There are no words to describe how sorry I am. You guys have had to sit through months of waiting for a new chapter of this story, and you all have been patient. I am eternally grateful for that. Now let's get to the Book 1 finale!
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"This... is bad."

Black snow. Soot. The last time Kaiden saw it, if was that day the Fire Nation invaded the Southern Water Tribe, the day his parents and Katara and Sokka's mother were killed. Fire Nation ships were approaching. Kaiden looked at Aang and Katara, who both nodded and the three of them went to warn Chief Arnook. Soon afterward, the chief gathered the tribe together.

"The day we have feared for so long has arrived," Arnook announced, "The Fire Nation is on our doorstep. It is with great sadness I call my family here before me, knowing well that some of these faces are about to vanish from our tribe, but they will never vanish from our hearts. Now, as we approach the battle for our existence, I call upon the great spirits. Spirit of the Ocean! Spirit of the Moon! Be with us! I'm going to need volunteers for a dangerous mission."

Sokka rose from his seat, "Count me in!"

"Sokka..." Katara muttered.

"Be warned, many of you will not return," Arnook continued as several Water Tribe men rose and walked forward, "Come forward to receive my mark, if you accept the task."

The volunteers came forward, and a few minutes later, Kaiden found himself standing next to Aang and Arnook, the former perched on a snow mound. Both the Avatar and the Image had their staffs in hand.

"The stillness before battle is unbearable," Arnook said, "Such a quiet dread."

"I know," the Image replied, "Waiting is always the worst part. Second only to looking upon the aftermath."

"I wasn't there when the Fire Nation attacked my people," Aang said, determined, as Katara walked up, "I'm going to make a difference this time."

Aang stood. Soon after, Kaiden squinted as he spotted something in the distance. Kaiden's eyes widened as he realized what it was. A giant fireball.

"TAKE COVER!!!" Kaiden ordered just before the fireball hit the wall.

The battle had begun.
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Aang hopped on Appa, "Yip-yip!"

Kaiden turned his staff into a board and hopped on it. He took off flying after Aang and towards the fleet. They found the first ship, which fired two fireballs at them. Aang swung his staff, causing an air blast to deflect one ball away. Kaiden simply steered out of the way of the second.

Aang jumped down from Appa and flew downwards on his glider onto the first ship, quickly followed by Kaiden. Using airbending, Aang sweeped several trebuchet operators off their feet and leaped onto one trebuchet. An operator came forward and slammed a sledgehammer onto the machine, nearly striking Aang who managed to back-flip away. Suddenly, Kaiden swooped down, his board becoming a pole, and smacked the operator off the side of the ship.

Two more operators approached them from opposite directions, each holding a sledgehammer. The one on his right brought the sledgehammer down, proceeded by the one on his left. The Avatar and Image jumped into the air, avoiding both blows and Kaiden completely collapsed the trebuchet with his use of metalbending. They landed onto the deck, triumphant.

They ran over to an unoccupied trebuchet, already loaded with a flaming boulder. Kaiden stuck a sledgehammer in another launcher's chain. When a soldier approached them, Aang blasted him away, activating the catapult which launched the fireball straight into the deck, leaving a large hole.

Aang and Kaiden ran past two operators who quickly chased after them. They arrived at two trebuchets, one before them and one behind them, and tangled their chains together. They leapt onto the machine before them as the soldiers approached and the Image slammed his foot onto the pedal that activated the catapult. The catapult lunged forward, causing the second trebuchet to collide into the first, destroying both.

Both smiling happily, Aang and Kaiden proceeded to another machine. Aang prepared to strike the machine with a sledgehammer only to turn around and catch sight of the man who attempted to land blows from afar with two sledgehammers, each attached to long chains. Aang and Kaiden jumped out of the way of several blows. The man swung the chains around and Aang leaned against a beam, only for the two chains to wrap around the beam, thus trapping him.

But he wasn't trapped for long. The chains unwrapped him only seconds later, thanks to Kaiden. The burly man looked at the Image in shock, but Kaiden didn't let him process it. He punched the floor and a metal column burst out from under the man, knocking him off the side of the ship.

Aang grinned, "Thanks!"

"No problem," Kaiden grinned back, "We make a pretty good team, Avatar. But we better get off. I may have used a crucial ship part to finish that guy off, so... we might be sinking soon.

Sure enough, the ship began to rumble and submerge. Aang called Appa and hopped on the bison, and Kaiden got on his board and followed. But then they got a look at the enemy. And it wasn't a pretty sight.

"You've gotta be kidding me..." Aang muttered, shocked.

The Fire Nation Navy. The entirety of it. Kaiden knew there was going to be a lot of ships, but he never could've imagined a fleet of this size. There were hundreds of ships, maybe in the thousands. The Image groaned.

"This is gonna take a while," Kaiden mumbled grimly.
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They returned to the tribe maybe an hour later, but it felt like they were out there for an entire day. They landed in front of Katara and Princess Yue.

"Aang!" Katara exclaimed, "Kaiden!"

"I can't do it..." Aang gasped, "I can't do it..."

"What happened?" Katara asked.

"We must have taken out a dozen Fire Navy ships," Kaiden answered dimly, "But there's just too many of them. We can't fight them all."

"But... you have to," Yue pleaded, "You two are-"

"We're just kids," Kaiden interrupted, glaring slightly, "We're not all powerful just because we have titles."

Aang buried his face in his arms. Katara knelt down beside him in an attempt to comfort him. Kaiden just shrunk his pole and put it in his pocket. He looked back at the damaged wall and then to the moon. At least the waterbenders would have an advantage when the moon fully came out.
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Later on, the four of them were standing on a balcony, looking up at the sky

"The legends say the moon was the first waterbender," Yue said, "Our ancestors saw how it pushed and pulled the tides and learned how to do it themselves."

"I've always noticed how my waterbending was stronger at night," Katara stated.

"Our strength comes from the spirit of the moon," Yue continued, "Our life comes from the spirit of the ocean. They work together to keep balance.

Aang suddenly brightened up, startling Momo, "The spirits! Maybe I can find them and get their help!"

"How can you do that?" Kaiden asked.

"The Avatar is the bridge between our world and the Spirit World!" Katara explained, "Aang can talk to them!"

"Maybe they'll give you the wisdom to win this battle!" Yue added.

Aang then waved arms out in gesture, "Or maybe they'll unleash a crazy amazing spirit attack on the Fire Nation!"

The two girls look at him oddly; Aang looked at them and straightened up, "Or wisdom. That's good, too."

"But that last idea sounded pretty cool..." Kaiden muttered.

"The only problem is, last time you got to the Spirit World by accident," Katara said, "How are you going to get there this time?"

"I have an idea," Yue replied, "Follow me."

"I'll stay behind," Kaiden said, "Someone's gotta be here when the wall eventually falls."

"You sure?" Katara asked.

"I'll be fine. Just go."

They nodded and ran off, and Kaiden jumped off the balcony, flying towards the Northern Water Tribe Army.
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If Kaiden had to describe the next day in one word, it would be mayhem. The Fire Nation broke through the wall, and a while later, they were able to break through the Water Tribe ranks and storm the city. When this happened, Kaiden began to run through alleyways to take out random enemy squads. But no matter how many he took out, there were always more.

Currently, it was close to dawn, and Kaiden was finishing up yet another squad. After the last one was dealt with, the Image was breathing heavily, tired out. It had been an entire day with no rest and barely any breaks. He was nearly depleted. But then he turned and looked up. There was a giant fireball headed straight for him. Whether it was aimed at him or not, Kaiden didn't know, but quite frankly didn't care. He acted on instinct, shifting/unfolding his pole into a thick, square sheet, shielding his body. But in the end, it did little to protect him from the splash damage.

The moment the fiery boulder hit the shield, it exploded, sending the Image flying back into the wall of a house, smashing through it and slamming to a stop on the opposite wall. Where on earth the metal went, Kaiden didn't know. He groaned, surprised he was still alive. He had lost all strength in his limbs and had lost his main weapon. Luckily, the situation wasn't made worse by the arrival of any more Fire Nation soldiers. But it was made worse by the sudden red light coming from outside. Kaiden managed to look up and his eyes widened at the sight he saw from the hole in the wall.

The moon was blood red. After overcoming the shock, Kaiden looked around to see that some waterbenders that were in sight couldn't bend. It left the Image in a shocked state for a minute or two before something else happened. Everything went darker as the red light faded. Kaiden m looked up to see where the moon is, or rather was.

The moon had vanished. The world had gone gray and Kaiden felt all hope disappear, despite not knowing what the heck had happened. And he still couldn't move. Another minute passed and there were sounds of screaming and water sloshing. At first, Kaiden thought it was the screaming of the Water Tribe soldiers getting killed, but that didn't explain the sloshing of water. It was then that he saw some Fire Nation soldiers running away from something.

Kaiden didn't get a full look at it, but it was glowing, looked like it was made of water, and was traveling via the waterways. It was at this point that Kaiden began to think he hit his head too hard. The moon disappearing, and now a giant water monster? Was he hallucinating? But then, he was found. A single Fire Nation soldier ran past the hole in the wall, stopped, and looked at the Image. He saw that Kaiden was still conscious and prepared fire in his hand. The Imagw flinched at the sight and braced himself for the pain, maybe even the end. But after a few seconds of feeling nothing, Kaiden opened his eyes and saw a sight that surprised him.

The soldier was hesitating. His hand was shaking, and after a few seconds, he lowered his fist and ran away. This was probably the most shocking event of all. He just... ran? This Fire Nation soldier had the perfect opportunity to take out a downed enemy, but just... didn't. One of the enemies showed Kaiden mercy. But why?

But that was a question the Image didn't really have time to think about. Because he was slowly slipping into unconsciousness.

'No...' Kaiden thought, 'I can't... Not yet... Need to get up...'

But sadly, that's not how the body works. And soon, all he saw was black, just as moonlight began to shine through the hole.
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He woke up the next day, his entire body feeling sore. But hey, at least he was alive. He was currently laying down on what appeared to be a medical bed, with a bowl of water nearby, most likely for healing. Then his attention was diverted to the scene in front of him.

In front of his bed, there were two chairs. And in those chairs was Katara and Aang, and both of them had fallen asleep waiting for Kaiden to wake up. He couldn't help but smile at that notion. Katara, he expected since she was his best friend, but he found the fact that Aang was here rather touching. After all, he and the Avatar had only known each other a short time, and while Kaiden did consider Aang a friend, he didn't think Aang cared enough to actually be like this. The Image managed to sit up and speak.

"If you keep sleeping those positions," the Image said, "You're gonna get crippling back pain."

The two of them stirred, but didn't wake up. All Aang did was tilt his body over, effectively resting his head on Katara's shoulder. Kaiden rolled his eyes at this, but he wasn't blind to when two people looked cute together. He honestly wasn't complaining. Where Sokka was, Kaiden didn't know. Maybe he was with Yue somewhere, who knows.

(A/N: I'm sorry for that, no offense to Yue.)

Right now, Kaiden still felt tired and laid back down. Just before he closed his eyes, he smiled. The Image couldn't wait for the next adventure.
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Sorry if the ending was sort of lackluster, but I just kinda wanted to be done with this book, not that I didn't enjoy writing it. But I'm just so excited for Book 2!! We're getting to my favorite character in the show: Toph Beifong! Till next time guys!