Dash ran, carrying Violet and Jack-Jack in a ball of air. Violet kept a firm grip on Jack-Jack. She was starting to regret bringing him along. Part of her felt like she should have left both of her brothers behind and just faced Syndrome on her own. She couldn't stand the thought of losing either of them.

"Dash," she said.

He looked over his shoulder at her. "Yeah?"

"If things get really bad…just run," she said. "As fast as you can."

"I mean, yeah. I'll get us away from him faster than lightning."

"I mean, without me," Violet said. "Just go."

"What? You mean leave you there? With him?"

"Yes."

Dash stopped running. "No!"

She stared at him. That wasn't the answer she'd expected.

"I'm not gonna just leave you there to get killed," Dash said.

"It's not a request, Dash! It's an order." Why was he fighting her on this?

"And why would I do that? Why do you want me to do that?"

"Because I'm not losing you again!" Violet snapped. "I thought you were dead, and I'm not going through that again!" She sighed, and her voice dropped to a defeated mumble. "I can't. I'm not…I'm not strong enough."

"You think I want to lose you either?!" he shot back. "You were stuck in that rock for years, so at least it went by in the blink of an eye for you. You had to deal with it for what, a few weeks, a month, before you found out I was alive? I thought you were dead for five years!"

Violet opened her mouth, then shut it again. She'd never thought of it in that way.

"Even if I didn't quite remember you like you remembered me, now I do, so I'm not leaving you to die!" Dash insisted. "We live or we die together, Vi. And that's the end of it."

They stared each other down for a few moments. Then Violet nodded. "Okay."

"Okay," Dash said. He started running again.

The air got hotter and more stifling. The sky turned grey with smoke. They must be getting close.

Suddenly, Violet pointed. "There he is!"

Syndrome was using jets of fire to fly over the hills toward Ba Sing Se. Dash ran out in front of him and stopped.

"Hey!" Dash yelled, waving his arms to get Syndrome's attention. "We're here to stop you! And we've got the Avatar!"

Syndrome came down and hovered over them. "Well, well, well. If it isn't the last airbenders. Wow, your parents were busy, weren't they?"

Dash and Violet both made a face at this remark.

Violet put her hand out. "This ends now, Syndrome."

"Oh, no, I'm frightened!" Syndrome cried mockingly, clutching his cheeks. He laughed. "You really think you can stop me? I have all the elements. I have the knowledge of masters. You're just kids." He turned to focus on Dash specifically. His harsh, critical eye bored into Dash, just like it had for years. Dash forced himself not to look away.

"Oh, Dash, I knew you were stupid, but I didn't know you were that stupid," Syndrome taunted. "I have the knowledge of an airbending master! And you don't know anything about airbending, you pathetic piece of shit!"

Dash flinched. It was hard not to just lower his head and run away, as he'd done for so many years. But he was done running. After the eclipse, he'd promised he wouldn't let that man terrorize him ever again, and he intended to keep that promise.

Next to him, Violet was shaking with rage. She raised her hands slowly, almost menacingly. "You can surrender quietly, or we'll make you." Her voice was dangerously low.

Syndrome laughed. "Bring it on."

He sent a tornado at them. Dash quickly ran out of its path.

Violet released the air ball. "Keep an eye on Jack-Jack!" she yelled at Dash as she ran toward Syndrome.

Syndrome raised several boulders and dropped them on her. Violet screamed and put up an air shield, barely managing to blast the rocks away before they crushed her.

Jack-Jack let out a whimper of distress, then started crying.

"Is the widdle baby scared?" Syndrome taunted. He trapped Jack-Jack in a ball of air and started bringing Jack-Jack toward him.

Violet took control of the ball and yanked Jack-Jack away from Syndrome. She sent a sharp slice of air in Syndrome's direction. He dodged. The air sliced off part of his armor.

"Ooh, you've got fight!" He sent another tornado at her.

Violet ran at him. She had to get closer, to pull the air from his body.

He raised tall rocks from the ground to stop her. She wove her way around them.

One of the rocks was slanted, pointing right at Syndrome. She ran up the rock and leapt at Syndrome. He sent a jet of fire at her face. She dropped to the ground.

"Violet!" Dash cried, running over.

"I'm fine," Violet said. Only her hair had been singed.

Syndrome turned and flew away.

"Follow him! Don't let him get away!" Violet yelled, forming another air ball. Dash jumped in and took off after Syndrome.

~~~~

Woody and Buzz burst into the throne room, the Red Panda Warriors behind them. Waternoose sat on the throne. He jumped when the doors banged open.

"Oh. It's you again." His eyes darted around the room. He seemed relieved when he realized Violet wasn't here.

"We're taking this city back in the name of the Earth King!" Mei said.

Waternoose stood up and stomped the ground. The floor shook violently.

The Red Panda Warriors jumped up and ran along the walls. They fought off soldiers with their ribbons and fans, still standing on the wall.

Buzz and Woody just stood there, watching in awe.

"It's beautiful," Buzz said.

"Like art," Woody agreed.

While the soldiers were fighting the Red Panda Warriors, there was a clear path to Waternoose. Woody ran over and began punching and kicking him as a distraction. Waternoose brought up a pillar of stone to crush him.

Then Buzz jumped over and chi-blocked Waternoose. Waternoose fell to the ground, his enormous body shaking the room. Mei and Miriam ran over and tied him up in ribbons.

"And that's how you do it," Mei said with a smirk.

~~~~

Violet and Dash chased Syndrome to the lake. Violet could see several figures up ahead. Luca and Alberto, still fighting the Fire Nation soldiers. Rows and rows of statues stood in front of them.

The lake was almost empty. Syndrome landed by the lake and lifted the remaining water. He splashed it onto Luca and Alberto, then froze them in place. Violet gasped in horror. Their glassy eyes stared out, their faces fixed in shock at being doused with water.

"They look better that way, don't you think?" Syndrome said. "Maybe I'll even display them in the royal palace."

Dash ran at him. "Unfreeze them!" He kicked Syndrome in the shin.

Syndrome grabbed Dash by the hair and threw him down against a rock. Dash winced. Syndrome lifted the rock and brought it down on Dash's leg. Dash screamed.

"Dash!" Violet cried.

"Not so fast now, are you, champ?" Syndrome sneered. He grabbed Dash and threw him across the field. Dash curled up on the ground.

Violet ran at Syndrome. He flew away. She chased him furiously, the rocks and fire he threw at her unable to deter her.

She caught up to him and put out her hands. With a flick of her wrist, she ripped the air out of his lungs. Syndrome's eyes widened. She had him.

Unlike Waternoose or Randall, Syndrome kept his composure. He pulled a massive rock from the ground and formed it into a jagged spear. He threw it.

Violet scoffed. "You missed."

He raised an eyebrow at her. She realized she wasn't the target.

She spun around. "DASH!"

Dash couldn't run, so he just sat there helplessly as the rock flew toward him. There was no way she'd be able to get to him in time. Still, she found herself running toward him.

To her surprise, she flew across the field, faster than she'd ever moved on her own. She was using her speed.

She shoved Dash out of the way. The rock slammed into her back, tearing through her stomach. A hot pain spread from the wound. It grew in intensity until she felt like she was being stabbed with a burning knife. She collapsed.

Dash stared at her in horror. "VIOLET!"

Syndrome laughed weakly as he recovered from Violet's attack. Dash glared at him, feeling sick to his stomach. He didn't know whether to go over there to beat Syndrome up, or stay here with Violet.

A scream came from behind him. Dash turned and gasped.

It was Jack-Jack. He was rising up into the air, his eyes glowing. The Avatar State.

Gusts of wind swirled around Jack-Jack. Small rocks floated off the ground and surrounded him. Suddenly, his entire body burst into flame. Syndrome and Dash screamed.

Jack-Jack zipped over to Syndrome and grabbed him by the hair. Using flame jets, Jack-Jack shot up into the air, pulling Syndrome with him.

It looked like Syndrome was taken care of, for now. Dash looked down at Violet.

"You're okay, you're gonna be okay," he said frantically. He tried not to look at the blood spreading across her torso, but it was impossible not to see it.

She shook her head, wincing at the pain. "Dash…"

"You're not gonna die!" Dash insisted. "I'll go get Luca." He stood up and limped away, wishing he could run.

Violet didn't think Luca could save her now. But she supposed there was no harm in trying. It was better than just lying here waiting to die.

Dash limped over to where Luca stood, frozen. He stood there for a moment, debating how to free him. Finally, he just punched the ice at rapid speed. Little pieces cracked and fell off, but it wasn't enough. He pushed himself as fast and hard as he could go, painfully aware of every precious second ticking away.

Then Luca and Alberto were free. They gasped and shivered as the outside air hit them.

"You have to help me!" Dash yelled. "Violet's hurt! Really bad!"

He led them to where Violet was. They went pale when they saw all the blood.

Together, Alberto and Luca pulled Violet off the rock. Luca opened his pouch and knelt by her. "I can't get a good view of the wound. There's too much blood."

"She's gonna lose more if you don't do something!" Dash said.

Alberto stood there, trembling. He couldn't just stand here while she was dying in front of him. It couldn't end like this. He had to stop her from bleeding out, if he could.

He put out his hands and focused. Harder than he'd ever focused in his life.

Come on!

Luca looked at him sadly. "It's not a full moon, Alberto."

"I know!" Alberto said through gritted teeth. "But I have to try, I have to do something!" His voice wavered like he was trying not to cry.

He screwed up his face in concentration. Silencing the little voice in his head that was saying, You can't do it. She's going to die and it'll be all your fault. He took a deep breath and willingly changed that voice. You can do this. The full moon just strengthened his powers, that's all. That meant he should be able to bloodbend without it, if he just tried hard enough. At least, he hoped so.

Violet felt a pinching sensation around the wound. Slowly, the blood stopped flowing.

Luca gaped. "Alberto! You did it!"

"I won't be able to do it for long," Alberto said, his voice strained. "So hurry up."

"Sorry, this is gonna hurt a bit," Luca said, placing his hand on Violet's stomach. She groaned. He splashed water on the wound, then did the same to the one on her back.

Violet closed her eyes and sighed as the wound healed. "Thanks."

She opened her eyes to see Alberto looking down at her with his piercing green eyes. "Are you okay now?"

She smiled. "Yes."

He let out a sigh of relief. "Good."

They all looked up at the struggle that was still going on above them. It was hard to make out, but it looked like Jack-Jack was still dragging Syndrome by the hair. Syndrome was trying to free himself, but Jack-Jack redirected all his attacks.

Then, suddenly, Jack-Jack's entire body turned to metal. He plummeted, pulling Syndrome down with him. Syndrome screamed.

Violet, Dash, Alberto, and Luca watched as Jack-Jack and Syndrome almost hit the ground. Then Jack-Jack stopped. Syndrome finally managed to escape Jack-Jack's grip. He flew off like a shot.

"He's gonna get away!" Dash yelled.

Jack-Jack put out his finger. A bolt of lightning flew out and struck Syndrome. Syndrome's limp body dropped to the ground.

Buzz's airship flew down. Mike, Sulley, Woody, Bo, and Buzz hopped out. Ian helped Barley out.

"You did it!" Barley said.

"Jack-Jack did it," Violet said, still a bit stunned from almost dying.

They all went over and stared down at Syndrome's lifeless body, scarred by the lightning strike.

"He's actually dead," Luca said in a hushed whisper, almost as if he feared Syndrome would be able to hear him.

Dash couldn't believe it, but the proof was right here in front of him. The man who had emotionally abused him his entire life was finally gone. It was surreal. And a little unsettling, even, to see that he was just a mortal man at the end of the day, not a powerful, immortal monster.

"Someone's gonna have to be the new Firelord," Mike said.

Dash realized everyone was staring at him. "Why are you all looking at me?"

"What do you mean? You're his son," Sulley said.

Dash made a face. "I'm not sure I ever want to associate myself with his family ever again."

"Well, you're the only one with any claim to the throne," Sulley said. "And Mirage probably wanted you to have it. And you deserve something for putting up with Syndrome for so long, right?"

Dash thought about this, then nodded. "Okay. But I'm not old enough to rule. So I need someone else to rule for me until then. And I think you should do it."

"Me?" Sulley exclaimed. "I don't know anything about running a country."

Dash laughed. "Neither do I. We'll figure it out together."

"I don't have any claim to the throne. At all."

"Who cares?" Dash said. "I'm the Firelord, and I appoint you. It's done."

Sulley smiled. "Very well, Firelord Dash. I'll do my best."

Dash hugged him, relieved he had someone he could trust to sit on the throne for him.

Soldiers were coming down the hill. They stopped when they saw Syndrome's body. They looked at each other, unsure what to do.

"I'm the Firelord now!" Dash said, trying to take on an authoritative tone. "And Sullivan is my regent. So you answer to him now."

They nodded and bowed.

"Stop this war and go back to the Fire Nation," Sulley commanded. "We'll join you shortly."

They nodded and went away.

Violet and her friends got into Buzz's airship, and they began the trip back to the Fire Nation. Ian leaned against Barley's shoulder and looked out at the Earth Kingdom. Their home. It was finally safe. The war was over.

Alberto and Violet sat across from each other. They looked at each other shyly. Violet couldn't stop gazing at his face, specifically his mouth. She wanted to just fall into his arms now that this was over. But there would be time for that later. In private. For now, they needed to deal with the aftermath of Syndrome's death.

She reached over for Alberto's hand. He smiled and took her hand. Everything was finally going to be okay.