1. The Smoldering Dragon

This is a story in the universe of Avatar: The Last Airbender, and is meant to be a sequel to Book 3: Fire in the storyline in the television show. The first story (The Green Standard) is meant to act like one of the episodes in the show, with each chapter representing a specific scene or series of scenes. If all goes well, I hope to have a whole "book" finished in the Air series.

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The brim of the tall man's hat hid his eyes from the passersby on the street. He held it down, and walked briskly to the Smoldering Dragon, the disregarded tea shop in the inner wall of Ba Sing Se. The shop was darkly lit, now harboring the more unfortunate cases. Appearances usually didn't help the tea shop's business, as travelers would often mistake the shop for a sake joint, and would prominently leave upon learning otherwise.

The business was further hindered by the fact that the signature tea, named Boiling Serpent, was revolting. There were a number of instances when the waiter had to dodge out of the way of the tea being spewed out of a customer's mouth. But the Boiling Serpent tea was exactly what the stranger with the large-brimmed hat planned to drink.

The man entered the shop and took a step towards the Pai Sho table, which was occupied by another man. The stranger noticed the sitting man had a wide face, a wide nose that almost looked as if he could shoot steam from out of them, thin wispy hair, and a long goatee that almost reached down to his stomach.

The stranger motioned to the chair in front of him. "May I have a game?"

The man with the goatee smiled. "I would be honored," he said as the stranger in the large brimmed hat sat down. "Master Komodo."

Komodo smiled, "Well, I guess money doesn't buy the amount of anonymity it once did."

The other man smiled back, "No, you need much more of it in peacetime." He withdrew a Pai Sho tile from his sleeve and put it onto cross-section of the table that intersected with the direct middle of the surface. The small circular piece had a picture of a faded green orb on it.

Komodo then drew out the White Lotus tile and placed it cattycornered next to the Green Orb tile. In one quick movement, the man with the goatee slid the Green Orb tile, knocked the White Lotus tile off the table, and caught it on the other end with blinding speed. He then took the tile in his hand and crumbled it with his fingers.

"Who knocks at the garden gate?" asked Komodo.

"One who has tasted the fruit and renounced the flower which clings to it."

"Welcome brother of the Green Standard. Down with the White Lotus."


	2. Aftermath

Long ago, the four nations: Water, Earth, Fire, and Air, lived together in harmony. But then everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked. Using an ancient ability to control the elements, the Fire Nation launched an offensive that enveloped the world. The leader of the Fire Nation, the Firelord, saw to it that the war was carried out and controlled on the Fire Nation's terms. Only one person could stop the Firelord, a person who could control all four elements, the Avatar. But when the world needed him most, he vanished.

One hundred years passed and the new Avatar was found.

In a daring move, the Avatar teamed up with the young prince Zuko of the Fire Nation to overthrow Ozai, and along with their friends and allies from all over the world they set into action. The party of heroes was victorious on the arrival of Sozin's Comet, where the Avatar took away Ozai's ability to bend Fire. Thus Zuko usurped the mantle of Firelord and promised to bring peace to a world where there was much suffering.

It had almost been three years since the Avatar, the twelve-year old Air Nomad named Aang, defeated the oppressive Firelord Ozai. During these years, while many of the political pundits refuted the new Firelord Zuko's peacekeeping endeavors, the whole of the nation was converted from the war machine producing behemoth to the grand task of healing the world that the Great War had scarred.

It was no easy task for the new Firelord, who had once been banished from the Fire Nation in order to search for the only person who could dethrone his vengeful father, the Avatar. Firelord Ozai, Zuko's father, exterminated every single one of the Air Nomads in his quest to rid the world of the Avatar. But chance and fate intervened, and the Avatar lay dormant frozen in the ice for one hundred years.

But since that day, no one had seen the Avatar. Whispers were carried from tired travelers heading across distant lands about his whereabouts. Some had heard he had head back to one of the air temples, but other travelers who had been there denied it. Others heard that he was perfecting his bending in volcanoes, icebergs, caves, and fields. Still others thought that he was dead, reincarnated into a Water tribe newborn.

Aang never told anyone where he was going or what he was doing. The last person to see him was Katara, on a porch of a tea shop in Ba Sing Se. All was right in the world. She approached him and after a feeling of mutual respect and love, they embraced, and kissed.

"Thanks Katara," said Aang. "I needed that."

"The world's going to be so different now, thanks to you."

Aang reached down and grabbed Katara's hand. "That's what I want to talk to you about."

A flash of worry swept across Katara's face. "What do you mean, Aang?"

Aang looked at his feet. "The job of the Avatar is to keep the peace. That's what generations of Avatars have done. That's what I have done. There's no war. Not now, not here."

Katara reached up and grasped Aang's arm with both of her hands. "Aang, you're staying with us – with me and Sokka and Dad…"

"I don't think I'm supposed to… I'm sorry Katara, but something's telling me, calling me, to do something, and it's not to go with you back to the South Pole."

Tears welled up in Katara's eyes. "Aang, after all we've been through…"

"Give my best to Sokka, and Toph, and thank Zuko."

"Aang?"

Aang turned to look at Katara's eyes. "I love you, Katara."

Before she had a chance to react, Aang raised both of his arms, bending the air currents beneath them, and shot towards the sky.

But that was three years ago. No one knows where Aang took off too. Not even Katara.


	3. Going Home

Sokka pulled out his meteorite sword from its sheath. It glimmered in the sunlight and cast a glare in Katara's eyes, who was trying to read a scroll. She held her arms up to her eyes to shield the light, but the arm decided it wanted to get tangled up in the rope on the Water tribe ship that she rigged up as a pulpit for her reading. She sighed in disgust.

"Uhh… Sokka, why do you keep doing that? I'm trying to read."

Sokka laughed manically and swung the black sword from left to right, twirling it over his head and brought it crashing down on a broken crate. "It's the sword-wielding sensation that's defending the nation!" He twirled it around and did a reverse backslash. He lowered his voice and spoke in a guttural tone, "It's Sokka, defender of the weak!"

Katara laughed. "Oh, Sokka, whatever am I supposed to do? A weak little woman like me can't fend for herself," she teased in a high-pitched voice.

"Don't fear feeble peasant, nothing can trump the almighty Space Sword!"

Katara swished her arms from the rope and brought them around each other, creating a small wave that crashed onto the ship's deck. Sokka attempted to slice though the water, but instead lost his balance and fell on his face. "Real cute, Katara." A couple of the ship's crew walked past and snickered at the fallen warrior, which only made Sokka more embarrassed.

Katara laughed. "At least you have to look forward to when Piandao said you would be a master swordsman _someday_."

"I will. I'll show you all."

Katara noticed the hilt of the black-bladed sword. "Sokka, what is that symbol, there on the hilt?"

Sokka looked at the hilt. "It's the White Lotus. I never put it together, but I think Piandao gave me this, I don't know, maybe because I am an honorary member, or something."

"But you're not old Sokka."

"Yet. I think this is what I am meant for. Are there any people in the Order of the White Lotus that are from the Water Tribes? I doubt it."

"Well, I'm glad you know what you want to do with your life."

"Yeah, it's gonna be really hard. I must learn discipline and hone my craft everyday. I have to practice…" Sokka noticed that Katara had her head down. "Katara, are you alright?"

A tear welled up in her eye. "It's just that… I don't know what I'm going to do. Ever since… we left… nothing makes sense any more."

Sokka sheathed his sword, went to his sister and put his arm around her. "It's going to be alright, Katara. We'll see Aang someday. And I'll bet it's gonna be sooner than later."

"Thanks Sokka."

"Hey no problem. That's what the Space Sword Warrior is for!"


	4. It's a Long, Long Way to Ba Sing Se

Three years after Sozin's Comet:

Komodo sat in his tent going over the plans. It had been a long day, as the council debated endlessly on when to start the maneuver. Komodo was ready for the plan; it was the needless babble that wearied him.

He wrote the last couple of lines in his journal, closed it up, and continued on putting the rest of his attire on. He put on his under-robe, put his hair up into a bun, tied it around with a slip of red ribbon, and began lacing up the armor on his chest. The green chest plate clung to his torso, and he attached the thigh pieces to his legs. He then tied up his green boots and adorned a horned emerald helmet to complete the ensemble.

Komodo emerged from the tent to see the legion of his men already battle ready. Komodo was always impressed with the no-nonsense mindset of some of the younger members of the Green Standard Army, how they showed considerable patience for their ages. He motioned to the colonels at the head of their battalions to join him. Five men, all wearing similar green armor, joined him at his side.

"We have gone over this many times. But I want to make sure this goes smoothly. Use the archers to scale the wall, then we begin phase two. Once we have the cargo placed in the stations, the prize will get there on its own after we have secured the inner wall. Phase three, assassinate the target. Four: infiltrate the palace and use the artifact. Each of your regiments knows the plan?"

The five men nodded their heads in unison.

"Good," said Komodo. "Places, men." The five men bowed to master Komodo and joined the rest of their battalions.

Komodo turned from his men and looked at the wall in front of him. Ba Sing Se was once thought to be unconquerable from the outside. Two walls guarded the city, one inside, one outside, of considerable height. Inside the inner wall, a series of trains piloted by earthbenders would ferry people across

Komodo pointed to the all-black-clad regiment to his left. Without saying a word the one hundred ninjas leapt into action, sprinting towards the outer wall. The group split into seven groups, under the shadow of the night, and eventually got into their positions. After the ninjas had left, Komodo released the archers, three hundred, but their footsteps softly padded the earth, as they were trained. The archers separated into seven groups, joining the smaller groups of ninjas, and waited. Komodo waved a torch for them to begin.

The ninjas stood in seven lines – ready. Each of the archers then launched a flurry of arrows towards the wall, making seven staggered lines that snaked their way from the bottom of the wall to the top, making a helical staircase. Before the arrows even stopped, the ninjas were already flying across them, weaving their way towards the top of the impossible high outer wall. Once the last arrow was fired completing the path, the line of ninjas was already emptying on top of the wall. The earthbenders patrolling the wall didn't even know there was an army on top of them until it was too late. Throwing stars whizzed across the battlement and found their resting places in the backs of the Earth Kingdom guards. Poisoned darts shot their ways into necks. All the beginning battle began without much more than a squeak out of a surprised warrior that had just been injected with poison.

The lead ninja lit a small torch and waved it towards the camp of the Green Standard. Komodo saw the sign and motioned to the earthbenders and engineers. While the company moved towards the wall, the ninjas let ropes down and repelled down the outer wall. Moving like lightning, the warriors took out the seven train depots the earthbenders used to shuttle passengers to the magnificent city of Ba Sing Se, and waited for their cargo.

The legion of engineers and earthbenders made it to the outer wall without any commotion. Seven groups again, with equal numbers of both parties present. The engineers lugged between them huge crates bound together, adorned between poles between two rows of six men each. Once everyone was packed together, the earthbenders raised the earth beneath the groups, lifting the regiments like an elevator, towards the top of the outer wall. Once at the top, the groups moved the thirty-meter width of the wall, and the elevator descended down.

As quickly as they could, the earthbenders sprang towards the empty train cars, jumping on the back of them. Using the bending, they used their feet to propel the train cars back to the engineers. Upon arriving, the engineers loaded the cargo into the seven different trains, each four cars long, and piled in. The earth benders then slid the cars forward at breakneck speed. The ninjas waited at the train depot, and most jumped onto the tops of the cars as they sped past.

The seven trains sped off onto different directions on different tracks. The tracks, which wound all the way around the inner ring of Ba Sing Se, led for miles and miles around the city. Using multiple earthbenders to move the trains around made it very easy for the trains to make it around the track. Then the waiting game began.

At almost sunrise, when Komodo launched a red rocket into the sky, the trains were in their positions around the wall. Then all he heard was a rumble.

It started as just background noise. Then it felt like a lionturtle growl. Then it turned into a thunderstorm. Komodo watched in triumph through his macrolenses as the Inner Wall of Ba Sing Se crumbled around itself, heaving huge plumes of dust and smoke the size of mountains into the air. He smiled. "Onto phase three."


	5. The Tale of the Green Standard

Two weeks after Sozin's Comet:

Appa stretched his six legs beyond the length of his enormous body and growled.

"Tired buddy?" asked Aang, who was perched on top of the flying bison's head. The Avatar and the beast meandered through the clouds during the dusk, after flying south most of the day. Appa growled again as if to say _You bet your arrow I'm tired._

"Okay then, I see an island not to far down there. Why don't we rest there for the night? Yip-yip." Appa began his descent towards the mountainous terrain below.

After Appa foraged for some litchi berries, he came back to camp and slammed down to the ground in exhaustion. Aang found some twigs on the ground and punched the air in front of him, fire flying from his knuckles and igniting the twigs. He held his hands in front of the fire to keep warm. "It'd be nice if I brought Momo with us, I need somebody to talk other than a worn out bison."

Aang, bored and alone, quickly fell asleep, the heat from the fire soothing his travelling worries. Aang felt he was falling gracefully, down to the bowels of his subconscious, sinking into his own body, into a dream world.

In his mind, he sat cross-legged behind the fire he just set. Across from him sat the previous Avatar, Aang's spiritual mentor, Roku. Roku was originally a firebender, before Firelord Sozin betrayed him to his death. Roku looked the same as he always was, frozen in time, a member of the spirit world, which the Avatar could commune with. Aang hadn't seen from Roku since he asked the previous incarnations of the Avatar before his fight with Ozai.

"Master Roku – I defeated the Firelord, and didn't betray my morals."

Roku smiled, and Aang realized he had never seen the previous Avatar do so.

"Yes, Aang. Your valiant resolve to defeat the Firelord and respect your nation's way of life was an interesting conclusion to the war. Never in the history of the Avatar has one taken away another's ability to control the elements."

"I gained great wisdom from the lionturtle."

"There are very few lionturtles left. They are one of the few living creatures that are completely dissolved with the spirit world. They have their own wisdom, perhaps dating back to the beginning of time."

"He gave me the idea to energybend Ozai's power from him."

"An idea he planted into your mind. An idea is a dangerous thing, Aang. Once you accept it, and commit to it, it can morph into a whole new type of monster."

Aang looked confused. "Avatar Roku, are you against me taking his firebending away?"

"Not at all, Aang, I must insist only that you beware of entities that wish to control you and your enormous power. What I come to you now for is a rumbling in the spirit world over a possible new threat."

"What threat?"

"Aang, your mission of sustaining the balance of the world was successful, however, I am afraid that the menace of an ancient rivalry may upset this balance. But I believe that this struggle is best explained to you by someone else, someone you knew long ago."

Next to Roku, a man appeared out of thin air. He was of medium height, wore bright yellow robes, and had a large blue arrow on top of his bald head.

"Gyatso!" shouted Aang.

Gyatso smiled and just stared at Aang for the longest time. After a while, he said, "I am so very proud of you airbender."

Aang looked down. "There's so many things I've wanted to say to you, about the past, about everything. It was my fault the war waged this long."

Gyatso looked at his pupil. "Do not blame yourself, Aang. As we are all connected to each other, it is all of our responsibilities on what happens to our surroundings. You have grown so much in so little of time. You are wise beyond your years Aang."

Aang bowed his head towards his teacher.

"The spirits in the spirit world have allowed me to contact you just this once. After tonight, you shall never see me in this form again."

"I see…" whispered Aang.

"But it is imperative I pass along this knowledge to the Avatar."

"If I may ask, what information is so urgent for me to know?" asked Aang.

Gyatso began, "As you may already know, there is a secret society called the Order of the White Lotus. This order transcends the nations, and has members that hail from all corners of the earth. Their mission is to keep the world in balance; as is the Avatar's mission. What you might not know is that I was once a member of this society."

"Really Gyatso?"

"Yes. The order seeks out truth, beauty, and trained philosophy. They stated as a club of elderly men that played Pai Sho together. However, every ying has a yang. And on the other side of the coin, there is the Green Standard."

"The Green Standard?"

"The Green Standard Army was the personal army of the ruthless Komodo Soriake, emperor of the Earth Kingdom long ago. He ruled the Earth Kingdom with an iron fist and enslaved many of the earthbenders to build monuments to honor himself. The army was skilled in secretive combat, using deception and treachery as their weapons. The Earth Kingdom subjects cried out for help, and word was passed through gathering spots and taverns, often relaying the news over a nice game of Pai Sho. The Order of the White Lotus convened and decided as their first official act to liberate the citizens of the Earth Kingdom from Komodo Soriake."

"So did they liberate everyone?"

"At first, the villages along the way to Ba Sing Se saw their beloved family members returned after being freed. But then the Green Standard Army struck in the night, using their agility to their advantage. A battle ensued, and after twenty days of fighting, the Green Standard retreated. The freed earthbenders joined the White Lotus and marched on Ba Sing Se, straight up to the Royal Palace. Komodo Soriake was captured by the force, but before being hauled away, he shouted to his army present, 'So the serpent loses its fangs, thus is my wish: end the abomination that is bending!' The Green Standard in the room lit explosions, disappearing from sight. They have been fighting the White Lotus in dark alleys, and in secret, for almost a thousand years."

Aang looked at Gyatso. "So, he wanted the Green Standard to stop their bending?"

Gyatso shook his head. "No, he wanted the entire _world_ to stop bending the elements."

Roku spoke up. "That's why news of your defeat of Firelord Ozai will eventually spark the Green Standard's interest. They wish to use your energybending somehow to rid the world of their master's disgust. Aang, you must continue your mastering of bending of the elements. One day soon, the Green Standard will strike, and strike with a purpose."

Aang could feel a pull at the pit of his stomach dragging him upwards, towards the real world. "Wait, Gyatso, I want to thank you for all you've taught me!"

The two old men drifted away, but not before Gyatso yelled, "You're welcome! And tell Appa, the next time he sees the flying lemur, split up the food more evenly! He may have six stomachs, but I have three!"


	6. The Grand Lotus

Three years after Sozin's Comet:

Screams echoed through Ba Sing Se. Children cried. Crowds of people were running every which way, yelling for lost family members in the chaos.

The Inner Wall of the city lay in shambles. The Green Standard knew exactly where to place the explosives underneath the wall. The trains carrying the explosives were crushed, along with their crews, the earthbenders and engineers aboard. Master Komodo was glad; the abomination that was element bending had to be eradicated, but he was willing to use people who could bend if they could be controlled for his purposes. He devised a serum that made the earthbenders totally obedient, brewed from the sap of the Shegita tree. Once he used them for his sake, he discarded them.

Flanked by ninjas on each side of him, he sprinted towards the upper echelon of Ba Sing Se's segregated communities. The lower ring was for refugees and the poor. The middle was for the business class. The third, and most prestigious, was the Upper Ring, which housed the wealthy and in it the Royal Palace grounds. The group always moved in the alleyways leading up to the rings, staying away from the panicked masses that bawled at the fallen gate.

The group passed through the lower, then middle rings. Then they approached the Upper.

Both lines of ninjas split up and circled a rather large shop. It was squat, had a green roof, and appeared to be kept in the finest order. A sign hung from a post above the doorway, "The Jasmine Dragon."

Komodo looked at the sign and smiled. "What an interesting name for a tea shop," and then headed in.

The shop was dark on the inside. Immaculately kept, but Komodo noticed that all the windows were boarded up. In the middle of the shop, there burned a solitary candle, flicking shadows between the empty tables and chairs.

Komodo took a few steps closer to the tiny flame. "So this is where the Grand Lotus resides? In a teashop? Probably the nicest one I've seen, but a teashop nonetheless." The Green Standard leader circled around the candle. "As I'm sure you're aware, a Grand Lotus has never had contact directly with a Komodo. I would greatly appreciate commemorating the occasion with a cup of tea."

The candle's flame shot out in streams in all sorts of directions, missing Komodo harmlessly and igniting candles around the room. The shop was now well lit from the inside, having a warm orange glow about it. Komodo looked back to the rear of the shop. Sitting cross-legged on the floor was an elderly, portly man with pointed chops that ran down his face and a goatee that protruded from his chin. He wore his hair up in a bun and was dressed in a dark green tunic that had the Earth Kingdom insignia embroidered above his left breast. He glared at Komodo. "I am Iroh, the Grand Lotus of the Society of the White Lotus. You are not welcome here in my shop."

Komodo laughed. "As if I needed your _permission_. But I am surprised you don't recognize civility, especially since it's implied in your order's motto."

"Our society seeks out truth. It is the Green Standard that wishes to hide it, to mask it, to deform it, to deny it. Your philosophy to deny a person's unique ability is in every way wrong, unjust. Bending is a form of personal expression, of achievement, of creativity, of heart. To prey upon bending like you do is akin to prejudice against one's ethnicity – the fabric of a person's being."

"It is not in man's interest to bend. Bending is a direct connection to the spirit world, far beyond the reach and control of men. It is the bastardization of men's free will that corrupts oneself to bend, to allow the possibility of utilizing an unnatural source, a mystic and wizened one at that, and further hinders the progress of mankind. No, Grand Lotus, it is in the best interest of the human race to cease this dated and counterproductive practice."

"I see that we are both very much set in our ways."

"We are indeed."

Iroh put his hand on his knee and pushed down to lift his body up from the ground. He faced Komodo. "So, master Komodo, how about that tea?" Iroh reached over to the serving counter and poured two cups of the tea. He quickly downed one of the cups and offered the other to Komodo.

Komodo laughed. "None for me, but whatever makes your death more comfortable for you."

"The more tea the better!" Iroh said before he gulped down the second cup. All at once fire flickered in his hand and he brought the flame to his open mouth. A huge stream of fire flew across the shop, as if a dragon's breath lighted the room. Komodo knocked over a table just in time. The flame skipped and caught the edge of the drapery and within a matter of seconds the whole shop was aflame. Komodo withdrew poisoned darts from his sleeve and launched them at Iroh. Iroh in turn did a windmill motion, evading the darts but catching one harmlessly in one of his windmilling hands, and whipped it back in Komodo's direction. Komodo hit the floor right before the dart went whizzing overhead. After examining his surroundings, he picked up a chair and threw it towards Iroh, but the heat from the dragonbreath incinerated the whole thing before even reaching half the distance between the two duelers. Seeing this, Komodo picked up another chucked it at one of the closed windows, then leapt outside to the street.

Outside, legions of black clad ninjas watched as their leader came tumbling down from the window and out onto the stone walkway. Then they sprang away, as a bolt of blue lightning erupted out of the front of the shop, and debris rocketed everywhere. The whole front side of the Jasmine Dragon exploded, leaving the image of only Iroh standing in the cutaway of his shop, hand-out and finger-extended, forming the tail end of the bolt of lighning.

Komodo looked where the lightning crackled up above. He saw the outline of a huge beast descending.

Aang landed on Appa right in front of Iroh. He was a fourteen year old Avatar, yet carried himself like a person much older and wiser than his current age. He pointed his staff at Komodo at the same moment that Iroh pointed his finger at the Green Standard leader. "This ends now."


	7. Assassination

Komodo looked at the young and old men facing him in front of the ruined teashop. "How excellent, the Avatar comes to see our little squabble. And it's fitting too. Avatar Aang, we are the Green Standard."

Aang looked in disgust at the army of ninjas around him. "I already know who you are. You're responsible for thousands of deaths in the Earth Kingdom. Of all crimes, those who take lives are the most abominable."

Komodo laughed. "I can't be on your side, Avatar. Your connection to the spirit world has corrupted you, made you feel connected to the earth and those who inhabit it. We, the enlightened, know that progress is made in detachment from the selfish spirits."

Iroh spoke up, "You foolishly believe in science, not faith."

"Correct Grand Lotus, while the White Lotus is altogether righteous and defends only the meek. Tell me Iroh: does the Avatar know what atrocities the Order has committed in the centuries since its inception? Does he know about the Quinxian Massacre? Does he know about the Church of Xiangong? How about the Battle of Tanaab, where fifty Green Standard members sat helpless as a whole army of White Lotus burned their river fort around them? Does he know that?"

Iroh stood motionless.

"Nothing to say now?"

"I do not pretend these things never happened. But I have found solace in the fact that these tactics are strictly forbidden today. The Order of the White Lotus has sworn off this kind of behavior, and strengthened our dedication to philosophy, beauty, and truth."

Komodo turned to Aang. "You're being quiet, Avatar."

Aang looked from Komodo to Iroh. "I'm just taking all of this in."

Komodo smiled. "Yes, the littlest doubt can seed a rebellion."

"Don't listen to this snake, Aang. There is no honor in his voice."

"The Avatar needs to know both sides, right? That's what you do isn't it? Mediate conflicts? Well, mediate this one." Komodo jumped to the side and was thrown a bow and arrow, and launched it at Iroh. Aang swished his hands in the air, and made the arrow fly off towards some housing. Iroh punched out fireballs and launched them into the air to deter the on looking ninjas to join the fight. The ninjas broke up, some launching themselves onto the rooftops of Ba Sing Se, while others head down the alleyways to flank the two warriors.

Komodo took a full quiver of arrows and proceeded to fire them at Iroh. The third one fired hit him in the shoulder, but he just yanked off the wood of the arrow, breaking it and leaving the point in his shoulder. Komodo smirked.

Iroh whirled his arms around him and created a ball of fire that circled his whole body. "Aang!" The Avatar saw what he was doing and jumped up in the air, just long enough time for the ring of fire to erupt outward in all directions, incinerating several ninjas in the way.

"Iroh! You're a dead man!" screamed Komodo.

The ninjas on the roof formed a line on the crest of the houses facing the teashop. Each drew a bow and arrow, and let them fly. Aang sliced at the air in front of them, and each of the arrows fell to the ground. Aang shouted to Iroh, "We need to regroup somewhere!"

Between firing fireballs, Iroh shouted, "I know a place. Follow me!" Iroh tipped over a jar of massage oils that were lining the streets and set them ablaze, separating the attacking legions of the Green Army from the Fire Nation ex-general and the Avatar.

Not a word was said between the two warriors en route to Iroh's hideout. _I didn't know the White Lotus murdered as well_, thought Aang. Aang could also tell that Iroh was favoring his left side, and stumbled every now and then between strides.

Almost to the palace grounds, Iroh held the door open to a small house that appeared deserted. Iroh flicked his wrists and fire shot out and found a place on nearby candles by the door.

"We can't take all of these guys, not by ourselves," said Aang.

"No, we can't," said Iroh, who plopped down by the shut door. "Not now."

Aang noticed the broken arrow in Iroh's shoulder. It looked as if Iroh's veins popped out, with the severity of the protrusion occurring at the spot of the wound. "They got one on you, huh? Are you going to be alright?"

Iroh looked down at his shoulder. "I've lived a good life."

Aang looked at him inquisitively. "What?"

"The Green Standard uses some unconventional weaponry. This thing sticking out of me – that's a poisoned arrow."

"No! Iroh, I think there's a medicine woman in the palace. If I can just get there…"

Iroh waved him off. "There is no cure for this poison. And it's fast."

"I'm not giving up on you."

"You have to Avatar, there are more important things for you to do than to aid a dying man."

Aang shed a tear that he wiped away before Uncle Iroh could see it. "What do we do then?"

Iroh looked him in the eye. "Tell the Order of the White Lotus for me, tell them _Tù_ _găi_. It means 'change' in our code. There are already protocols in place for this kind of event. Find whomever you can. Piandao, Jeong Jeong, Bumi, Pakku…"

"I'm not letting you die here."

"It's not up to you."

Aang looked down at his feet. "Do you want me to tell Zuko about you?"

"He'll find out eventually. I don't want his hatred to come to the surface while you're around. Let him find out the natural way."

"Thank you Iroh, really, for all that you've done for me."

"High compliments from the Avatar!"

"So now what?"

Iroh took Aang's necklace from his nape and blew the tiny buffalo whistle that hung from it. "Get on Appa and go."

Aang could already hear the gargantuan beast lumbering a little ways off around Ba Sing Se. "And you?"

Iroh stood back up. "I'm taking as many of them as I can with me."

Appa slammed into the cobblestone road outside the house on his landing. Iroh opened the door for Aang to exit. No other words were said as Aang climbed aboard the flying bison, and zoomed into the air.

Iroh, Grand Master and Grand Lotus, sprinted along the stone corridor leading back to the demolished teashop. He spotted several ninjas snaking along the rooftops, so he conjured fire from his hands and from the soles of his feet, and was rocketed to the top of the roof. He twirled his arms around each other, making the streams of fire spiral around each other, taking out five of the rooftop ninjas. Again he shot out fire from his hands and feet, rocketing forward along the rooftop until he reached the teashop.

Komodo was waiting for him.

Iroh did a spinning move that sent out whips of plasma shooting at Komodo. Komodo pulled out a shield and held it against the whips. Two full regiments of Green Standard filed around the firebender.

Iroh released his hold on the whips and sucked in a lungful of air. With all his strength, he brought his fist up and whammed it down on the ground. Flares shot up into the air and spread out, hitting ninjas on all sides.

Komodo loaded two arrows on the same bow, and fired at Iroh.

One of the arrows stuck close to where the first one struck, below his elbow. The second pierced his right lung.

Iroh kept lunging flame after flame at his attackers, never quitting. Komodo allowed himself a second to marvel at the old man's endurance.

Two more arrows flew into Iroh's damaged body. One entered his shin, while the other hit on his high thigh.

He collapsed in front of the teashop, ablaze. Littered around him were over a hundred dead Green Standard soldiers.

Iroh was sixty-seven years old.


	8. The Horn of the King

Aang, aboard Appa, peered down at the teashop burning. He knew that Iroh had passed, for the fireballs were not crashing into the surrounding army anymore. He cursed the Green Standard, for eliminating wisdom, for a kind soul.

Even though it was against Iroh's wishes for Aang to head to safety and regroup, Aang directed Appa down towards the palace.

* * *

Komodo and the Green Standard soldiers around him simply stood over Iroh's fallen body, the veins popping out of the Grand Lotus's neck from the poison injected into his skin. Komodo turned slowly towards his soldiers, and lifted up both fists. The warriors rejoiced and shouts of "Huzzah!" echoed through the upper ring of Ba Sing Se. Komodo smiled.

"The Grand Lotus is dead!"

"Huzzah!"

"Onto the catacombs!"

"Huzzah!"

"Then to the mountains!"

"Huzzah! Huzzah!"

"Onto the North Pole!"

"Huzzah!"

"Then to finish the fight!"

With a last huzzah, Komodo motioned for the force to move on. Approaching from the back of the company, engineers led up ostrich horses for the commanders, who boarded them and led the charge.

Outside the catacomb entrance to old Ba Sing Se, the mysterious under-chamber beneath the city, there stood two palace guards. Before they even had the chance to earthbend, they were dead on the ground. Komodo dismounted his steed, and proceeded into the chamber.

* * *

The guards let Aang land Appa right by the palace doors. He wasted no time and conjured up a ball of air that he sat on and zoomed right through to the Earth King's throne room.

Kuei sat there alone. No guards, no servants, no Bosco, his favorite pet, a bear. After the fall of Ba Sing Se at the hands of Princess Azula of the Fire Nation, King Kuei traveled the world with Bosco trying to better understand the life of peasants around the world that didn't have the luxuries of the palace lifestyle. After Ozai had been defeated, he returned, and claimed his rightful place as King of the Earth Kingdom.

He looked at Aang. "Hello, Avatar."

Aang rushed a bow to the king. "Your highness, I'm here to get you to safety. The Green Standard are in the city and I believe they wish you harm."

Kuei smiled. "They've had the city for almost a day. If they wanted me, they could've had me."

"Sir, an enemy force is within your walls, you should not be so quaint about it."

Kuei rose from his throne and walked over to Aang. "I've always felt a kinship with those in my kingdom who were like me, unable to earthbend. Long Feng used to teach me, but for all my resources, I couldn't do it. Some people just can't."

Komodo and his army made their way through the catacombs, the glistening green crystals that cast an eerie light below the surface. They scrambled. Searching for the item that Komodo wanted. Branching off. Climbing into holes and jumping off ledges.

Kuei continued. "He has already notified me of what he plans to do. That's his name – Soriake. Komodo. He told me what he wants to do and I dismissed my forces from stopping him."

A shout from the corner of the catacombs. A ninja found the doorway. Encrusted on the huge golden door was the emblem of the Earth Kingdom, held by a huge badgermole, the original earthbenders. Komodo called for the engineers, who lay sticks of dynamite at the base.

Kuei felt the shudder beneath his feat. "Whoa, they're close."

Aang conjured up his ball of air and whipped out of the throne room.

Kuei shouted after him. "This will be good for the Earth Kingdom! It will unite us all!"

Aang hopped on Appa and sped away.

* * *

Komodo was the first inside. It was an enormous chamber, which looked to be a kilometer high and a kilometer wide by a kilometer deep. In the middle of the green chamber, there rose a huge horn. The horn was the biggest that Komodo had ever seen, although instead of the end of the horn pointing up, the end of the horn pointed straight into the rock on the other side of the chamber. Komodo smiled, "Excellent."

Komodo made his way to the base of the large horn, put his lips to the mouthpiece, and with a lungful of air, blew into the piece.

The sound was deafening, it shook the palace, and some even mistook it for an earthquake. The sound waves traveled, transmitted by each rock hitting each rock, molecules in the ground vibrating and bumping into to other molecules, transmitting the call. The sound travelled into every direction, to the far corners of the mountains, into the deepest caves that surrounded the Earth Kingdom.

After the sound had dissipated, another rumble replaced it. All of a sudden, holes in each wall of the chamber appeared, drilled by massive badgermoles, who came when the call was sounded. Komodo gave the sign. As each badgermole emerged, a poisoned arrow was shot in their gullet. With a whine and a wham!, each one fell, helpless for all their strength.

Komodo turned to his army after an hour of the slaughtering. "Not much more, men, and the Earthbending will cease!"

* * *

Thanks for reading my first tale in Air. I wil be back with the continuation of the story in Air II: Yin and Yang. The next tale lets us know what happens to Toph, and what Iroh's death means to Zuko. What is the rest of the Green Standard's strategy to end the practice of bending? Thanks again for reading!


	9. Zuko Alone

I received requests from some people to merge my two stories together into a single one, so I will post the chapters I have for Air II, III, and IV here so that they will all be in the same place.

This is a sequel to Air: The Green Standard. The title is Air: Yin and Yang.

* * *

Firelord Zuko sat alone in the Royal Palace's throne room, scribbling his signature on ordinances for massive shipments of food to be sent out across the world to aid in suffering areas. He sighed as one of his aides took the ordinance away, thinking that this now was his life. _No more adventures for you, Zuko. That is what responsible leaders must adhere to._

Zuko was now nineteen, ruler of all the Fire Nation, and ambassador to the Three Nations Union, a committee dedicated to conversation and peace in the world. The only nation not represented in the committee was the Air Nomads, and only because there was only one airbender left in the world. The Avatar was frequently there in the beginning, but after a year or so, Aang quit coming to the sessions and became somewhat of a hermit. He would always say to Zuko that he was trying to find answers to something, but when Zuko prodded further, Aang would drop the subject.

The Three Nations Union was also a herald for addressing several Fire Nation members on account of their war crimes. Many prison wardens, guards, and more specifically Phoenix King Ozai and Princess Azula, were sentenced to terms in Fire Nation prisons, the terms to be decided by the Three Nations. Zuko was the main advocate.

Zuko looked up and saw a messenger sprinting towards his throne. The man kneeled before the Firelord, breathing heavily. "Yes? You may repeat your message."

The messenger continued to kneel and look at the ground. "Your majesty, I regretfully bring the worst of news."

Zuko laughed. "What can be so terrible, now that the world is entering a time of universal peace?"

The messenger drew a breath. "Sire, what I am about to convey to you will be both a shock and a grievance. Your anger is legendary sire, and I do not wish to incur your wrath."

"I will not harm you, you have my word, but do what you came here to do."

"Firelord, your uncle is dead."

The messenger allowed himself a look up to see that Zuko was not furious, in fact, he buried his head in his hands, but not making a sound. He held his pose for a brief minute, and then raised his head. Both of his eyes were red, but one was because of tears, the other was because of the severe burn that stretched from his eye to his brow that he received from his father. "How did he die?"

"I am sorry, your majesty. Details are not known at the moment. He – "

"He was murdered!" shouted a voice in the entrance to the hall. There stood Aang, clothes barely hanging on to his frame.

The look in Zuko's eyes turned from hurt to anger. His lip turned up, his nostrils flared, candle tips licked at his fingertips. Fire erupted from his palm and jutted straight outward. The messenger cowered back towards Aang. Aang waterbended the liquid out of a nearby basin to relinquish the burning tapestries. Zuko breathed heavily.

Aang spoke first. "I was there. They're called the Green Standard Army, an anti-bending military that strikes without honor, in the dark places of the world. They use trickery and deceit to accomplish their goals, and they killed your uncle at Ba Sing Se."

Zuko coldly looked at the Avatar. "You were there then. Why didn't you stop them?"

"They are an army, Zuko. It was me and your uncle against an army."

"I am going to – I am going to declare war on this army…"

"You can't, they won't be anywhere where you can get to them."

"My uncle will be avenged."

"I fear that they really will end bending forever."

Zuko smirked. "What do you mean, end bending?"

"They kill the spirit animals that started bending, the ones that taught the humans in the first place. The earthbenders learned it from the badgermoles. As we speak, the last badgermole may already be dead." Aang took his stance and tried to move a decorative boulder that lay along the throne room wall. He imagined himself as a rock, sturdy and strong, but no matter how hard he tried, the boulder would not budge. Even for the Avatar, earthbending was dead. "I can't do it. And neither can any earthbender on the face of the earth. The culture is dead, do you understand?"

"Why does killing badgermoles end earthbending?"

"Because they are the link between the spirit world and neutral jing, the key to earthbending. Once that link is broken, the spirits won't let anyone earthbend."

Zuko finally understood the gravity of the situation. "Then for my uncle's sake and honor, let us thwart these bastard's plans."


	10. The Face Stealer

The last badgermole was corralled in a cage, set apart from the burning masses of his brethren. It smacked and clawed at the cage, but it was useless.

The Green Standard looked at the beast, the last of its kind. None showed emotion, the black slates of their faces unmoving. Genocide was not a sin, but a necessity, to acquire a greater enlightenment.

Komodo Soriake drew his blade and calmly walked over to the thrashing animal. He said an incantation to himself, then with purpose, stuck the blade into the Last.

The badgermole shrieked, then fell limp. The sword did not withdraw, but rather the cold steel began glowing hot with contact from the badgermole's heart. Komodo held the blade in it, twisting and contorting the blade after its heating. All of a sudden, Komodo's eyes went white, and the badgermole quit twitching.

Komodo opened his eyes. He was standing in a swampy area, with birds flying overhead. He rose to his feet, and began walking.

On the perimeter of his vision, Komodo saw a huge gnarly tree rising out of the rocks. Its branches looked evil, snaking their way around each other and coming to a point. He made his way to the base of the tree, but was surprised when he saw the back of a monkey resting on one of the knobby roots. He was even more surprised when it looked back at him with no face on his head.

Komodo climbed up a little higher and found a cave in the trunk of the tree. It was about a meter around, and he proceeded inside.

Inside, the cave was dark and dank. Komodo used his hand to feel along the wall and pressed on, deeper and deeper into the abyss. He turned a few times after he heard what he thought was a shuffling, but was disappointed when it turned out to be a pair of rats.

About ten minutes venturing into the tree, Komodo heard another scuffling. Except there were multiple things dragging across the floor, and a disgusting squeezing sound came from above him.

Komodo looked up and saw the face of the monkey outside, attached to a hideous, disgusting centipedal body. The monkey face screamed and rushed up to Komodo's face, but Komodo didn't even blink an eye, and stood his ground.

"Evening, Face-Stealer."

The monkey-face withdrew back into the centipede body and was replaced with the face of a beautiful young woman with jet-black hair. The voice did not match the face, though, which was deep and powerful. "You are educated, mortal, and unorthodox."

"I am the leader of the Green Standard Army, and we have researched on how to contact you, spirit Koh. We have killed the last badgermole, the original earthbenders, the founders of the neutral jing, and thus, I have been transported here, to you, the master of watching, waiting, pausing to strike."

The beautiful woman smiled, "You can never kill the last badgermole. They watch and wait, and if they are threatened, they will hide."

"We, the Green Standard Army, have found a way to summon all the badgermoles at once."

The face of Koh changed again, to a harsh-looking man with a pointed beard and a wide nose. "And you are a mortal that knows so much! It will be a real shame to take your face!"

"You want the same thing that I want, Koh. You want to punish man for worshipping other spirits other than you."

"It's true that I don't get as much credit that I deserve, but really, who am I to pass judgment on those who prefer the other, kinder spirits."

Koh rushed up to Komodo again, adorning the monkey face, yet Komodo was not fazed.

"I am the reincarnation of Komodo Soriake. Sticking a dagger in my side would still not cause me to flinch."

Koh backed off, "So I see."

"Humans have always been divided – those who can bend and those who can't. What has resulted from this is the lax nature of those who couldn't. Call it a form of resentment for those. They secretly hate the other group, who can unlock a spiritual gift. Then they resent the spirits for not giving it to them. They still fear them, but they hate them."

"And you want me to do what?"

"Koh, you are an insurance policy. We have already taken the steps to set up the eradication of bending. Frankly, it's in your best interest to help us."

"I am Koh! I do not interfere with mortal life unless their negligence angers me!"

"You need to punish those that do not honor the spirits. Level the playing field."

Koh snaked around Komodo with his long, bulky body.

"There are those spirits that would fight on the bending side, persuaded by reincarnations of the previous Avatars. We need you to be the advocate for the anti-bending moment."

"Again, I do not see what is in this deal for me."

"Humans and the spirits will be totally separate from each other. Without bending, mortals will not be able to tap into the limitless energy that is the spirit world. No longer would the spirits, including yourself, have to deal with mortals. They would be on their own. The ultimate punishment for the ultimate betrayal."

"I am one of the oldest and most knowledgeable spirits. What makes you think that I delight in punishment?"

"You punished Avatar Kuruk by not performing his duties as Avatar by stealing the face of his lover. The Avatar now is not been keeping the world in balance, as you can see by me, a mortal, being able to traverse to the spirit world freely. The Avatar is supposed to be the bridge between the spirit world and the human world, yet here I am, not the Avatar."

"So then why don't I just steal his lover's face?"

"He's fifteen, he doesn't have a lover. And besides, this act would send a much broader message, a separating of the worlds, of how it should be."  
"I'll give you that you have some courage, coming here. But that does not excuse the fact that a mortal is asking a spirit for the spirit's obedience. There is no haggling. I am the law, and you will abide by it!"

"I am not asking you to obey. I'm asking you to consider the offer that I bring to the table. I want to separate the worlds. I don't want to insult you. But that is exactly what humans are doing everyday. Insulting you. That I am here only furthers that statement."

"I hate it that you are standing in front of me."

"Then send me back, but punish mortals, like me, by dishonoring you."

Koh's face changed again to the cruel man, and shouted. Komodo was surrounded by a white light, and then opened his eyes. He was standing in the crystal catacombs of old Ba Sing Se, surrounded by the Green Standard.

He sat up slowly, holding his head. The army silently stared at him.

"Koh is angry. That will work in our favor."


	11. The Avatar and the Firelord

Aang was already mounting Appa when Zuko came out. "I've called the troops to load up the fleet. The Fire Nation Army should be en route by morning for the North Pole. I understand that is where the Green Standard will be headed next from what you said."

Aang sighed. "That's what I guess. They're either going to the Pole or to the Sun Warriors' Temple. And I think that if they go for the temples first, then your army will be useless anyway. They will take away their ability to firebend if they kill the last dragons."

Zuko smiled. "Yes, while it would be a blow, the army has gone through a rigorous hand-to-hand combat training with weapons, provided by the great master Piandao. I think you might have met him once."

"Yes, I did, when I was in the Fire Nation for the first time. He trained a friend of mine, and he's also a member of the White Lotus."

Zuko asked, "The inverse of the Green Standard?"

"More or less. They are the yin to the Green Standard's yang. They are connected, spiritually, to each other, yet they despise one another. The difference between the two is their beliefs in the practice of bending, where one believes it is necessary, and one abhors it. But they still are two separate sides of the same coin, joined by what they are fighting for."

"Coincidences surround you, Aang. This world isn't nearly as big as I once thought it was."

"That's what worries me."

Zuko threw his pack on Appa's saddle, and with a yip-yip, the Avatar and the Firelord were whisked into the sky.

* * *

Zuko woke up with icicles attached to the end of his nose. He scoffed, and blew hot steam from his nostrils, melting the ice that clung to them. He shivered. "Why is it so cold?"

Aang looked back at him from his perch on the flying bison's neck. "We're really high up. The air is thinner, and Appa can travel faster up here."

"I guess whatever gets us there faster…" Zuko muttered between chattering teeth.

"How've you been, Zuko? I mean, before all this?" asked Aang.

"Things were going great. I mean, I thought it was. I declared that supplies be sent out constantly to the other nations to help out with the relief effort. We've converted some of our navy ships for the effort. Our manufacturing processes are increasing dramatically. We've even created some new metals by combining other ones together. We're on the brink of industrial outbreak. I can even one day see whole cities sprouting up in the Fire Nation made entirely of metal, rising into the sky."

"Wow, that sounds impressive."

"And I got married to Mai seven months ago."

"Zuko that's great! Congratulations! Any plans for a prince?"

"There's always plans for a prince. Or a princess. Maybe when things settle down. The Three Nations Union occupies most of my time now. What about you, Aang?"

Aang tone went serious. "I've been mostly in seclusion these last two years. I was contacted by Roku then and warned about the Green Standard. I've traveled the world looking for Wan Shi Tong's Library. We found it once before, but it was buried in the sands of the Great Desert afterwards. I tried finding it, but couldn't. After a year of searching, I finally found it, and entered. Wan Shi Tong, the knowledge spirit, let me peruse the information in his library, where I pieced together the relationship between the spirit animals and the art of bending."

"You never told me before what you were looking for. If I had known, I would've provided all of the Fire Nation's resources to help you find this library."

"I had to do it on my own," said Aang. "It was the Avatar's duty."

"Looking in the desert for a library kept you awfully busy. You and Katara still together then?"

Aang looked down. "I haven't seen her for a long time. And we were never together; it was just a puppy love. We were both so young, still are. But she probably doesn't remotely remember me anymore."

"The world has changed so much. But I believe that the feelings that you both had for one another is unwavering. If ever you come to meet again, I hope that you will not let those feelings subside. Love is not naïve."

Aang sighed. "If I wasn't the Avatar, I'd fly Appa down to the South Pole right this instant."

Zuko studied Aang's face. He imagined the Avatar weighted down, worry lines creeping across his face, a perpetual frown set on his jaw. His respect for the fifteen-year-old doubled in that moment.

Aang broke the silence. "We both should get some rest. I'll stay on watch for a little while longer. I'll wake you when you can take over. From what I saw in Ba Sing Se, we have a monster of a fight waiting for us."


	12. The Sun Warriors

Three years ago:

Aang and Zuko climbed the steps adorning the side of the Sun Warriors' Temple. Aang looked up at the end of the flight of stairs and saw a vast mural depicting the Great Dragons breathing fire onto the Sun Warriors. "This looks promising, though I'm not sure what this tells us about the original source of firebending."

Zuko contemplated the carving on the wall. "They look pretty angry to me."

"I thought the dragons were friends with the Sun Warriors?"

"Well, they had a funny way of showing it." Zuko looked down at his feet and turned away.

"Zuko, something happened with the dragons in the last hundred years – something you're not telling me," confronted Aang.

Zuko looked up. "My great-grandfather Sozin happened. He started the tradition of hunting dragons for glory. They were the ultimate firebenders, and if you could conquer one of them, your firebending talents would become legendary, and you would earn the honorary title 'Dragon.' The last great dragon was conquered long before I was born, by my uncle."

"But I thought your uncle was, I don't know, good?"

"He had a complicated past. Family tradition I guess."

* * *

Three years after Sozin's Comet:

Aang shook the tired out of his eyes. They were close now; close enough even to see the mountain range that rose out the horizon. It was almost dawn. "You should've wakened me earlier, Zuko."

Zuko turned to look at him from his spot on Appa's reigns. "You let me sleep for a long time. I just figured I would give you as much as possible."

Aang crawled to the head of the large saddle that adorned the huge flying bison to speak to Zuko. "This isn't going to be your typical fight. Like I've already told you, the Green Standard likes to surprise you with their fighting. They're impossibly fast and …"

Zuko cut him off. "I know Aang. They'll try to get me one on one. That's why we have to stay together."

"What's our strategy?"

"Once we find this Komodo guy, we firebend to drive his followers out of the fight, then me and you take him before he can kill Ran and Shao."

"He'll just use those poison barb things on you. You won't get a chance to get near enough to him to strike."

Zuko smiled. "That's why we have to work together."

"Yeah, I know…"

"No, you don't. See, if you combine two elements in the right way, you'll create something different. You said Komodo would try to surprise us, right? If you create an air blast, and mix it with my fire blast, we will be unstoppable. Fire combusts, it is fueled by the air around it. So if you create a funnel of air, that will accelerate and fuel the fire jet."

"Or I could just bring the mountain down on top of him."

"Yeah," Zuko looked into the distance covered with mountains. "If I were the Avatar, that's what I would do. But that would kill him, and we both know you won't kill him. And there's nothing to energybend or whatever you call it."

"That and I can't earthbend anymore, remember?"

"Oh yeah."

"If I try to immobilize him, he'll just break free."

"So it has to be me, which you can help, by creating a jet of air."

"And the air will probably make your fire hotter, too. Combining the two would most likely melt anything in its path, including the poison darts."

Zuko smiled and nodded. "The only thing we'd have to worry about is keeping the stream between us and Komodo."

"I like the way you think, Firelord."

Zuko opened his mouth to talk, but was interrupted by three successive booms.

Aang looked towards the base of the mountains and saw a horrific sight. Sharkfalcons, seven feet long flying predators which many historians thought went extinct three hundred years ago, were flying in formation, dropping tightly woven bundles that clung from their talons hurtling towards the temples beneath. Each explosion gave off a purple hue, and spread out a certain distance then retracted back to the center, giving a pulsating effect. It seemed to eat away whatever was in its way.

Zuko saw them as well. "There's these guys here, and there's another group coming over the mountains," he said as he saw little grey dots careening down the slopes. "Look at how fast those things are!" Appa gave a groan.

Aang looked. "And there's riders on them. Saddles and everything." Every one of the sharkfalcons had a Green Standard member pulling the reigns. The sharkfalcons swooped and speeded around the temples, making huge arcs that looked like synchronized circles. After they dropped their bombs, they looped back to a spot near the base of the mountain and reloaded, clutching the new arsenal in their iron grip.

As Appa sped recklessly towards the bombed temples, Aang turned to Zuko. "I guess none of the Sun Warriors' traps worked."

As soon as the words left his mouth, a huge catapult in the center of the city sprung to life, throwing a massive fireball onto the oncoming sharkfalcons. Three of the beasts were lost in the gargantuan flame, while the ones on the fringe of the sphere incinerated midair. A cheer rose up from the base of the catapult as one of the Green Standard riders smashed into the precipice of one of the stone temples.

Appa was close enough now to the center of the city to land nearby. Aang clearly heard the chief of the Sun Warriors shouting to his tribe. "Fire is power! Those who wish to invade our homes will be met with engulfing flames! They do not know the meaning of the word 'burn!'"

Aang and Zuko dismounted and Aang turned to the flying bison. "I want you to hide, buddy. Find yourself the easiest place to defend and defend it. I'm not going to lose you." With a guttural acknowledgement, Appa lumbered off. "Ready Zuko?"

Zuko drew his twin swords, curved, and part of the same sword. "Ready as I'll ever be."


	13. Ran and Shao

Aang launched himself up on one of the temple roofs with a concentrated air blast downward, and Zuko jumped after him. They saw the pyramids and other architectural wonders rise before them, only to have a portion of them crumble in a purple haze.

Zuko loosed a fire blast into the air, which struck down a sharkfalcon and incinerated its tail feathers. The beast slammed into the ground and the Green Standard rider limped off the beast.

The chief of the Sun Warriors approached the crippled man. The chief was a staggering figure, tall and big, and his face was covered with paint adorned with feathers. He wore a ceremonial shroud made of a rainbow of colors. "Why do you attack us, stranger?"

The Green Standard soldier, clad in all black, clutched his side, but did not say anything back the chief. The soldier was short, lean, and had a long goatee that reached midway down his chest. This chest piece was emblazed with a green dragon, woven onto the thick armor, with arrows sticking out of its eyes.

All of a sudden, the chief's general to his left saw something he didn't like, and leapt in front of the chief.

The general fell to the ground with three darts in his side. The chief melted the Green Standard's eyeballs in his sockets. The dragon on the soldier's chest looked as it was smiling in the flames.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Green Standard noticed the Firelord and the Avatar on the roofs below their flying steeds. The sharkfalcons dived into the alleyways surrounding the temples, dodging the ancient relics. Aang whisked his arms in circles, drawing the water from a fountain in a nearby square. When the sharkfalcons were close enough, Aang made the water rise and froze it, making a rock-hard wall. The sharkfalcons smacked into the barrier, shattered their noses. The Green Standard riders baled their mounts, only to be frozen to the alley floor a second later.

Zuko turned to Aang. "C'mon, Aang. We have to get to the Firebending Masters."

"Follow me, Avatar," said the chief. The chief crossed over to the fallen sharkfalcon and wrangled the beast up and mounted it. The Firelord and the Avatar did the same to two of the other beasts.

The sharkfalcons shot up into the air. Aang tried to smile his reassurance to Zuko, but couldn't move the corners of his lips against the staggering wind caused by the sharkfalcon's blistering speed. Tears clung to his skull and whipped back to his large tattoo of an arrow that was embroidered on his head, and then finally mixed in with the slipstream that was created by the beast. The chief's sharkfalcon looked utterly exhausted, but kept the lead nonetheless.

Two mountains rose up in the distance, with a stone bridge that looked carved out of a third one rising between them. A large staircase led the way up to the bridge, which gave access to the two caves that held the Firebending Masters. The Masters were the original firebenders, the ones that the Sun Warriors learned the sacred art from. They came upon the dragons millennia ago, and feared them at the beginning. They learned to study them after a while, and then came to worship them. The dragons taught them about the life-giving properties of fire, along with the destructive burden of it.

Aang then saw between teary eyes a group of Green Standard engineers continue their march up the stairs, already halfway up, and carried a large machine up the stairs with the aide of some of the sharkfalcons. "We're not going to be able to get there in time to stop them whatever their doing!" shouted Aang to Zuko as they zipped through the air.

"We have to try!" he shouted back.

Aang witnessed the huge machine be staked into place by members of the Green Standard at the top of the stairs on the bridge. The soldier at the base of the crank pulled the gargantuan lever, and all of a sudden two enormous spokes shot out of either end of the machine, heading towards opposite mouths of the two caves. Both of the spears entered, and both emitted a brash CLANG from hitting something inside.

The soldier hit another smaller lever under the bigger one, and the large gear in the middle of the machine slowly began to turn. The ropes attached to the spears went taught.

A roar came rang out from either cave.

A flash of blue from one side, a flash of red from the other. The two dragons Ran and Shao came streaming out of their caves towards the machine, and one another. The Green Standard soldiers ducked and covered their heads by the crank machine, but Ran lit a flame in its mouth and kicked it outwards, charring the bones and machine inside. The two dragons swirled around each other and the bridge that connected the two caves, like a perpetual yin and yang, good and evil, wrath and peace, death and life. And saw them do the same dance three years ago, what seemed so very long ago.

Out of the mist from either side of the two mountains that rose before them, a legion of sharkfalcons burst. At the head of them was the mastermind, Komodo Soriake himself.

Zuko let loose a fire blast that sped past the dragons circling each other. Komodo saw the blast and held up his hand, and the legion broke their course towards the dragons and headed towards the three riders where the blast came from.

"I hope you know what you're doing, Avatar!" the chief exclaimed.

Ran and Shao shot upwards towards the sky, circling each other in a helix on the way towards the stratosphere.

"Yeah, I hope I do too."


	14. Lost Link

The chief held his hands apart, on top of his zooming sharkfalcon, and clapped them together. The noise seemed to dissolve into a fiery ring that spread outwards before the chief.

Komodo saw the ring appear, and swooped his sharkfalcon downwards to safety. Three of the guards on his left were not so lucky.

"We have to draw them away from the dragons," said Zuko. He launched a fireball towards the oncoming invaders.

"I'll lead some of them into the temples and disarm them."

Zuko looked at him incredulously. "You're still not going to take a life, are you Aang? When are you going to lose that inhibition?"

Aang smiled, "Hold them off as long as possible." Aang swooped down into one of the alleys below and disappeared among the stone walls.

Komodo motioned below, and a legion of Green Standard riders nosedived into the temple city. Spinning and twirling, getting every last drop of downward motion out of their steeds, the soldiers clung to their mounts. Zuko and the Sun Warrior chief continued to fly upward, unleashing blasts both above and below them, to each of the groups of broken off Green Standard.

But both groups swooped around, flanking the two firebenders, driving them downwards towards the ruins. Zuko gave a swift kick to the sharkfalcon, making it dive faster to the ground.

The chief's sharkfalcon had enough at this moment. While mid-flight, it did an aerial spiral that sent the chief radially outward from the spiraling beast. He spread his hands apart and pointed them down towards the ground, firebending shoots of flames perpendicular to the surface of the earth, hoping to slow his fall like a rocket.

He crashed with a thud, spinning and whipping his way all the way until he reached the stone parapet. His arms went limp, fractured in a thousand places, pieces of bone sticking out like freckles. Dazed, he gazed up at the steed that threw him, but instead he only saw forty Green Standard riders coming full on, arrows already preceding them on their descent.

With a final breath, the Chief of the Sun Warriors limped on his left leg, drew the sweet air that fermented along the ruins for all his life, combusted it in his lungs, and heaved.

Three of the riders were struck in the blast, but stayed on their mounts. The chief fell backwards with thirty arrows stuck in him.

Aang looped back up, after winding his way through the complex ruins. _I can't take on all of them._

Out of the corner of his eye, Aang saw Komodo and a legion stream blisteringly fast upwards, in what seemed like impossibility. _We're just too few against too many. Too disorganized against too unified._

In frustration, Aang called to Zuko: "Zuko! Zuko! We have to stop them!"

Zuko kicked his sharkfalcon in the ruins below. It accelerated amidst arrows coming far too close. "A little busy at the moment Avatar!" he said as he launched a pair of fireballs into the oncoming riders.

Aang, faster than the wind could take him, set off for Komodo alone.

* * *

The wind whipped along the ice sheets as the tea was poured. The blizzard had been ongoing for three full days, not resting even while the temperature rose a little. The flap of the little igloo flapped back and forth as the entrant into the hut dug his way from the outside snowdrifts to get inside. The young man had on a deep blue parka, his hair fashioned in what the tribe called a "wolf's tail," and his chin had short stubby hairs that just took hold. He stood up to meet the family inside.

"Oh, hello Sokka," the young woman said. She herself had on another make of the same parka, hair that looped back across her ears, gloves barring her hands from the cold inside and the simmering pot that she lifted up. "What's for dinner?"

"Hope you like arctic hen, Katara, cause that's all I could find." Sokka flipped the limp beast on the table, and proceeded to clean the meat.

Another girl sat in the corner with a look of disgust on her face. "I really wish you wouldn't do that right where we'll be eating." Sokka turned around to see her smiling.

As he stripped out another long piece of hen skin and twirled it around his finger, he said, "Would you rather I threw this one out Suki?"

Like clockwork, Suki's stomach growled audibly. "No."


End file.
