Important Message! The following story is indubitably fanon and should not be considered actual canon.

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Chronology
Last chapter	Year Thirty
Next chapter	Year Thirty-Two

Contents 1 THE TUNDRA 2 Fanon Trivia 3 See more 4 Comments

THE TUNDRAEdit

Aang was on a small trip to the South Pole with his family celebrating Bumi’s nineteenth birthday. Hakoda was in his late sixties, but still just as strong a leader as ever, and he welcomed his family home with a nice celebration in the Southern Water Tribe. Everyone was partying and having the greatest time, lanterns lit the sky and music rang throughout the snowy mountains. However, Tenzin didn’t care much for dancing, so he merely sat nearby playing with the old family pet, Momo. Suddenly, Momo’s ears twitched painfully as though a sharp noise was calling to him; and he chirped and soared off into the air, disappearing in the night as Tenzin called for him to come back. When Momo didn’t return, Tenzin groaned and took off into the snow in order to fetch him.

“Dad!” Bumi called.

He and Katara stopped their dancing for a moment and Aang laughed to his son, “How are you enjoying your birthday Bumi?”

“It’s great Dad, really,” he smiled, gradually getting more serious as his sentence carried on… “But do you know why Tenzin just took off?”

“He shouldn’t be wandering the South Pole alone, Aang!” Katara protested.

“Calm down sweetie,” Aang said calmly, “I’m sure it’s nothing. You two just stay here and keep enjoying the party; I’ll be back in one minute with Tenzin…” Aang took off in a flash after Tenzin, as they watched after him in distress.

Bumi immediately grabbed his mother’s hand, exclaiming, “Come on Momma, dance with me!” and Bumi began dancing wildly with her to take her worried mind off of his brother.

Meanwhile, Momo landed in a large cave where an eerie buzzing noise quickly caught Tenzin’s eardrums and he skid off of his air ball into the snow to approach him.

“Momo!” Tenzin called, “Momo, where are you, you blasted lemur!?” Momo's chirps echoed through the damp cave, and Tenzin saw him a moment later, squawking urgently for him.

Tenzin rushed over and Momo jumped onto his shoulders… “SHUSH!” Tenzin scolded, “Momo, would you keep it down, this place is creepy, why did you run off?”

Momo pounced from Tenzin’s arm and hid behind his leg, staring fearfully ahead of them. Tenzin looked down at him in annoyance, then up at the thing that was frightening the curious lemur before a bright light nearly blinded them… "Whoa!" Tenzin gasped.

The bright glow faded and he stood astonished---his tone changed from serious to bewildered in an instant and he took a step towards the cave wall... Tenzin sighed, his breath fogging the slick ice before he rubbed it away with his glove. Frozen beneath the tundra was a large grey-skinned beast, a creature that the young Airbender had never seen before in his life.

The figure started glowing brighter than light itself and faded back to grey again as Tenzin jumped back in shock. “What is it Momo?” Tenzin awed; he inched closer and closer, touching the figure right near the face as he studied its eyes made of frozen fire. The buzzing noise suddenly got louder to the point that it was painful for Tenzin to hear. Momo screeched and covered his ears too, jumping back to Tenzin’s shoulders as the young bender fell backwards and the frozen monster started glowing brighter and harder than ever. Tenzin strenuously opened one eye to see the bright beast, but he only noticed how the icy cave walls were starting to shake, the air around him and Momo started swirling up the snow at their feet, and above, sharp shards of ice began crashing around them. As a horde of knife-like icicles shot down at them, Tenzin shot a gust of wind out that knocked all of the dangerous debris away. Then everything was quiet…the frozen figure stopped glowing, the earthquake had subsided, and the buzzing had stopped---Momo and Tenzin remained lying on the cold, wet, ground, breathing heavily as they watched the still creature in astonishment. Then, all of the sudden, the ice began to crack.

“Come on!” he yelled, grabbing Momo to run away as the ice wall began crashing down and the eerie roars of a beast began growing louder and louder behind them. The sound of glass breaking echoed through the cave until that too faded away and Tenzin could only hear the sounds of his feet hitting the ice. He could see the snow blowing around outside, and the two were almost at the mouth of the cave, when a streak of lightning blocked their path, and sent Tenzin tumbling backwards. The creature growled at them and watched their every move as its fiery eyes flickered evilly.

Tenzin looked up at the vicious being and only had one breath left in him to call for help…unfortunately he couldn’t come to say the words…so, breathing heavily, Tenzin stared up at his doom and gasped, “Crimety…”

The monster loomed over them for just a moment, and then lunged to strike! Tenzin and Momo screamed, preparing for impact when, just as suddenly, a blast of fire rolled across the grey creatures back. The figure snarled a breath and shot around to see Aang standing outside the cave, another blast of fire ready to attack. Like lightning, the dark being slithered over to Aang where he unleashed an intense shower of flames, but the creature manipulated them and sent them firing right back towards Aang. The Avatar shot into the air and turned the snow into ice shards that he tossed down at the speedy figure. It was as though it were impervious to attack because the monster soared through the ice and struck Aang right out of the sky and into the snow, before shooting around to get back to Tenzin.

The young Airbender saw the beast take down his father and began running, he ran as fast as the wind, but the evil creature was faster and blocked him off. Tenzin shot out a few gusts of air at the monster, but they weren’t effective in the slightest; and the large grey demon shot Tenzin and Momo back with a quick shove of his lightning-like limbs. Aang rose out of the snow only to see this monster attacking his son and in an instant, he drove himself into the Avatar State and blew the beast nearly a mile away before driving it into the ground with mounds of fire and ice following close behind. Tenzin groaned, but stood up and ran to the top of the snowy cliff to stare over at the battle going on in the distance. Aang was getting every blow, every whip of fire, ice, or air was all coming from him and driving the creature deeper into the snowy crater forming over in smoke. Then, Avatar Aang landed to the ground and waited for the dust to clear---a buzzing noise quickly strode out of the large, singed hole and ran a few feet away into another blast of light that caused it to disappear entirely. The lightning monster had teleported into the Spirit World and vanished from the real world all together, leaving Aang baffled and utterly furious. He shot back over to Tenzin where his son jumped to him in a hug as did Momo, who was equally scared beyond belief.

“What was that thing!?” Tenzin gasped, his teeth chattering through the frosty air.

“A spirit,” Aang frowned, warming his son now that the snow had completely soaked through Tenzin's jacket… “A very angry spirit…but it’s wounded, and it’s gone back to the Spirit World---I don’t think we’ll be seeing it again soon.”

“B-But D-dad…” Tenzin shivered, “I thought y-you said….sp-spirits only attack p-people when n-nature is--”

Aang grabbed Tenzin up and shushed him, saying, “We can talk about this later...right now we need to get you and Momo out of this cold weather.” Aang took a step and nearly fell over before catching himself and sighing tiredly.

“D-Dad…are y-you okay?” Tenzin asked worriedly.

Aang shook away his exhaustion and smiled at his son, “Fine, just slipped on the ice. Hang on Tenzin, I’ll get us home in a flash.” Then Aang ran through the snow with ease, getting his son and lemur home and warmly into bed as the festivities came to an end.

Momo and Tenzin had a cold for the rest of the visit, and of course, the intense use of Avatar State caused Aang to pass out shortly after he got the boys home, but no one noticed except for his wife, who helped him secretly into bed before going to check on her son. Meanwhile Bumi and Kya watched out for their brother and Momo and yelled at him for running off into the tundra alone. Tenzin decided not to tell them about his spirit adventure, there was a gut feeling inside of him that felt he and his father should keep it a secret---not to mention the “slipping on the ice” lie that his father had told him…there was something more to that, and Tenzin didn’t know what it was, but he would keep it a secret for his father.

"Why on earth did you go out there Airhead?" Bumi scolded again.

“Sorry Bumi, Momo and I were going out there to find you a present for your birthday…” Tenzin coughed in reply.

"A present?" Kya snickered, as she fixed him a bowl of hot soup, "In the ice? Tenzin...honestly?"

“Little bro,” Bumi grinned, “If you’re going to get lost in the blizzard out here, trust me, there is nothing out there worth a birthday present for me. Especially’ if it means losing your bald head. Who else am I supposed to tease then if you're not here---dad? No, not the same…not the same...”

“Thanks Bumi,” Tenzin smiled, before sharing a hug with his brother and sister… “Ah, Ah, Ahhhh…..”

“Cripes, Bumi he’s gonna sneeze!” Kya exclaimed, snatching Momo out of the way.

“Duck and cover!!!” he added as the two dove out of sight and Tenzin shot the side wall of their grandfather’s house across the block.

“Gesundheit...” Bumi muttered as he crawled out from under the toppled furniture, staring towards the big gaping hole in the wall with wide eyes, “I think that was a new record baldy.”

“Uggg...thanks Bumi…” Tenzin replied nasally.

"WHAT IN THE-OH MY----KATARA!" Hakoda exclaimed in the distance, making all three of the Avatar's children burst into laughter before running off to hide from their furious Gramp Gramp.

Fanon Trivia Edit

• This is the first time we've seen the South Pole since Year Two.

• Bumi's birthday is a very speacial occasion because he is leaving to join the United Forces after his party.

• This is the first time we see the Unnamed spirit that will later appear in LOK Season Two.

• It is hinted that the spirit got caught when Aang froze himself in a ball of ice for over one-hundred years---although Aang and Appa were released over thirty years prior to the Spirit. Another rumor, is that the spirit was imprisoned by Avatar Kuruk while terrorizing the village, and has remained frozen for hundreds of years. So...either way, the Spirit is holding onto a little Anti-Avatar grudge.

• This is the second time we've seen Aang enter the Avatar State in an illustration, the first time was back in Year Ten when he took away Azula's bending.

• This is the first time Tenzin senses something wrong with his father's health.

• Note: Airbenders and colds---DO NOT MIX! In fact, Aang once had a cold in the comic: "Don't Blow It".

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v - e - dThe Years After the Hundred Year War
Years
Intro - Year One - Year Two - Year Three - Year Four - Year Five - Year Six - Year Seven - Year Eight - Year Nine - Year Ten - Year Eleven - Year Twelve - Year Thirteen - Year Fourteen - Year Fifteen - Year Sixteen - Year Seventeen - Year Eighteen - Year Nineteen - Year Twenty - Year Twenty-One - Year Twenty-Two - Year Twenty-Three - Year Twenty-Four - Year Twenty-Five - Year Twenty-Six - Year Twenty-Seven - Year Twenty-Eight - Year Twenty-Nine - Year Thirty - Year Thirty-One - Year Thirty-Two - Year Thirty-Three - Year Thirty-Four - Year Thirty-Five - Year Thirty-Six - Year Thirty-Seven - Year Thirty-Eight - Year Thirty-Nine - Year Forty - Year Forty-One - Year Forty-Two - Year Forty-Three - Year Forty-Four - Year Forty-Five - Year Forty-Six - Year Forty-Seven - Year Forty-Eight - Year Forty-Nine - Year Fifty - Year Fifty-One - Year Fifty-Two - Year Fifty-Three (Part One)