. "Come on, Ian!"

Ian stood in the doorway hesitantly. Then he made the mistake of looking down. All the blood seemed to drain from his head, leaving him dizzy. His stomach clenched. It felt like someone had just kicked his legs out from under him, and he had to grab the doorway to keep himself upright.

Heights. Why did they have to be so high up, miles away from anything he could bend?

"Ian! It's okay!" Barley yelled. "Just…don't think about it!"

Ian tried to release his grip on the doorframe, but he couldn't. It was like his fingers were made of stone, and he couldn't move them. He shook his head frantically.

Barley put out his arms. "I'll catch you!"

Ian took a deep breath. Okay. It was okay. Barley had never let him down before.

He closed his eyes so he couldn't see how high up they were. Pretending he was somewhere else, he slowly relaxed his grip. He backed up a few steps, his legs shaking uncontrollably. Then he clumsily ran and took a flying leap.

Time seemed to slow down. He kept his eyes focused on Barley's face as he reached for Barley's hand.

He missed. Suddenly, he was falling. A spike of fear went through him. He screamed. His life seemed to flash before his eyes.

Then he stopped falling. He looked up. Barley was leaning over the edge of the airship, gripping Ian's hand firmly.

"I've got you!" Barley said.

He pulled Ian up into the airship. Ian collapsed on the floor, trembling, glad to be on solid ground again. "Thanks."

"I told you I'd catch you," Barley said, although he sounded shaken too.

They went to the control room. Several soldiers looked at them. Ian lifted up sheets of the metal floor and wrapped it around the soldiers, pinning their arms to their sides. They fell to the ground and flopped around helplessly like fish.

Barley ran to the controls and jerked the wheel as hard as he could. The ship slowly turned.

"I'm gonna try to run through as many of these airships as I can," Barley said. "Once I do, we'll have to get out. Fast."

Ian nodded. He didn't know how they were going to do that, when they were this high up. But Barley would think of something.

The airship ran into the one next to it. Both airships spiraled through the air, taking out several other ships as they did so.

Barley and Ian ran for the door. They were still too high up to just jump out. But they couldn't stay here either. The airship was rapidly falling apart around them.

Barley climbed up onto the roof. "Come on, Ian! Let's see if we can get onto one of the other airships!"

Ian followed Barley along the airship. Then three soldiers jumped down from one of the airships above them. They shot flames at Barley and Ian, who dropped to the floor, ducking under the fire. Ian could feel the heat on his scalp.

Barley glanced down over the edge of the airship. There was another airship about ten feet below them. He wasn't sure if they would make it, but it was better than staying up here.

"Ian, do you trust me?"

"Yes," Ian said without hesitation. He didn't know what Barley was about to do, but he knew whatever it was, Barley had a good reason.

Barley grabbed Ian's hand and rolled off the side of the airship. Ian screamed as they plummeted. He squeezed his eyes shut against the wind, glad he wouldn't be able to see the ground when it inevitably slammed into them.

They landed on the other airship. Barley sucked in a breath as his ankle snapped.

"Barley!" Ian cried.

"I'll be fine," Barley said, although his voice and face were tense with pain.

He looked up. The soldiers were looking down at them from the other airship. They didn't seem to be in any hurry to jump down after them, but they did start shooting fireballs at them.

Barley wrapped his arms around Ian, shielding him the best he could as the fire rained down on them. He looked around, but there were no more ships they could jump onto. He wasn't sure if he'd be able to anyway, with his leg. They were trapped.

Ian looked up at the soldiers. If only he had something to throw at them.

His gaze landed on Barley's sword. That would do.

"Barley, throw your sword at them."

"What? But there's no way I'd be able to hit them from here."

Ian looked him in the eye. "Do you trust me?"

"Yes." Barley drew his sword and threw it at an awkward angle. It spun off in a random direction. Ian quickly metalbended it toward the soldiers. He wasn't sure if his bending would work that far away, but he supposed he was about to find out.

The sword knocked the soldiers off their feet. They screamed as they slid down the airship and fell to the ground below. Ian hoped there was something down there to break their fall, but he had no idea.

Ian brought the sword back like a boomerang, slicing through a few more airships for good measure.

"Yeah, Ian!" Barley cheered. "That was amazing!"

They looked around. Almost the entire fleet had been taken out at this point.

It was time to land. Barley slashed several long gashes in the airship's balloon. The air slowly leaked out, giving them a nice slow descent.

When it landed, Ian helped Barley to the ground. The soldiers inside the airship came out to investigate. Ian brought up a wall of rocks and trapped them behind it.

Ian and Barley slumped down under a tree.

"We made it. I can't believe it," Ian said. He was shaking now that the adrenaline was starting to wear off.

They looked out over the hills. They could see Ba Sing Se in the distance. Ian was afraid they might see the city on fire, or in ruins, but it looked the same as ever. In fact, it looked exactly the same. The view was extremely familiar.

Ian looked around. "Wait, is this—?"

"I think so," Barley said.

This was the hill where they had met Violet. Just a short distance from their house. Ian felt a strange sense of peace wash over him. There was something comforting about being back here, right where they had started. Again, it was just him and his brother, looking out at the world together.

Barley put his arm around Ian as they looked out. "It really is a nice view, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Ian said. Deceptively peaceful.

~~~~

After dropping Mike, Sulley, Violet, Dash, and Jack-Jack off, Buzz flew into the crowd of airships. The other airships took notice and began firing something at them. Cannonballs.

"They have cannons!" Woody said.

"I wonder if we do too," Buzz said.

He turned and flew away from Ba Sing Se, out toward the countryside. A quarter of the airships followed him, firing the entire time. Buzz dodged as much as he could, using evasive maneuvers he'd learned in his military training, but some of the hits landed. The entire cabin shook.

Woody made his way outside and looked at the cannons. They were supposed to be lit by firebending, but regular fire should work too. If he had something to light it with, which he didn't.

He looked at the soldier nearest to him, standing at his own cannon. Maybe Woody could trick him into firebending the cannon for him.

Woody picked up a small stone lying on the ground. "Hey, dickhead!" He hurled the rock as hard as he could. It hit the soldier between the eyes.

The soldier growled and lit the rock on fire.

Yes. Throw it.

The soldier threw the flaming rock. Woody panicked as he realized he had nothing to catch it with besides his bare hands. And he really didn't want to burn himself.

Then he remembered his hat. He took it off and caught the burning rock in it. The hat started to catch fire. He ran over to the cannon and lit the fuse.

The cannon went off with a deafening boom, shaking the ship. Woody yelped and covered his ears. The cannonball flew through the air and hit the enemy airship, tearing right through the hull. The airship spun away and crashed into the row of airships behind it.

Woody fired several more cannonballs until he ran out. He went back inside. "We're out of ammo!"

"Then we'll have to get creative!" Buzz said. "Hold on!"

He yanked a lever. Woody screamed as the airship shot forward, much faster than any airship he'd ever seen or heard of. He flew backward and smashed into the wall.

"How are you doing that?!" he yelled.

Buzz grinned at him. "Luca and I made some changes to the fuel line! I call it hyperspeed!"

He sped around the enemy airships in dizzying circles. Woody was flung around the cabin, crashing into walls and furniture. He eventually managed to grab onto Buzz's seat, and he held on for dear life as they zipped through the air.

The enemy airships fired at them, but Buzz's airship was much too fast. The cannonballs hit the other Fire Nation airships, sending them careening away.

Buzz continued until all the airships were taken out. Then, finally, he slowed down. Woody staggered over to the passenger's seat and sat down.

"Now what?" he asked.

Buzz looked over at Ba Sing Se. "Let's see if the Red Panda Warriors had any success liberating Ba Sing Se."

They flew to Ba Sing Se and landed inside the walls. The city was still standing, and there was no sign of Syndrome anywhere, which was good. It looked like he hadn't reached the city yet.

Fire Nation soldiers roamed the streets. Woody's heart sank. They still had control over Ba Sing Se. Had something happened to the Red Panda Warriors?

They walked around the city, looking for any of the Red Panda Warriors. Then they saw someone beckoning them from behind a wall. The jittery man Buzz had talked to about the Dai Li.

"You made it out," the man said.

Buzz nodded. "And now we're back, to help free this city from the Fire Nation."

"We've been working to take out their army, bit by bit, in the dark of night," the man said, lowering his voice.

"We?" Woody said.

Several figures emerged from the shadows. The Red Panda Warriors, out of costume now, disguised as regular Earth Kingdom citizens.

"Bo!" Woody cried. She ran to him and kissed him.

"We've been busy," she said. "We've cut their army down from a few hundred to less than a hundred and fifty soldiers."

"That's amazing," Buzz said. "How?"

"We attack in the dead of night," Jessie said, punching the air. "Then we're gone. We've spooked them to the point that most of them just quit."

"Deep down, they're a bunch of babies," Mei said. "We're about to head to the palace and take out Waternoose, now that he has less soldiers to protect him."

"Let's go!" Woody said.

The man smiled. "Welcome to the Resistance."