Axel gets ff the Gummi Ship, and looks around. The place was barren. Nothing could be seen for miles but snow and ice. He shivers, despite being dressed in a blue winter coat and pants. "Common, let's see if we can find this place Mariya saw, or shelter." He says to Mario.

Mario deboards as well, wearing a red ski jacket and thick winter pants. "Right," Mario states as he glances around. "Look for smoke, or where the sky seems either darker or more dense. Smoke means civilization, or at least a village."

Axel nods, and looks around he stops when he spots smoke and what looked like a village. He starts walking, keeping an eye out for anything on the water that could lead to an attack. Blue Rhapsody's appear and attack Axel and Mario. Axel draws his sword, and attacks a couple.

Mario quickly draws Two Becomes One, slashing at the Blue Rhapsodies as they draw near. At one point, he dodges a Blizzard spell, firing a Fire spell back in retaliation.

The heartless are hit, and retreat. "Odd...." Axel murmurs.

"Firebender!" A woman's voice yelled. Soon Axel and Mario are surrounded by a few women.

Axel steps back twords Mario, putting his hands up. "We come in peace." He says.

"I'm sure you are." The oldest of the women say. "Surrender or we'll freeze you in water."

Mario puts his hands up as well, but as for remaining still, he is visibly shivering. "A little late for freezing."

The women escort the two to the village, and go into the biggest building is. They tie the two's limb up, and sit them near the fire. An old woman enters. She must be the village elder or something. She glares at the two. "Who sent you here? The firelord?" She asks.

Mario blinks, a bit confused. "I'm sorry, but you must be mistaken. We come from a faraway land, and we have no idea who this Firelord is, or what a firebender is."

"I'm sure you don't. I'm sure you've been sent here to spy on us once you've gained our trust. Those clothes you are wearing are clearly fire nation." The woman says

A young girl enters. and looks at Mario and Axel before looking at the woman. "Gran Gran, me and Sakka are going out fishing."

Gran Gran turns to her. "Alright, be careful, their friends might be waiting out there."

"We will." The girl says, and she leaves.

"...Okay, humor me," Mario answers, trying to find a logical progression to prove their innocence. "Let's say that I'm not a spy, not someone of the Fire Nation, and not a resident of this land at all. Let's say I truly have no knowledge of this region or any of the events that have transpired in the past. This being the case, what are firebenders?"

"Simply that: People who can bend fire. Here there are four types of bending, Water, Earth, Fire and Air. But, the fire benders killed all the Air Nomads years ago." Gran Gran says.

"Okay...I wouldn't call what Mario did firebending. Infact, using fire isn't the only thing we can use." Axel says. He turns himself around with some effort. "Areo." He says, and a burst of air fils the room and slowly disapears.

Mario nods as he struggles a little. "Blizzard." Several icicles suddenly spike up from the ground in a controlled cluster in a corner of the building.

Gran Gran sighs. "I guess you are speaking the truth." She says before she removes the ropes. "I'm truly sorry, but in times of war you can never know who you can trust."

"Understood," Mario responds as he rubs his wrists. "So what can you tell us about the Fire Nation? I can assume they're not the neighbors you want to borrow sugar from."

Gran Gran laughs. "100 years ago they were, but out of nowhere, Firelord Sozin declared war and attacked." SHe says, and tells them the rest, including how only a few years ago, they came and killed Sokka's and Katara's mother.

"I'm sorry." Axel says. "Would you mind if we hung here for awhile?"

"Not at all." Gran Gran says.

Mario is silent before he gets up. "Do you mind if I take a walk outside?"

"Yes, but don' wander to far, it's easy to get lost out here." Gran Gran says.

"Thank you, mam." Axel says before leaving the building.

Mario nods and steps outside, stretching his legs a little. "So, Axel, what do you think?" he asks. "Is there a tie between the Fire Nation and the Heartless? Seeing that the earlier seems to be this world's evil empire, it might make sense that the Heartless take orders from them."

"I don't know....I think it's to soon to say for sure." Axel says.

---

Hours pass, and night falls. Katara, the girl had returned with her brother and bald kid with arrow tattoo's. "Do you think that kid is really the last Air Bender?" Axel asks, refering to what Katara said when she got back, as he looks up at the stars.

Mario sits next to him, looking over the ice instead toward the dark horizon. "Maybe," Mario says. "If he is, then his story is a sad one."

"Yeah..." Axel says. "So...I hear your dating. What's her name?"

Mario blushes a little, but responds. "Vanessa. She's Maelstrom Castle's new cook."

Axel smiles. "Well, at least you know she makes good food." Axel jokes. "Do you like her?"

Mario gives a nod. "She's very nice...and I always feel more relaxed when I'm around her."

"That's good, you need to loosen up a bit. You've been to tense." Axel says. He yawns and stretches. "We should get some sleep."

Mario nods and stretches a bit, heading back inside one of the huts loaned to them in order to get some sleep.

Axel looks around a bit. It was clear that this wasn't the place in Mariya's vision. So he had to plan an excuse so they could leave and find where it was. He goes in and lies in his borrowed sleeping bag. He closes his eyes, and dreams of him and Mariya alone in a meadow.

---

Axel wakes early in the morning, and climbs up the village's snow wall to looks out over the water for anything that could be a threat to the village.

Mario, however, sleeps in a bit. Possibly, he's been a bit sleep-deprived recently.

"What are you doing?" Sokka asks.

"Enjoying the veiw." Axel says. "And looking out for the fire nation."

Later in the day, Axel stands alert when a flare goes off in the distance. He goes down to Gran Gran. "Where did that come from?"

"The FIre Navy ship that the waterbender's froze here....but who..."

Aang and Katara return then, an Katara explains what happened. Gran Gran yells at them and Aang takes the blame, and Sokka ends up kicking him out of the village.

Mario yawns as he approaches, apparently only having woken up. "Hey...what's going on?"

"The fire nation might be coming." Axel says. He turns to lok at the water. "Let's hope no ships saw that flare."

Mario is silent as he now looks over the water. He then looks toward Aang, and begins to climb down from the wall. "I'll be right back."

He soon catches up to Aang. "Hey, you doing alright?"

"I'm fine." Aang says. He looks to the water, and see's a fire Navy ship approaching the village. He cleches his fist. "I have to help them." He says.

Mario looks and sees the ship as well. He is silent before nodding. "Same here," he says, standing up as he summons Two Becomes One in preparation.

Aang gets to the village and throws a gust of air at the teenager in the center of all the soldiers. The teen growls a bit and throws fire at Aang. Aang spins his staff, sending the fire away. He turns to see the villagers shielding themselves.

"You?" the teen asks. "You're the Avatar? Your just a child!" He says.

"And your just a teenager." Aang says. He drops his staff. "Look, if I go with you, will you promise to leave them alone?"

"Very well." The teen says. The soilders take the staff and Aang, and load him onto the ship. A moment after the ramp shuts, and the ship takes off.

Axel grimances. "Well, I think we have our excuse." He mumbles to himself.

Mario only watches as Aang is taken away, silently cursing himself for not helping when he could have. After a moment, he goes to Gran Gran. "No offense, but what's the Avatar?"

"The Avatar can master of all four elemental bending disciplines whose task is to keep balance among the four nations of the world." Gran Gran says.

Axel seems to be thinking. "Does anyone have a rescue plan?"

"Hm...well...they took Aang because they believed he was the Avatar, right?" Mario asks. "What if we convinced them that they have the wrong person?"

Axel smiles. "I see where your going with this, but we have one problem...how are we sapposed to catch up with a ship?" He asks.

A large odd-looking Bison appears, and moans. "All aboard." Katara says, and she begins packing things that they'd need for the trip. "You two coming?" She asks.

"Why not?" Axel asks, and climbs up on Appa. He looks at the bison. "How is this gonna catch a Naval ship?"

"Aang said he could fly." Sokka says, getting on, but there was doubt on his face.

Mario is silent as he gets on as well, having Two Becomes One strapped to his back so it appears as a normal weapon. "Then let's go; the faster we get there, the sooner we can save Aang."

Katara nods, and starts saying comands, but none work.

Sokka does the same, but in a sarcastic tone.

"Common Appa.....Yip Yip." Axel says, saying something from the top of his head.

Appa suddenly takes off into the sky and flies twords where the Fire Navy ship was headed.

Mario lets out a small yelp, a bit surprised by the sudden takeoff, but he quickly adjusts as he sits along one side of the saddle. He keeps an eye on the ocean below, and once they are flying over the Fire Navy ship, Mario looks to the others. "Give me a few minutes, then jump in when you have a clear shot." He then heaves himself over the side of the saddle, plummeting toward the ship. As he falls, he spreads his body out to increase drag, and as he gets close to the ship, he uses a quick Aero to slow himself drastically, allowing him to land on the ship without suffering an injury.

Axel, on the otherhand, is nearly flown out of the saddle, but he manages to climb in. He watches Mario's dive and looks to see if any firebenders saw him. As far as he could see, none had.

Zuko comes out as Mario lands, and takes up a defence position. "A rescue mission? You will have come in vain!"

Mario looks at Zuko, sighing. "What, just because you have the last airbender? I'll let you in on a secret. He's not the Avatar; I am."

"What? But the avatar is an airbender." Zuko say

"100 years ago, the Avatar was an airbender," Mario corrects him. "But he was killed in the Fire Nation's purge of the air nomads. That boy was somehow able to survive in an iceberg, but he's not the Avatar. The Avatar went through a few generations following that dark day, and now he stands before you."

"Prove it!" Zuko says, attacking him with fire bending.

Mario quickly fires a few Fire blasts of his own, each colliding with one of Zuko's. "Need further proof?" Mario asks, now swinging his hand around to create an Aero gust to push Zuko back.

Zuko grimances after he dodges the attack. "You'll be coming with me, then." He says.

"Wait for it...." Axel murmurs.

"On two conditions," Mario states. "One, you let Aang go. He's innocent in all this. My capture for his release; a simple deal. As for the second condition, an epic showdown. Think about it; would you rather go home and be able to say that you captured the Avatar, or would you rather be able to say that you took the Avatar on single-handedly and DEFEATED him before capturing him?"

"Very well, I'll release him as soon as I defeat you." Zuko says, and attacks Mario again.

Mario quickly counters, blasting the fireballs away once more with Fire blasts and then following up with a quick Blizzard, the crystals flying up from the ocean and crashing down onto the deck.

Zuko is hit by one, and a sudden wave shoots up onto the deck and encases Zuko in ice. Aang comes out, prepared for a fight, but when he see's none is there, he relaxes.

Appa lands, and Axel nods to Mario. "Let's go." He says as Aang gets on.

Mario nods and hops on, casting Aeroga to help provide some wind for them to glide on while, simultaneously, casting Blizzagas to freeze the ship in place. Thus, the Fire Navy ship would be hindered while they make a quick getaway.

Soon, they get far enough from the ship to relax. "Nicely done, Mario." Axel says.

"Aang...why didn't you tell us you were the Avatar?" Katara asks.

"Because I didn't want to be." Aang says.

"Well, there are alot of things we can't control in life. One of those things is destiny, Aang, and well, your destiny was to be the Avatar, and you can't fight nor change destiny." Axel says.

Mario is silent for a while as he looks over the ocean. Finally, he speaks. "So where are we off to?"

"Well....." Aang says, and he pulls out a map. He then starts pointing off places.

Axel tries not to laugh. "Aang, we should really find you a teacher."

"We'll do this on the way, who knows, maybe we'll find a waterbender along the way." Aang says.

Axel sighs.

---

About a day later, the gang lands in the souther air temple, one of Aang's many stops. Axel gets an uneasy feeling. "I don't know Aang, Kana said all the airbenders were killed 100 years ago, what makes you think one is alive?"

"becasue there is no way the fire nation could have gotten up here, they can't fly."

Mario is silent as he looks around. "Seems pretty quiet..."

Aang ignores Mario, and runs twords the temple. "Mario....is there anyone here besides us?" Axel asks quietly.

Aang and the rest of the gang head up twords the temple, Aang eager to explore.

Mario is silent as he looks around, trying to pick up any available heart signatures. "...No..."

Axel sighs. "Poor kid." He murmurs. He then catches up to them. They were at some game feild, playing whatever game it was. Axel goes down just as Sokka gets thrown off. "Making him feel better is putting me threw a world of hurt." Sokka says as Axel helps him up. They both spot something familiar....a fire nation helmet.

Before Aang could see it, Katar waterbends down some snow. "Common, let's keep going."

Mario is silent as he watches Aang. "...We can't keep it a secret forever..." He tells them, looking around for more visual clues and being sure to use some Blizzard magic to hide those few there are.

They keep going, on the look out. Aang stops and bows respectfully to a statue of a monk. "Everyone, this is Monk Gyatso, the best airbender in the world and my teacher."

Axel says nothing, afraid of hurting him.

Aang seems to be recalling something, and then starts walking into the temple. Katatra follows. "Where are you going?" She asks.

"To the temple sanctuary, there's someone I
m ready to meet." Aang says.

Mario is silent, still seeing no sign of a heart signature. For Aang's sake, this "person" he has to meet is hopefully a spiritual or otherwise figurative being.

Aang reaches the sactuary door, which looks quite odd. He airbends twords the door, and with that, all the 'locks' turn and open the door. He steps inside, to see a huge room full of statues. Aang looks confused and starts walking twords the center of the room Katara follows. "Hey...look. Air, Water, Earth and Fire." SHe says, pointing to four staues that were right next to each other. "It's the Avatar cycle."

"These must be your past lives, Aang." Sokka says.

Aang walks to the last statue, a fire bender. "Avatar Roku..." He mutters.

"How do you know that? There's no name plate." Axel asks after he inspects the statue.

"I don't know...it just popped into my head." Aang says.

Mario is silent, looking from one statue to the next as he tries to piece together the Avatar puzzle.

Something catches Sokka's eye and he looks over to the door. He see's a shadow, that looks like a fire nation helmet. "Fire Nation." He says.

On alert, Aang and the others take up defensive postions. Axel gets ready to cast Blizzard. but it turns out just to be some kind of winded lemur. "Food." Sokka says, and chases after it.

"Sokka don't eat it, I wanna keep it as a pet!" He yells, chasing after Sokka.

Axel sighs.

Mario sighs and walks after them. "Come on, don't want them to get into a fight."

Axel nods and walks after them, but Katara stays behind, looking at the statues.

Axel stops Sokka, grabbing his coat. "Your not eating that Lemur." He says. "It may be the last of it's kind."

Sokka tries to get free from Axel's grip, but has no luck. He growls with fustration.

Mario catches up and carefully takes the lemur from Sokka. "So what do you plan to do with it, Aang?" he asks.

But Aang doesn't answer, he was crying. A skeleton laid infront of about twenty fire nation helmets. "Oh boy." Axel says, letting go of Sokka. He puts a hand on Aang's shoulder. "Aang..."

Aang's tattoo's begin to glow, and Axel is thrown back as a ball of wind surrounds Aang. Axel grimances.

---

In the Statue room, all the eyes suddenly start to glow. Katara gasps, and goes to find the others.

Once she finds them, she see's Aang. "Aang! Snap out of it!"

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the world, the statues of the Avatar's eyes begin to glow, and people realize: The Avatar has returned.

Mario grimaces, swinging his arm to the side as he uses Aeroga. A tunnel of wind pierces Aang's ball, providing a direct tunnel to him so someone can calm him down.

Katara goes to Aang, and puts a hand on his shoulder. "Aang, I know how your feeling right now, I felt the same way when the Fire Nation killed my mother. I know that all your people are gone, but Sokka and I are your family now."

The words seem to reach Aang, for he decends and his tatto's return to normal. Sokka goes to Aang. "We promise not to let anything happen to you."

"We won't either." Axel promises.

Mario nods, releasing the Aeroga spell with a sigh as he tries to relax.

Axel relaxes, too, seeming to be in a bit of pain from being thrown back.

The lemur hops away, and brings back a variety of berries, which Sokka wolfs down. Aang giggles as the lemur hops on his head. "I think I'm gonna call you Momo."

Axel sighs. "So, Aang, whee to next?"

Aang pulls out a map, and points to and Island. "Kyoshi Island. I wanna ride the Giant Koi fish!"

"Alright," Mario states as he looks at the map. "How long would it take to get there?"

"About a day on Appa." Aang says.

"Lets go then." Axel says, sitting up and grimancing. "But before we go we should find some food."

"Agreed." Sokka says.

Mario nods, standing up and looking around. "Can't say how lucky we'll get, though. It's been years since this place was last inhabited, and there's no saying how much of the food wasn't eaten or pillaged."

"Well, let's see if we cna get Momo to find some. He seemed to find some for Sokka." Axel says. "Alright Momo, where is the food at?"

Momo just chirps at him, and looks confused.

"Or we could just see if we can find food along the way. May I see the map?" Axel asks.

Sokka pulls out a map and hands it to Axel. "Now we're here." He says, pointing. "And Kyoshi Island is here."

Axel studies the map. "Well the distance doen't seem far, and there are a few Islands on the way. We can stop and see if we can get food."

Mario nods. "Nothing a little scavenging can't resolve."

Axel nods. "Welp, should we head out, or do you guys wanna rest up a bit?" He asks.

"We should go, before Zuko finds us here." Katara says.

"Well, I think we have an atvantage, Zuko still thinks Mario here is the Avatar." Axel says with a smile. "But you got a point, we should head out."

Mario nods. "Alright, then let's saddle up." He walks over and gets into Appa's saddle.

Axel and the others follow, and Aang takes one last look at his former home before getting on Appa's head. "Yip Yip." He says.

Appa takes off, heading twords Kyoshi Island. On the way, they stop at Whale Tail Island and Axel buys the food they'll need for the next few days.

Mario, meanwhile, sleeps during the pit stop on Whale Tail Island. Yesterday had exhausted him, and he needs the rest.

When they arrive at Kyoshi Island, Axel awakens Mario. "Hey, we're here."

Aang and the others are already off, and Aang is only in his underwear. He starts walking twords the open ocean. He eventually swims, and waits for the Elephant Koi he wanted to ride.

Mario yawns and gets up. "Alright, I'll just take a bit of time of practice some magic, then." He then sits down in the sand, performing a few simple magic spells, such as Blizzard crystals and Aero gusts.

Axel nods, and keeps an eye on Aang, especially whe he starts riding the Elephant Koi. Axel squnits his eyes when he thinks he see's something else moving in the water. He jumps when he see's a giant black fin. "Aang! Get out of there!" He shouts.

"But I'm haveing so much fun!" Aang shouts.

"There's something big out there Aang! Get to shore now!" Axel shouts.

Just then a giant grey eel springs out from the water, scaring the Koi, which throw Aang off. Aang see's the eel, and dashes back to shore while being chased. "Fire!" Axel shouts, throwing the spell at the eel, hoping to scare it.

The eel backs off, and Aang reaches shore and gets changed.

Mario quickly gets up, looking out into the ocean. "What the heck was that?!"

"No idea." Aang said as he stood, just as the group was ambushed.

"Hey Mario, why not ask them?" Axel asks, pointing to the girls who surrounded them.

One of them pointed a weapon at Axel. "Your under arrest, firebender."

"Dejavu?" Axel asks, chuckling.

"Silence!" One of the girls say.

"Deja vu indeed," Mario says with a sigh, trying to figure out a solution. "Despite his use of fire, he's not a firebender. And besides, this is a terrible welcome for the Avatar and his companions."

"Avatar! Ha!" The leader says. "The Avatar is dead!"

"Do I look dead?" Aang says. "Besides, I Know Kyoshi, infact, I'm her reincarnation."

"Aang is telling the truth." Katara says.

The girls let everyone but Axel go. "If he's not a fire bender, then explain why he used fire!" The leader of the girls says.

"It's kinda complicated," Mario says as he rubs his head. "Where your abilities seem to draw off the natural manipulation of the elements, our abilities are more...synthetic." With that, he casts a few different spells as a demonstration, including non-elemental ones such as Gravity that no bending could explain.

The warriors blink, and put their weapons away. Axel relaxes.

"We apologize. Kyoshi Island has stayed out of the war and we intend to keep it that way." The Warrior's leader says, leading them into the village.

They are welcomed in the village, and unknownst to them, thw word spreads that the Avatar is on Kyoshi Island.

"I'm Suki, by the way." The warrior's leader said. She then goes on to introduce Aang and the others to the rest of the villagers.

Mario looks around, noting the villagers but also occasionally checking for either Heartless or anything else out of place.

No heartless can be detected, and everything seems normal.

Meanwhile some young girls chase Aang around as he shows off his airbending. Other villagers start restoring the Statue of Avatar Kyoshi.

Sokka, meanwhile, heads uo to where the Kyoshi warriors train, muttering to himself about being beat by a bunch of girls.

Axel follows Katara to get some more rations.

Mario is silent, observing all this. Wishing to help somewhere, he walks over to offer his assistance in restoring the statue.

The villagers are glad for the help, asking Mario to hand them the paint when they needed it. Hours pass before they finish.

Aang and Katara run twords them. "Zuko is coming!" Aang shouts.

"Let's get moving. If we leave here, the fire nation will follow." Axel says.

Mario looks toward them and nods, rushing toward Appa and jumping into the saddle.

As Axel gets on Appa, the fire Nation lands on the Island. They begin their search for Mario, but Appa has already flown off. Aang see's Zuko, meeting his eyes, and then they fly away from Kyoshi.

"Okay, new rule, no playing the Avatar Card unless they actally are attempting to kill us." Axel says, taking a deep breath. "Oh, and Sokka, if my wife heard your comments about women being weak, she'd have you buried up to your neck before you can say Firelord."

"Where is your wife?" Katara asked.

"She stayed behind." Is all Axel says, and that seems to be enough for the gang.

"This is my fault..." Mario states as he looks back toward the island, his face expressing his sorrow. "I'm the one who blew our cover by mentioning the Avatar..."

"Not entirely, its mostly the power of gossip's fault, we couldn't have known how far, or how fast the word would spread." Axel says. "What's our next stop?" Axel asks.

"Omashu." Aang says.

Axel nods, and gets comfortable. He soon falls asleep. "Mariya...." He murmurs in his sleep.

Mario sighs and soon goes to sleep as well, although his conscience is heavied by the day's events.

Aang wakes them both when they land in the morning. Axel looks at Omashu and whistles. He narrows his eyes, however, as if he saw something. When the others get off Appa he leans over to whisper. "I think I saw a heartless." He says.

In the distance, a cabbage merchant is checking his cart. A secound later, Heartless swoop in and toss over the cabbages, before flying away. "MY CABBAGES!!!!!!" The merchant shouts.

Mario notices and nods. "I'm on it." Before that, though, he quickly whispers to Axel. "Avoid using any fire magic. So far, it's only given the wrong ideas." He then chases after the Heartless, Two Becomes One in hand.

Axel nods, as if he was thinking the same thing. He goes catches up with Aang and the others. They are looking at the gate, which opens by two men earthbending. "They'll deifnitly notice Aang." Axel says. "Unless...." He says. "Aang follow me."

They walk back to Appa and a few minutes later Axel returns with Aang, who's bald head was now covered in a black-hair wig. "What do you think."

"You know, for a secound there, I didn't think that was Aang." Sokka says.

"Welp, let's wait for Mario." Axel says. "He thought he spotted a fire nation soilder."

The cabbage merchant manages to save some cabbages, and goes to the gate, and is let into Omashu.

Mario soon returns, looking a bit burdened. "Unbelieveable...it disappeared before I could reach it. No idea where it's gone now..."

Axel sighs. "Don't let it weight you down to much, Mario." He says. "You can't get them all."

"Common, let's go guys." Aang says.

Mario sighs and nods, following Aang inside. "So what are we here for, Aang?" he asks. "I'm not quite sure what or who we're looking for."

"I'll show you once we're inside." Aang says, smiling. When they get inside the city his smile gets wider and he points to the mail delivery system. "A hundred years ago, me and my friend Bumi used to ride these this." He says.

Axel watches the speed of one of the delivery carts. "Aang, I don't think we should...."

But Aang is already running twords the highest point of the city. Axel sighs when Katara and Sokka follow him. "Remind me to mention this to Mariya...I'm really reconsidering having kids right now."

"Hm...I'll leave that to you and her," Mario answers Axel as he follows Aang up the hill. "I just hope trouble doesn't find us again."

“You and I both.” Axel sighs, and follows. At the top, Axel looks down the cute. “Aang, we could seriously get hurt.” He says, watching as he, Katara and Sokka climb in a stone box.

“When I did this 100 years ago nothing happened.” Aang says.

After a bit of an argument, Axel climbs in the stone box, going just to make sure they stay safe. He sighs. “I feel I may come to regret this.” He mumbles.

Mario sighs as he gets in the same cube. "Me too...hopefully, no one has motion sickness..."

Axel sighs, and the sotne cart takes off, flying down the chutes. Axel grips the stone box. Halfway down the chute, a weapons box appears behind them, catching up quick. Axel looks back, and his eyes widen. "QUAKE!" He shouts, his hand hitting the chute behind them. The chute crumbles, and the weapons are sent flying to the ground, in an abandoned alley.

Mario blinks, staring back at where the weapons box had been advancing. "...Axel...what the Chocobo was that? Did you...cast earth magic?"

“I think so.” He says, but he looses his thought when the cart flies up and goes onto another chute. “Aang, what th-”

The cart moves again, onto the roofs, and into a cart of cabbage. Some green and white can be seen flying away and disappearing.

“MY CABBAGES!” The cabbage merchant shouts, as Two Earth Kingdom soldiers run up. Some more appear and surround the gang.

“I knew I'd regret that.” Axel mumbles, sweeping off the cabbage from his clothes.

"Ow..." Mario mutters, having been thrown from the cart due to some of the impacts encountered. As he slowly rises to his feet, he notices the soldiers. "So...what are we charged with? Illegal use of a cargo transport system? Or destruction of leafy vegetables?"

The guards don't answer, but take the group up to the palace. There they await the King. Axel leans twords Mario. "Hey, did you notice the heartless flying off?" He whispers.

"Yeah," Mario whispers back. "But right now, that's kinda the least of my worries...man, I feel as nervous as I was back when I was on trial for my Heartless's crimes."

Axel chuckles. "Well, I think the heartless had something to do with us going off-track. They were Emerald Blues." He whispers.

An aged old man, the King no doubt, looks for a while at Aang, seeming to be thinking.

"Your majesty, please-" Axel says.

"I want them punsihed for destroying my cabbages!" The Cabbage murchant says.

"No...they shall be thrown a feast!" The King says.

Axel's, along with the guards, and the Merchants jaw's drop. Aang and the Others look confused and shocked.

"...Um...I apologize, but...I seem to have missed the joke..." Mario admits, just as dumbstruck and confused.

The king says nothing to clarify, only orders the guards to escort them to the dining room. Once there, the gang is seated and food is placed before them. Aang pushes his plate of chicken away. "I'm sorry, I don't eat meat." He says.

"So where are you from?" The king asks Aang.

"Kangaroo Island." Aang says.

The king seems to go to comment, but suddenly throws a piece of Chicken at Aang, who catches it with his Airbending. "Well, I believe we are in the presence of the Avatar." He says.

Aang lets the chicken fall, and looks away, taking off the wig, perhaps feeling guilty.

"Huh...you're pretty crafty, your Majesty," Mario responds, addressing the king. "But tell me, what clued you in on Aang's true identity?"

"That, is a discussion for later." The King says. "For I believe Aang should prepare, for tomorrow Aang must face three challenges. Take the Avatar and his friends to the newly refurbished chamber."

The guards nod, and begin escorting the gang to the chamber mentioned. Axel seems to be considering how he used earth magic.

Mario is silent as he looks around, quiet as he tries to figure out some things. "So...Axel," he asks, "how did you do that? The earth magic, that is? And what do you think these 'challenges' are?"

"I don't know. All I know is that I saw the weapons heading twords us, the next thing I knew, I used that spell." Axel says, as he follows the guards into the chamber. "Don't know, they probably won't be easy, though."

Aang groans, and lies on one of the three beds.

"Don't let it get you down Aang, I could be wrong." Axel says, leaning on the wall. "You have the bed Katara, I don't mind sleeping on the floor."

Katara thanks him, and lies on the bed.

Mario sighs, silent as he leans against a wall. "Well...good night," he says as he does his best to fall asleep in his position.

Sometime suring the night, two guards come in and take Sokka and Katara, as they leave the 'door' they entered in disapears.

Axel turns over, and mutters something in his sleep.

---

In the morning, he and Aang wake to find Sokka and Katara gone.

"Huh...where..."

Part of the wall disapears and guards enter. "We're here to escort the Avatar to his challenges."

"Alright," Mario says, yawning slightly as he stirs from his spot against the wall. "But first, do you happen to know where are friends are? They were here up until some of you guys came and took them away in the middle of the night." Apparently, Mario had not been asleep, or at least completely asleep, all night.

"They are waiting with the King." The guards say.

Aang follows them and Axel follows, a little suspicious of the King.

Mario is silent, following as well but keeping an eye out in case any more surprises were in store for them.

"Return my friends!" Aang shouts when they arrive.

Katara and Sokka appear on the balcony where the king was. Some strange rings on thier fingers. The King points to them. "That is Jenomite, also known as creeping crystal. The crystals will grow and grow until they cover their entire body, and only I can undo it, which I will do if you succeed in your challenges."

"Fine." Aang says. "What's the first challenge?"

The King points to a waterfall, a key can be seen hanging from a chain behind it. "You must simply retrieve the key."

Aang nods, and shhots himself twords the key, but is knocked down by the waterfall.

Mario observes this, and while he knows that they won't have much time to save Katara and Sokka, he doesn't know how much he can help Aang. He jogs over to help Aang up, but as he does so, he secretly whispers to him, "How well does an arrow pierce water?" He then back off, not wanting to arouse suspicion.

Aang thinks this over, and notices the stalagmites on the ground of the cave. He chops one with airbending, and then throws it at the chain, which sends it flying twords the king, but hits the eave above the balcony. "There's your key!" Aang shouts.

"Nice." Axel says. "You honestly wouldn't have thought of that solution first."

"Yep, he's certainly doing okay," Mario mentions, keeping to himself about the hint. "But there's still the other challenges."

"I don't think they'll be any easier." Axel murmurs, and they are escorted to the next challenge area. He stands near the King.

"I've lost my pet Flopsie. Please retrieve him for me." The King says.

Aang spots a bunny, and chases after it. A huge Gorilla Goat appears, and chases Aang. Aang runs from it, trying to catch the Bunny, but it gets away. Aang seems to realize something, since he turns to the Gorilla Goat. "Flopsie?" He asks.

Flopsie licks Aang, before going to The King, who rubs his belly.

"Well...that's certainly an...interesting pet..." Mario states, blinking as he tries to imagine how something like that would be taken care of.

"You could say that again." Axel mumbles.

Once agian, they are escorted out and taken to an Arena odf sorts.

By now, the creeping crystals have nearly covered Sokka and Katara. Aang seems to be getting a little nervous.

"Now, for your final challenge, you must fight one of these two earth-benders." The King says.

Aang looks between the two, and points to the king. "I choose to fight you!" He says.

"Wrong choice." The King says, and takes off his robes to reveal a very muscular body. He throws a large rock at Aang, and Aang manages to dodge.

"Huh....who knew..." Axel mutters.

"Eh...honestly, I'm not surprised," Mario comments as he watches. "We've met several kings who have proven themselves more capable than what you usually expect, despite their ages."

"True." Axel says, watching as well, wishing he sould help Aang in this fight.

After ahile, Aang manages to defeat The King. The King goes back up to Katara and Sokka, and Aang follows. "Now, before I release your friends, you must answer one question."

"Hey!" Aang says. "No fair!"

"What is the point of challenges if you don't learn anything?" The King asks.

"Good point." Axel says.

Aang thinks, and smiles. "Bumi, your a mad genious." He says, hugging his old friend.

Bumi then releases Katara and Sokka, eating a piece of the jenomite. When he notices Axel's stare he laughs. "Jenomite is also a type of rock candy!"

"Okay...." Axel says.

"Alright Bumi, I have one challenge for you." Aang says.

Mario blinks. "Rock candy..." Silently, he breaks off a piece and tries it. "...Mmm...it's not bad...it's not going to grow inside my stomach, is it?"

"No, you'll be fine, now what's my challenge, Aang?" Bumi asks.

Moments later, Aang and Bumi are riding the chutes, and eventually crash, right into a cabbage cart. "MY CABBAGES!" The merchant shouts.

"Ah jeeze." Axel says.

Mario sighs, tasting another piece of rock candy. "So where do we go from here?"

"We should start heading to the North Pole." Katara says.

Aang nods.

---

After a few stops, and a trip to the Fire Nation, the town go back to the Earth Kingdom and come by a town at the base of a volcano. Axel goes to a man. "Aren't you worried the volcano will erupt?" He asks.

"No!" The man says. "Aunt Wu is a great fortune teller! She's accurately predicted everything that's happened here, including weather or not the volcano will erupt each year."

"Well, I want to see this Aunt Wu." Axel says.

Mario is silent, looking toward the volcano with some measure of uneasiness. "Hm..."

Axel heads to Aunt Wu's with the others, but Sokka lags behind. "Fortune telling, what a load of nonsence." Sokka mutters before catching up with the others.

Inside, Aunt Wu is exiting the back room with a customer. "You will soon recieve a panda-lily from your true love."

The girl smiles, and walks out.

"Who's next?" Aunt Wu asks.

Katara immediatly stands, and goes back with Aunt Wu, when they weren't looking, Aang sneeks back.

Mario is silent as he waits around, but he still feels uneasy about the volcano.

After Katara gets her fortune, Axel heads back for the heck of it. Axel sits across from the fortune teller, and tries not to smile. “So, what do you see in my future?” He asks.

The fortune teller closes her eyes. “A strange bird shall come bearing a message from a loved one.” She says.

“Mariya.” He murmurs.

“Your wife?” She asks.

Axel smiles a little. “Yea.” He says, smiling. “I'll keep my eye out for this 'strange bird'.” He says. I'll have to tell Mario to keep his eyes open for Xildus. “Anything else?”

“That is all I see for you now.” She says.

Axel stands, and leaves the house. "Hey, everything okay, Mario?"

"...I feel uneasy," Mario answers, looking to Axel. "I mean, looking at the volcano, I can't help but feel that it's close to erupting. I don''t know if it's because I have some skill in fire magic or not, but in any case, I'm getting very nervous being here."

"Well, maybe we should go take a look, then. By the way, the fortune teller said that a strange bird will come with a message from Mariya. So keep your eyes peeled for Xildus." Axel says, before sighing. "I hope everything is okay back home."

"Alright," Mario states, stepping away from the wall as he starts a trek toward the volcano.

Axel follows, and when they near the top he spots a Panda lily. He smiles. "I hear from the townspeople that that's a sign of true love.....remind me before we leave this world to get one for Mariya." Axel says, as they near the flower. He looks down into the the volcano, and his eyes widen.

Mario reaches the top as well, and he curses under his breath. "As I feared...it's active...we'd better go warn everyone."

Axel nods. He runs as fast as he can back to the village.

When they get there, the town has gathered for some kind of gathering. Aunt Wu is looking at the clouds. She then looks at her book. "The village will not be destroyed by the volcano this year!" She declares.

Mario pauses, looking at Axel for a moment before looking to Aunt Wu. "Um...Aunt Wu, could we consult with you in private real quickly? It's sorta urgent." Clearly, Mario did not want to start a panic prematurely.

Axel nods. "We went up to the top so I could get a panda lilly for the Strange Bird to take back to my wife, and we saw the volcano was active. It can erupt any moment."

"My predictions are never wrong." Aunt Wu says before going back to her home.

Axel fumes, but relaxes when Aang comes over to him.

"Hey uhh...I was wondering if you had any advice on girls." Aang says.

Axel can't help but smile. "Be honest with Katara, being decietful in a relationship never does any good." Axel says, smiling. "I'll give you even more advice if you and Katara help me with something."

"Sure, what?" Aang asks.

So, Axel tells Aang his plan on taking the cloud book and altering the clouds so that Aunt Wu would predict the volcano would erupt. "Hurry, we may not have alot of time." He says.

Aang nods, and runs to find Katara.

Mario is silent as he watches Aang run off, but to himself, he is pondering several things, such as how long they would have until the volcano would erupt and on what Aunt Wu said.

Aang and Katara get the book, and get on Appa, and alter a cloud. Axel runs and get's Aunt Wu, who gasps. She gasps. "The volcano is going to erupt!"

"Alright, all earthbenders and people capable of digging, let's move!" Axel says, and leads them to start digging a trench.

Axel helps digg, unsure if the Quake spell would help.

Mario joins the group, using some Aeroga and Blizzaga spells to help erode the earth away and make digging easier. As he helps to dig the trench, however, he stops for a second, as if something had occurred to him. He smiles and keeps it to himself; he'd spoil Sokka's mood later.

Axel digs as fast as he can, and just as they reach the shore, the Volcano erupts, and ash starts to fall from the sky. "MOVE!" Axel shouts. He grabs a young boy who was struggling to get out of the pit and climbs out.

Mario grimaces and uses Aeroga spells to help people out of the pit, bringing everyone safely down within the village. Mario then makes his leap out of the pit, barely missing being singed by the tidal wave of lava.

Axel sighs in relief, but cringes when he see's the lava was going to overflow.

Just then, Aang jumps up and cools the lava with airbending. Axel relaxes a bit.

"You know, sometimes I forget what a powerful bender Aang is." Sokka says.

"I guess he is." Katara says with wonder.

"Indeed." Axel says.

"I won't argue with that," Mario states as the disaster slowly runs its course. "...You know, Sokka, she's still right..."

"WHAT? HOW IS SHE RIGHT? The volcano still erupted, and she only predicted it because Aang and Katara manipulated the clouds!" Sokka rambles.

"True, but she also predicted that the volcano wouldn't destroy the village," Mario states, leaving the statement open-ended for Sokka to figure out.

"But-" Sokka thinks, them slumps down, kicking a stone, which flies up, bounces off a sign and hits Sokka's head.

Axel laughs.

Aang is talking to Aunt Wu, seeming a little downcast about something. Aunt Wu's response seems to cheer him up, however. He cvomes over to the gang, smiling.

"So we're headed North now?" Axel asks.

Aang nods, hopping up on Appa.

Axel climbs up after him, looking around to see if Xildus was hidden just incase.

Mario takes another look around before getting into the saddle. No Xildus around.

Axel sighs, and leans back in the saddle, watching the ground. He was worried something was wrong back home, or something happened to Mariya.

Mario keeps an eye out for any sort of flying messenger, and he also stays on the lookout for the Fire Nation.

When they landed later that day so Appa could rest, Sokka finds a water tribe weapon. Axel finds tracks, and touches a burned tree. "It looks like there was a fight." He says. "Awhile ago, by the looks of it."

Mario gets out of Appa's saddle and looks around as well. "Hm...I wonder who won. Better question is, which way did they go?"

Axel loks down, and starts following the burned trees and tracks. "Common, this way." Axel says.

Sokka and the others follow Axel, but soon the trial ends at the shore. "Trail ends here." Axel says.

"Hey, look, it's a water tribe ship." Katara says.

"It's from Dad's fleet." Sokka says after examining it. "They were here."

"But where are they now?" Axel says.

"Who knows, but they might be back. Let's camp here." Sokka says.

Aang nods, and goes to get Appa.

Mario goes and gets the supplies. Soon, the camp is set up, and Mario rests by the waters, watching the ocean.

Axel leans on the boat, keeping an eye out. "You guys go ahead and sleep, I'll take first watch."

Mario is silent before noding, lying down and resting before eventually falling asleep.

During the night, Axel spots movement.He draws his sword, waking the others before pointing to the movement in the distance. A man comes close, wearing the same kind of clothes Sokka and Katara were.

"Bato!" Sokka says, having woken. He goes over and hugs him, as does Katara. "Where's dad?"

"We were fighting the fire nation and I was injured and they left me at a nearby Abbey, I'll explain more there." Bato says, smiling.

Sokka and Katara nod, and put out the fire before packing their things into Appa's saddle.

Mario yawns, struggling to get moving as he tries to wake himself up. He gets back into Appa's saddle and soon falls asleep again.

Axel chuckles a little, but before he leaves the campsite, he looks around for any heartless or Fire benders.

At the Abbey, Bato explains everything. "I'm waiting for a message from your father. He's sending me a map of the rendezvous point."

While Sokka and Katara seem to consider leaving to find their Dad, Aang sneaks out, going back to the ship. Axel notes this, and follows after him.

Mario yawns, managing to wake up in time to notice Aang and Axel sneaking off. He quietly follows, making that he is not followed in the process.

"Aang, what's wrong?" Axel asks as he sits beside him.

"They're going to leave me alone." Aang said.

"That's not true. Sure, they may seek out their father, but they may decide that taking you to the North Pole is more important." Axel says. "Besides, even if they went on, I'd still come with you. Someone has to keep you out of trouble."

Meanwhile, Dante spots Axel from the woods, but keeps hidden, as his clothes didn't exactly fit in with the worlds.

"And you got me too," Mario states, stepping out after overhearing this stuff. "As long as I'm awake, that is." He then chuckles a bit.

Axel and Aang both laugh. Then Axel turns his head to the distance. "Is that-?" Axel asks, thinking Xildus was approaching, but it's only a Earth Nation Solider on top of a Chocobo-like bird.

"I have a message for Bato of the Water tribe." He says.

"We know Bato." Axel says, hopping down. He takes the message. "Anything for an Axel?"

"Sorry, no." The solider says before the bird runs off.

Axel sighs. Maybe Aunt Wu had been wrong. "I'm guessing this is the map." He says, handing it to Aang.

Aang takes it, looking at it, unsure. He then heads back to the Abbey.

"Guess Aunt Wu was wrong this time." Axel says.

Mario only shrugs. "Any idea what it says?"

"No, but I'm expecting the worst." Axel says.

Dante steps out then, waving.

"Dante, what are you doing here?" Axel asks. "Is Mariya okay?"

"Read for yourself." Dante says, handing him the note.

Axel rips open the envelope, and mutters something. "It's in the new cipher, Dante, do you have a pen?" He asked. Dante gave him a look. "Okay, I think I can do it in my head." He said before reading it.

After a bit, his face becomes shocked, and he falls back to the ground. "Mariya......she's pregnant." He whispered.

Mario nearly falls over as well. "She's what?!" he asks, staggering greatly.

"She's pregnant." Axel repeats, relieved. "That explains why she's been feeling sick lately."

Dante sighs. "She told me about the Fallen Angel's, and asked if I'd help guard her. But I'm guessing I'm gonna be hanging around after, since the kid's gonna be half you."

"Yea, I'd appreciate it Dante." Axel says. He puts the letter in his pocket.

Dante nodded, and went back to the light portal, which shuts behind him.
{Dante to Gysahl Fields}

"We should get back to the Abbey." Axel says, standing.

Mario gives a nod. "Aang, I hope you don't mind. Could you tell the others that we have some important business to tend to?"

"But you said-" Aang said.

"I know, but I just received a letter from my wife she needs us." Axel said. "If we can, we'll be back soon."

Aang nods, but seems a little sad.

"Try to stay out of trouble Aang, okay?" Axel asks. Aang nods. "Alright, see ya."

Mario puts a hand on Aang's shoulder. "Don't worry, Aang; we're friends, and friends can't be separated by distance. We'll be fighting with you, even if we're not physically here." He gives him a smile and a pat on the back before walking with Axel.

Axel walks out, and once he was sure no one was looking, he opens a dark portal and steps threw.

{Axel to Radiant Garden}

Mario quickly follows Axel through the portal.

{Mario to Radiant Garden}