(1) Augmentum | Zuko

Chapter Sixty-Five

Noivern cuts through the clouds, Rana on his back, and right behind them, Appa follows them up, Aang and Katara on his back. They need to be quick about this, but they have to get it right too. One wrong move and an entire village will perish. Rana pulls Noivern around towards Appa.

"Clouds are made of water and air so between the three of us we should be able to bend them into any shape we want" Rana offers as she drops down from Noivern's back and onto Appa. Katara reads from Aunt Wu's book, searching

"I found it. The symbol for volcanic doom" Katara turns the book towards Rana and Aang.

...........

Below, the villagers look up to see the clouds shifting. Sokka brings Aunt Wu over to her stage, Pikachu on his shoulder. Sokka points to the sky.

"Aunt Wu, look! Something is happening in the clouds."

"That's very strange. It shouldn't... Oh my!" Aunt Wu and Sokka watch as the clouds take the shape of a skull.

............

Aang is now addressing the gathered villagers, Rana at his side as she lets out a breath, trying to work out if this is going to work.

"We can still save the village if we act fast. Sokka has a plan" Aang tells the villagers. Sokka nods in agreement.

"Lava is gonna flow downhill to this spot. If we can dig a deep enough trench we can channel all the lava away from the village to the river" Sokka explains.

"If any of you are earth-benders come with me," Rana tells them as Lycanroc barks at her side.

"I'm an earth-bender!" One of the twins from earlier raises their hand.

"I'm not!" Their twin argues.

"Everybody else grab a shovel" Sokka adds followed by an explosion from the volcano. "Come on, we've gotta hurry!"

.........

Appa and the townspeople labour to dig the trench, using both earth-bending and manual means. Another explosion comes from the volcano, this time, spewing lava. Sokka's eyes widen.

"Dig faster! Dig faster!" He orders and hastily starts digging. Rana concentrates on earth-bending. She's not really had all that much practice with this one, but with Lycanroc helping she is doing it. Just not very well. Not like the earth-bending twin who is proving to be really effective. Between the two of them though, they manage to connect the trench to the river. Aang nods. That's enough. They need to clear out.

"Everyone needs to evacuate!" Aang tells the villagers. "We'll come for you when it's safe!" The villagers all flee, running away from the oncoming volcano threat.

.......

Rana holds out her hand as it begins to precipitate ash. She, Katara, Sokka, and Aang are now standing on the safe side of the trench. Watching as the lava flows down the side of the mountain and towards them. Katara takes a step back when it reaches the trench, filling it rapidly.

"It's too much! It's gonna overflow!" Katara warns just as another explosion rocks the village. Burning ejecta begins to rain down in addition to the ash.

"Let's go" Rana offers. Sokka and Katara nod in agreement and follow Rana and Lycanroc as they make their way away, but turn to see Aang hasn't moved. A huge boulder falls out of the sky and lands in the trench, exploding. Aang rushes forward with a furious war cry and launches himself into the air to air-ben. As the lava begins to overflow, Aang blows the lava straight up, rather than allowing it to advance on the village. Finally, he draws in a mighty intake of breath and expels it, air-bending it as it exits, cooling all the lava to stone. Aang relaxes and assumes a meditation pose, calming himself after the massive exertion. Rana smiles proudly as she watches him. Katara and Sokka at her sides, stood in awe. The mountain still visibly erupting beyond, but no longer threatening the village.

"Man, sometimes I forget what a powerful bender" Sokka starts and Katara's expression instantly changes at this, remembering Aunt Wu's words. "That kid is"

"Wait, what did you just say?" Katara asks.

"Nothing, just that Aang is one powerful bender" Sokka repeats. Katara stares at Aang, his figure is wreathed in red glow of the lava still seething behind the stone shield Aang has created.

"I suppose he is..." Katara agrees softly, a fond smile working onto her lips.

..........

The villagers and Aunt Wu have returned to the village now the threat has been dealt with. Now that they are safe. Rana touches Noivern's neck as he watches her softly. Aang stands in front of Aunt Wu to address her, offering her back the cloud book he 'borrowed'.

"By the way, we kind of borrowed your book"

"So you messed with the clouds did you!" Aunt Wu grabs the book in anger and Aang cringes. In the background, Katara looks guilty, while Sokka smiles and points at her, indicating that she was in on the cloud manipulation too. Aunt Wu begins to laugh. "Very clever!"

"Ah, it was Rana's idea" Aang admits looking at Rana who stands away from them, not interested in the attention or credit.
"No offence, but I hope this taught everyone a lesson about not relying too much on fortune-telling" Sokka scolds the villagers.

"But Aunt Wu predicted the village wouldn't be destroyed, and it wasn't. She was right, after all," The Calm Man argues, Sokka gets right up into his face.

"I hate you" He states firmly, Katara takes his arm and pulls him away.

"It's okay, Sokka. Everything's gonna be all right" Aunt Wu and Aang are watching Sokka and the Calm Man. Aang turns to Aunt Wu.

"Can I ask you something?" Aang asks her.

"Of course, honey"

"You didn't really see love in my fortune, did you? You just told me what I wanted to hear"

"I'll tell you a little secret, young Air-bender. Just as you reshaped those clouds, you have the power to reshape your own destiny" Aang smiles and then goes to join his friend. "Before you go..." Aunt Wu stops him. "Your vastaya friend" She's watching as Rana lifts Pikachu up onto the back of Appa, Lycanroc jumping up to join them.

"Rana?" Aang asks, Aunt Wu hums. "Is it about her love life because trust me, she could really use the advice....?"

"I have already voiced it to her" Aunt Wu turns to Aang. "But you should know that there is a darkness inside of her, as there is in every one of her kind....."

"Vastaya?" Aang asks, she shakes her head.

"Elementals...She is a bottled storm just waiting to be unleashed...and should it....no one would be safe" Aang stares at her. Aunt Wu then watches Rana a moment longer. "Spirit bonded, huh?" Aunt Wu muses before she then moves away, Aang frowns at her back and then looks at Rana. That's not at all ominous or concerning. Aang lets out a breath. Just another thing to worry about. He moves to join his friends as Noivern takes to the sky with Rana on his back. Aang's eyes following them. He knows that she's powerful, no one doubts that, but he never really thought that she was dangerous, at least not to him.

"Aang?" Katara asks him, Aang plasters on a huge smile. They don't need to worry about it, it's probably nothing, they just spent the last few days proving there was nothing in Aunt Wu's predictions.