History Recap / AvatarTheLastAirbenderSozinsCometPart3IntoTheInferno

Speaking of the Fire Nation, Azula is being groomed for her coronation as Fire Lord. Upon finding there is a seed in one of her cherries, Azula accuses the one serving her cherries of an assassination attempt and comes close to executing her, before deciding to have mercy and banish the servant from the Fire Nation. Much the same fate befalls Azula's Dai Li guards, who she banishes for being five minutes to her summons. After she banishes her entire staff out of paranoia, Azula is eventually criticized by Lo and Li, who are of course banished.

* CometOfDoom: Sozin's Comet

* LimpAndLivid: Azula. Also does MarionetteMotion

Ozai rushes after the Avatar, with Aang waving off Ozai's attacks as he gets chased up and down a waterfall by the Phoenix King. Ozai jets to the side to avoid Aang's air blast and starts firing off lightning. Aang climbs up to the highest pillar he can find to escape Ozai. With no time to escape to at the top, Aang redirects the lightning through his body and points his hand at a fearful Ozai. Aang hesitates, then spares Ozai by firing the lightning away. Ozai immediately shoots a wave of fire which Aang tries to block with a stone wall, only for the fire blast to break through it and blows Aang off the pillar. As he is falling headfirst toward the water below, Aang opens his eyes and frantically waves his arms to pull up the water to cushion his impact.

The episode opens with a view from high above the clouds, looking down at the ground. The comet streaks into sight, pushing the clouds aside. There is a brief view of the comet from the front before the view shifts to show Appa flying through the sky. Zuko and Katara are riding on his head together. Katara tells Zuko not to worry – they can take Azula. Zuko replies that he’s not worried about Azula, he’s worried about Aang. He’s worried that Aang won’t have the guts to take out Ozai – that Aang will lose. Katara responds that Aang won’t lose.

The Fire Nation palace is seen from the front before the view shifts to show Azula being pampered. One servant is combing her hair, a second is filing her fingernails and a third is scrubbing her feet while a fourth servant holds up a bowl of cherries for her. Azula takes a cherry and begins to chew it. A crunching noise is heard and Azula opens her eyes in surprise, spitting a cherry pit into her hand. She shows the pit to the servant holding the bowl and asks the girl what she’s holding. The servant quietly replies that it is a cherry pit. Azula then asks the girl what day it is and the girl replies that it is the day of Azula’s coronation. Azula confirms the girl’s statement, then asks why the girl decided to leave the pit in the cherry on the most important day of Azula’s life. The girl nervously replies that it wasn’t a decision, just a small mistake. Azula is angered by the statement that it was a ''small'' mistake, asking the servant what could have happened if she hadn’t sensed the pit in time. The servant hesitantly replies that Azula could have choked and Azula says that this means the girl will understand the severity of her crime. The girl says that she does understand and asks for forgiveness. Azula replies that since it is a special day, she will show mercy and banishes the servant, who bows and backs out of sight. Azula then reminds the other servants that her feet still need cleaning.

A body of water is seen before the view tilts upward to show the eel hound swimming with Sokka, Suki and Toph sitting on its back. There is a bright light shining on the horizon behind them. Suki comments that the comet actually looks beautiful and Toph replies that it’s too bad that the Firelord is going to use it to destroy the world. The view shifts to show the trio from behind, then zooms out to show that they are headed for a rocky island. The eel hound reaches shore and the trio dismounts and continues away from it. They climb upwards to the edge of a cliff, only to see the airship fleet beginning to take off when they reach the top. Sokka says that they are too late because the airships are already taking off, but Toph replies that they are taking off, too, and asks where the nearest airship is. Sokka starts to answer, but is interrupted when Toph launches the three of them into the air with earthbending. The trio is flung high into the air before falling toward the catwalk on one of the airships. Sokka and Suki land first, catching Toph as she falls. The three of the move toward a ladder coming out of the airship’s body and climb up into it. The view pulls back and rotates to show the front of the airship fleet, then pulls back more until the front of Ozai’s flagship is visible. Ozai is standing at the very end of the catwalk, wearing his Phoenix King cape and grinning.

Several Dai Li agents walk forward in the Fire Nation’s throne room. Azula is seated on the throne, wearing a lounging robe. Both the walls of flame surrounding the throne and the flames of the torches on the pillars are burning with Azula’s signature blue fire. The seven agents kneel before Azula and their leader says that Azula sent for them, asking if everything is all right. Azula replies that everything is not all right, asking the leader how long it took for them to arrive. The leader guesses that it was a few minutes and Azula says that it was five minutes, going on to say that in that time, an assassin could have entered, killed her, and left again. The leader apologizes and Azula asks if they plan to serve her with tardiness and disloyalty in her new position as Firelord. The leader says that the Dai Li would never betray her, but Azula says that she’s sure that’s exactly what they told Long Feng right before they joined her and tells them that they are all banished. They look up at her in shock and the leader starts to protest, but Azula dismisses them. They get up and leave the throne room, with Azula telling them to send in the next group on their way out.

The airship fleet is seen flying over the ocean before the view shifts to show the outside of the cabin on one of the airships. The view then changes to show the door leading into the cabin inside the airship. Sokka and Suki tiptoe up to it and put their backs to the wall on either side of it. Toph walks up to the door and raises her hand. Inside the cabin, a captain and three pilots hear knocking on the door to the rhythm of ShaveAndAHaircut. On the last knock, the door crashes to the floor, having been kicked in by Toph. She falls forward onto the door and uses metalbending to turn it into a suit of armor covering her entire body. She is hit by a fire blast, but is not harmed by it, surprising the captain. He sends another fire blast at Toph, who drops to the floor and kicks upward, bending the piece of metal the captain is standing toward the ceiling and pinning him there. One of the pilots shoots a fire blast at Toph, who shields herself with the floor plates in front of her. The comet-enhanced fire blasts out through the doorway, forcing Sokka and Suki to jump out of its way. Inside the cabin, as the flames die down, Toph jumps up from behind her shield and kicks to the side, bending a metal pipe from the ceiling to pin one of the pilots to the wall. Kicking to the other side, she bends part of the floor up to pin another pilot to the other wall. Jumping to the ceiling, she clings to it and crawls toward the front of the cabin. The remaining pilot shoots a fire blast at her, but misses. Reaching the front of the cabin, Toph drops down behind the pilot, who swings his arm around to hit her with a fire whip. Toph blocks his arm with her own, sending the attack crashing through one of the windows. While he is holding his arm, Toph punches him in the face, sending him flying through the doorway to crash into a wall out of sight as Sokka and Suki watch.

Sokka and Suki peer into the cabin cautiously, the unconscious pilot visible against the wall behind them. Seeing that the fighting is over, the couple walks into the mangled cabin as Toph peels the metal away from her head, then sheds the rest of the armor, saying, “That’s how it’s done.” Sokka tells her that she did a great job, then says to take control of the airship. Toph sarcastically says that letting the blind girl steer the airship is a great idea before Sokka clarifies that he was talking to Suki. While Suki takes the wheel, Toph says that that makes a lot more sense. Suki then asks what they are going to do about the rest of the crew. Sokka tells her to take the ship down closer to the water, saying that he has an idea. Grabbing a speaker connected to a tube, Sokka begins to talk, claiming to be the captain and directing everyone to the bomb bay for a birthday celebration. The airship descends toward the water while the crew gathers in the bomb bay. Once the crew has gathered, the doors to the bomb bay open, dropping everyone into the water. A side view shows that the firebenders Toph battled are also being dropped into the water. Sokka and Suki look at Ozai’s airship through the broken window before Sokka announces, “Firelord Ozai, here we come,” as he pushes the throttle forward.

The Fire Nation palace is seen from the outside before the view changes to show Azula sitting on the throne, leaning against one of the pillars. She looks up as footsteps are heard. Li and Lo are walking toward the throne. One of them says that they have heard what happened and asks why Azula has banished all of her servants. The other one asks about the Dai Li agents and the first one asks about the Imperial Firebenders. Azula replies that none of them could be trusted and that they all would have betrayed her eventually, just like Mai and Ty Lee did. Together, the twins say that they are concerned for Azula’s wellbeing. Azula accuses them of having been sent to talk to her by her father, saying that Ozai thinks she can’t handle the responsibility of being Firelord. She then declares that she will be the greatest leader in Fire Nation history. One of the twins says that she’s sure Azula will be, then starts to say that considering everything that’s happened that day… and the other twin pick up the sentence, saying that Azula should consider postponing her coronation. Azula turns around angrily, asking which of them just said that, and Li and Lo both point at the other twin. Seeing this, Azula says that there’s only one way to resolve the matter and orders the twins to fight an Agni Kai. The twins protest that they’re not firebenders, so Azula points to each of them, saying that Lo is banished and Li can stay before walking out of sight. The twin who was addressed as Lo then turns to her sister and says, “But I’m Li. So who’s banished?”

Fire Nation tanks seen are rolling through the streets of Ba Sing Se, coming to line up before the main gate. The Order of the White Lotus is gathered on three large stone platforms some distance beyond the gate, flags flapping in the wind. The view changes to show Jeong Jeong, Bumi, Pakku, and Piandao lined up on one of the platforms. Bumi says, “Ba Sing Se, the Order of the White Lotus is here,” and Pakku adds, “Here to set you free.” Iroh, who is standing in front of the other four, says that it is only once every hundred years that firebenders can experience this kind of power. He inhales deeply and there is a very brief view of the comet before he exhales. As he exhales, a ring of fire springs up around the platform. Iroh continues breathing deeply and the flames grow larger with each inhalation, pulsing in time with his breaths. He opens his eyes and raises his arms before thrusting them forward with a loud cry. The ring of fire coalesces into a large fireball that hovers in the air in front of the platform before being unleashed as a massive fire blast that destroys the gate and some of the wall around the gate. Bumi jumps forward on the platform, stomping on the ground, and all three of the platforms begin to move toward the city. Fire blasts are shot toward the platforms, but all of them are deflected by Iroh before the other four leap forward off the platform.

The view shifts to an alley within the city where some soldiers are gathered. Pakku jumps up onto the roof of one of the buildings lining the alley and bends a huge wave of water over it and toward the soldiers. Piandao jumps over the peak of the wave as Pakku freezes the water, trapping the soldiers in place. Piandao lands on the frozen wave and slides down it toward the soldiers. Reaching the bottom, Piandao slices the heads off the soldiers’ spears while sliding forward on the ice, followed by Pakku. Sliding around the corner into another street, Piandao suddenly dashes into a side street as Pakku unfreezes the water and brings it up in a wall, quickly refreezing it to block an incoming fire blast. The blast destroys the ice wall and Pakku is almost hit by a second fire blast before it is blocked by a towering wall of flame. The view sweeps upwards to show Jeong Jeong – the wall’s creator – hovering in the air using fire jet feet. Tanks in another street fire on him, but he blocks the blasts with a new wall of towering flame. He is hovering over the intersection of several streets and is surrounded by tanks. He blocks a new attack with another enormous wall of fire, then uses the wall to push the tanks back. Tanks in another street fire an attack, but Jeong Jeong just creates another wall of fire to block before using it to sweep the tanks backwards into a pile.

Azula is standing in front of a large mirror, putting her hair up in a topknot. She uses a ribbon to tie it, but gets frustrated when her finger gets caught under the ribbon. Grabbing a pair of scissors, she tells her it’s time to face its doom, then sloppily cuts her bangs. The cut was made on a diagonal, so one side of her bangs is now longer than the other. She grins crazily at the mirror, but her grin fades when Ursa appears in the mirror, standing behind Azula. Azula asks Ursa what she is doing there and Ursa replies that she didn’t want to miss Azula’s coronation. Azula tells her not to pretend to be proud, saying that Ursa really thinks that Azula is a monster. Ursa says that she thinks Azula is confused, having used fear to control people her entire life. Turning away from the mirror, Azula asks what choice she has, saying that trust is for fools and fear is the only reliable way – even Ursa fears her. Ursa replies that she loves Azula. Azula’s lips start quivering and she lowers her head, tears dripping from her eyes. Grabbing a hairbrush, Azula turns abruptly and flings the brush at the reflection of Ursa, shattering the mirror. As the pieces fall, Ursa’s reflection slowly fades from the largest one. An overhead view of the room shows that Azula is alone. She sinks to her knees and starts bitterly sobbing to herself.

The airship fleet is seen far out over the ocean, approaching land, before the view changes to show Ozai breathing deeply. An overhead view of Ozai’s airship shows the rest of the fleet in formation some distance behind it. There is one airship that is out of formation, seemingly about halfway between Ozai’s airship and the rest of the fleet. The view changes to show Ozai’s airship seen through a spyglass, then the spyglass is lowered and Ozai’s airship is seen to be much farther ahead than it appeared. Sokka, Suki and Toph are in the cabin of their airship, with Sokka holding the spyglass. He says that they’re not going to be able to catch up in time and Suki sadly says, “No…” The view shifts back to Ozai, who spreads his arms out and tilts his head back. The comet is seen briefly before Ozai tilts his head down again, smiling cruelly. He raises his arms, then thrust his palm forward. A small but incredibly intense flame appears in front of his palm. The flame steadily grows larger until it blossoms into an enormous fire blast that ignites the land ahead of the airship. The view sweeps from behind Ozai down the stream of fire and tilts up to show birds flying everywhere against the horizon.

Aang is standing on a stone pillar, Momo on his shoulder, facing Ozai’s assault. Aang tells Momo that it’s time for him to go and the lemur leaps off Aang’s shoulder. Aang closes his eyes and breathes deeply before performing several spinning kicks and earthbending three thick slices of the pillar he’s standing on toward Ozai’s airship. Ozai looks up as the slices whistle past him and take out the turbines on the airship’s starboard engine. Ozai is knock off balance by the impacts and ceases his attack. Smoke drifts from the engine as the airship loses power and begins to descend. Aang spins his body around, gathering energy, then fires an enormous blast of flame at the disabled engine, destroying it completely. Aang turns to face the airship as it drifts past him, facing Ozai for the first time. Ozai stares at Aang in utter shock before he strips down to his pants, burning the robes, and uses fire jets to propel himself toward Aang. The airship crashes on top of several stone pillars before Ozai lands on a pillar near Aang. The scene is viewed through a spyglass before Sokka, Suki, and Toph are seen in the cabin of their airship. Suki asks what just happened and Sokka excitedly replies, “It’s Aang! He’s back!”

The bases of several pillars are seen before the view sweeps up to the top, where Aang and Ozai are facing each other. Ozai claims that Aang has been delivered to him as an act of providence before Aang tries to persuade him that they don’t have to fight, saying that Ozai has the power to end things there and stop the destruction. Ozai agrees that he has the power, crying that he has all the power in the world. As his cry ends, streams of fire erupt from his mouth and fists. Aang enters his battle stance as the streams of fire die and Ozai looks at him. Ozai jumps into the air, spins, and punches downward, creating a flat ring of fire that spreads outward from where he is standing. Aang leaps into the air to avoid the fire, then uses earthbending to remove the top of the pillar he is standing on and kicks the chunk of rock toward Ozai. As the rock crashes into the top of Ozai’s pillar, he leaps away on a fire jet. As Ozai propels himself toward Aang with fire jet feet, Aang jumps toward Ozai and performs a spinning kick, trailing a stream of fire from his foot. As Aang’s flame goes toward Ozai, Ozai kicks forward, sending a blast of fire from his feet. The two attacks meet in a large explosion.

The view pulls back from the explosion through the broken window into the cabin of the airship Suki is piloting. Sokka cheers for Aang, yelling, “Airbending slice!” Suki asks if they should be helping Aang and Sokka solemnly replies that the Firelord is Aang’s fight. He then says that they need to stay focused on stopping the airship fleet from burning down the Earth Kingdom. Toph asks how they’re going to accomplish that, saying that she can’t see outside the airship, and Sokka smiles as he has an idea. He turns toward Suki and Toph and cries, “Airship slice!” The airship they are in begins to ascend. Sokka is at the wheel, pulling levers at the helm. The airship continues to gain altitude. Sokka spins the wheel to his left and the airship banks to the left, heading for the left end of the airship fleet’s formation.

Within the airship fleet, firebenders are standing on the front end of the catwalk on each ship. In unison, they thrust their palms forward and unleash enormous streams of fire on the land ahead of the fleet. As everything on the ground begins to burn, enormous quantities of smoke are created. Toph, who is standing at the broken window, “looking” down at the torrents of flame, comments that it’s a lot of fire. Sokka spins the wheel of the airship back to the right as it comes around to face the side of the airship fleet. He pulls more levers and the engines begin to get overloaded. He says that it will be a rough ride and that they need to get to the top of the airship quickly, then grabs Toph’s hand and pulls her toward the exit, followed by Suki. As Toph continues forward, Sokka and Suki stop in the doorway. Suki asks what they will do after that and Sokka replies that they’ll watch each other’s backs and he’ll let her know what else if they make it that far. They then share a quick kiss before continuing after Toph.

The airship descends and plows across the tops of the other airships, one after another, knocking them towards the ground. Toph is climbing a ladder within the airship. Suki is lower on the ladder and Sokka is just starting to climb it. Right after Sokka begins to climb the ladder, the floor falls away and the bottom of the ladder starts to come loose from the wall, nearly throw Sokka off. The trio climbs through a hatch onto the top of the airship. Sokka grabs Toph’s hand as she begins to slip backwards and the three of them run along the top toward the front of the airship. The airship continues to plow across the tops of the other airships, ripping itself apart in the process. Sokka, Toph, and Suki have reached the sculpted prow of the airship. Sokka and Toph are slightly ahead of Suki when the prow splits in two, separating Suki from the other two. Suki reaches out toward them as the piece she is on falls away and Sokka calls her name. The nose of the trio’s airship breaks off from the rest as it slams into one final airship. Sokka reaches out toward Suki as she jumps from the crumbling airship onto the top of the one it just hit. She yells that she is okay and that the others should just finish the mission. Sokka calls out, “No…” right before Toph says that she thinks they have to jump. Sokka shouts the last word along with her as the broken prow of their airship crashes across the top of another one. Sokka and Toph fall onto the new airship, stumbling as they land. Sokka immediately covers Toph with his own body to shield her from the falling debris.

The temple at the head of the Fire Nation coronation plaza is seen before the view changes to the temple’s front steps to show Azula kneeling at the top of the steps, wearing robes over her armor. There are several Fire Sages standing behind her and the Head Sage is holding the Fire Crown above Azula’s head. He says, “By decree of Phoenix King Ozai, I now crown you Firelord…,” breaking off before he says Azula’s name. Azula looks up at him angrily, asking why he’s waiting and telling him to do it. A growl is heard coming from somewhere out of sight and Azula turns her head back to the front. Appa, with Katara sitting in the saddle and Zuko seated on his head, descends from the sky and lands in the plaza at the bottom of the steps. Zuko stands up on Appa’s head, declaring that Azula isn’t going to become Firelord today. Jumping down from Appa’s head, he concludes his declaration with the statement, “I am.” Azula starts laughing, saying that Zuko is hilarious. Katara retorts that Azula is going down. The Head Sage raises the crown again, ready to crown Azula, but she raises her hand to stop him. Azula then says that if Zuko wants to be Firelord, they should settle it just between the two of them, challenging him to an Agni Kai. Zuko accepts and Katara looks at him in shock. In hushed tones, Katara asks Zuko what he is doing, saying that Azula knows she can’t take both of them, so she’s trying to separate them. Zuko replies that he knows that, saying that he can take her this time. Katara points out that even he admitted to Iroh that he’d need help facing Azula, but Zuko replies that there’s something off about Azula, saying that she’s slipping. He then adds that this way, no one else has to get hurt.

The coronation plaza is seen from the side. Zuko is kneeling at the right end and Azula is kneeling at the left end. Zuko rises and turns to face Azula and Azula does the same, taking off her robes as she turns to face Zuko. She tells Zuko that she’s sorry it has end this way and Zuko replies that she’s not. Azula smiles weirdly and assumes an awkward stance before spinning and thrusting her palm forward to shoot a blast of blue fire at Zuko. Zuko raises his hands, jumps forward, and sweeps his hands down in front of him, bending a wave of fire from each hand. Bringing his hands together, he shoots the combined waves forward. Azula’s blue flames collide with Zuko’s orange ones, both spreading out to the sides in a wall of fire. As the flames dissipate, Azula leaps up on a jet of flame. Landing further forward, she kicks a straight blast of flame, then performs three spinning kicks, unleashing a wave of fire with each one.

Several stone pillars are seen from over head. Aang lands on top of one, then jumps away as he blocks and is pushed back by a blast from Ozai. Ozai follows up his attack with a downward kick that unleashes a stream of fire. Aang lands on an outcropping of rock, thrusting his hands upward to dissipate the attack. Aang kicks a small boulder at Ozai, who dodges it and responds by kicking another fire blast at Aang. Aang jumps to the top of a nearby pillar to avoid the fire blast, then jumps to the side of a nearby waterfall. Ozai lands on top of the pillar and kicks another blast of fire at Aang. Aang uses waterbending to redirect the entire waterfall toward Ozai, extinguishing the fire blast and nearly drenching Ozai, who leaps away just in time. Ozai jets toward Aang and kicks a large blast of fire at the boy, but Aang jumps away to the top of the waterfall. Ozai jets up in pursuit, flipping forward and firing a blast from both feet. Aang jumps down the slope on the back side of the waterfall to avoid the blast.

As Ozai jets around to the back side of the waterfall, Aang lands on a boulder and uses earthbending to lift it into Ozai’s path before jumping away. Ozai is stopped briefly before he continues his pursuit, shooting a stream of fire from his fist. Aang spins his body, creating a small cyclone around himself to block the fire, but he is still forced back toward another pillar. Landing on the pillar, he swings around to the other side as Ozai lands on a ledge and fires another blast of flame at the pillar. Aang jumps to the side of another pillar, then launches himself back at the first one, kicking the top half of it toward Ozai. Ozai jets around to the other side of the pillar and surprises Aang with a concentrated blast of fire. Aang raises his hand and blocks the blast, but he is still thrown back against the side of another pillar by its force. He slides down its side, landing on a ledge. As Aang stands up, Ozai lands nearby on the ledge. Aang throws himself backward against the pillar and creates stone armor for himself just in time to block a double-fisted fire blast from Ozai. Ozai walks toward Aang as he continues the blast and Aang is pushed back along the ledge by it. Aang jumps backward out of the armor right before Ozai swings a flaming fist at it.

Still in mid-air, Aang raises his hands to his mouth and shoots a huge air blast at Ozai, also using it to propel himself backward. Ozai jets to the side to avoid the blast and summons lightning in both hands. Landing on the top of a pillar, Ozai fires the lightning at Aang. Clinging to the side of a pillar, Aang looks on with fear but swings his arm to the side to create a cyclone around his body. Evading the lightning strike, Aang rides the cyclone to the top of the pillar. Ozai fires another double lightning blast, but Aang dodges it. Ozai pursues Aang, continuing to fire lightning at the boy. Aang lifts the top of a pillar to block one shot, then dodges another. Aang jumps from the side of his current pillar to the top of another just as Ozai fires another bolt of lightning. Rolling forward, Aang has no time to dodge as he gets to his feet. He reaches out and absorbs the lightning with his fingers, bending over and grimacing in pain. He channels the lightning through his body and into his other hand, pointing it at Ozai, who looks at Aang in fear. Aang hesitates, then swings his arm to the side before releasing the lightning harmlessly into the sky. Exhausted by the effort, Aang collapses and Ozai smiles, then swings his foot around to fire a blast of flame at Aang. Quickly getting to his feet, Aang raises a stone wall in front of himself, but the fire blast breaks through it and blows Aang off the pillar, seemingly unconscious. As he is falling headfirst toward the water below, Aang opens his eyes and realizes what is happening. Tilting upright, Aang frantically waves his arms and manages to pull up the water just in time to cushion his impact. As the water falls back down, a large wave is created, carrying Aang with it before depositing him in the shallows as it subsides. Getting to his feet, Aang looks up to see Ozai rocketing toward him.

An overhead view of the Fire Nation capital shows huge orange and blue flames being flung in the right hand side of the city. Within the city, there are buildings on fire and more catch on fire as a blast of flame shoots past. Zuko punches forward, releasing an enormous stream of fire. It collides head-on with a stream of fire released by Azula. The attacks push against each other briefly before slipping to the side and streaming past each other. Zuko continues his blast, Azula’s flames streaming by on his right. He begins to slip backward and pivots his right foot to steady himself. Azula and Zuko both stop their attacks and Azula looks at the temple behind her, whose front has caught on fire. Turning back to Zuko, she leaps upward on a blast of flame, flipping in mid-air to kick the flame down at Zuko. Right before the attack hits, Zuko spins in a circle and thrusts his hands down and out to the side, creating a wall of fire that splits Azula’s attack in half. Azula is crouching on the ground, breathing heavily. Zuko punches forward with first his right fist, then his left fist, launching twin streams of flame that spiral toward Azula in a double helix that becomes a single massive fireball. Azula dodges to her right on a jet of fire, narrowly avoiding the fireball.

Rocketing forward on jets of fire, Azula punches forward two large blasts of flame. Crouching down, Zuko leaps upward on a blast of flame, avoiding the first of Azula’s attacks. Spinning around in mid-air, Zuko fires a blast from his foot, blocking the second attack. As he falls toward the ground, he lifts his arms above his head and sweeps them down in front of him, blocking a third blast of blue fire with one of his own. He lands in a crouch, surrounded by blue and orange flames, his arms extended in front of him. Azula continues to rocket forward on jets of flame, banking to her right to avoid Zuko’s latest blast. She begins to circle Zuko, firing a blast that he blocks with a sphere of fire around himself. She continues to circle him as he fires blasts at her that keep missing because of her speed. Zuko ceases his blasts and gets down on the ground, performing several spinning kicks on his back, sending a ring of fire expanding outward. Azula stops her fire jets and tries to block Zuko’s blast with a shield of fire, but the attack connects and sends her tumbling toward the other end of the plaza.

As she gets to her feet, breathing heavily, Zuko taunts her about the fact that she has not yet used lightning, asking if she is afraid he’ll redirect it. Katara runs into sight behind him as he enters a stance with his right hand thrust forward. Azula shouts, "Oh, I’ll ''show'' you LIGHTNING!" and begins the ''kata'' to charge it. As she goes through the ''kata'', her movements are far more dramatic and irregular than usual. As lightning appears at her fingertips, Zuko breathes deeply and enters his stance, his right hand extended and ready to absorb the lightning. The lighting flickers from red to blue and back again as the lightning charges in Azula’s hands. She finishes the ''kata'' and poises herself to strike. Her eyes briefly flicker to her left and she smirks before releasing the lightning to Zuko’s right, aiming it at Katara.

Everything slows down as the lightning leaves Azula’s fingers. Shock spreads over Zuko’s face as he turns to his right. He runs to his right, leaping between Katara and the lightning. Crying "Nooooo!", he extends the fingers of his left hand and absorbs the lightning in mid-leap. Everything returns to a normal speed as Zuko hits the ground, releasing the lighting from his right hand. A side view of the outside of the caldera shows the lightning erupting into the sky from within the caldera. Zuko lies on the ground, twitching as the lightning surges through his body. Holding his chest, he groans as he rolls onto his back. Katara begins to run toward him, calling his name. As Katara runs toward Zuko, she is halted by a bolt of lightning that strikes the ground between them. Azula, who is swaying from side to side, begins laughing maniacally before rushing forward.

The view changes to show Ozai rocketing downward. As he approaches the water below him, he straightens out the angle of his flight and rockets forward across the water, leaving a plume of water in his wake. Aang turns around and begins to wave his arms in circles, using waterbending to propel himself toward shore. Reaching the shore, he stumbles and trips from his momentum as Ozai closes in behind him. Right before Ozai reaches him, Aang swings his arms and bends a thick sphere of rocks up to surround himself. As Ozai stands before the small sphere of rock, he laughs, saying, "You’re weak, just like the rest of your people. They did not deserve to exist in this world, in ''my'' world. Prepare to join them! Prepare to DIE!" As he shouts the last word, he brings his hands up and smashes them down on the rocky sphere, releasing a blast of fire upon impact. Within the sphere, Aang closes his eyes as small pebbles fall and the sphere shakes. He braces himself further, trying to keep the sphere intact. The fire from Ozai's attack blast downward before rising in an orange cloud. Ozai jumps back several feet before running forward and releasing a huge blast of fire right before everything fades to white.

* CryForTheDevil: Most audience reaction toward Azula in the scene with her and Ursa's reflection.

* GrapesOfLuxury: Azula tries this out at the beginning of the episode.

* SanitySlippage: Azula.

* SlipknotPonytail: Happens to Azula

* LimpAndLivid: Azula.
** Also does MarionetteMotion

** SadBattleMusic fits the bill too.

* PrepareToDie: Said word for word in Ozai's TheReasonYouSuckSpeech.

Azula is standing in front of a large mirror, putting her hair up in a topknot. She uses a ribbon to tie it, but gets frustrated when her finger gets caught under the ribbon. Grabbing a pair of scissors, she tells her it’s time to face its doom, then sloppily cuts her bangs. The cut was made on a diagonal, so one side of her bangs is now longer than the other. She grins crazily at the mirror, but her grin fades when Ursa appears in the mirror, standing behind Azula. Azula asks Ursa what she is doing there and Ursa replies that she didn’t want to miss Azula’s coronation. Azula tells her not to pretend to be proud, saying that Ursa really thinks that Azula is a monster. Ursa says that she thinks Azula is confused, having used fear to control people her entire life. Turning away from the mirror, Azula asks what choice she has, saying that trust is for fools and fear is the only reliable way – even Ursa fears her. Ursa replies that she loves Azula. Azula’s lips start quivering and she lowers her head, tears dripping from her eyes. Grabbing a hairbrush, Azula turns abruptly and flings the brush at the reflection of Ursa, shattering the mirror. As the pieces fall, Ursa’s reflection slowly fades from the largest one. An overhead view of the room shows that Azula is alone. She sinks to her knees and starts sobbing.

Within the airship fleet, firebenders are standing on the front end of the catwalk on each ship. In unison, they thrust their palms forward and unleash enormous streams of fire on the land ahead of the fleet. As everything on the ground begins to burn, enormous quantities of smoke are created. Toph, who is standing at the broken window, “looking” down at the torrents of flame, comments that it’s a lot of fire. Sokka spins the wheel of the airship back to the right as it comes around to face the side of the airship fleet. He pulls more levers and the engines begin to get overloaded. He says that it will be a rough ride and that they need to get to the top of the airship quickly, then grabs Toph’s hand and pulls her toward the exit, followed by Suki. As Toph continues forward, Sokka and Suki stop in the doorway. Suki asks what they will do after that and Sokka replies that they’ll watch each other’s backs and he’ll let her know what else if they make it that far. They then share a quick kiss before continuing after Toph.

* NoOSHACompliance: Averted. Fire Nation troops on the airships have safety tethers to keep them from dropping to their death should they fall of the catwalk. Ozai isn't using one, but he's just that cocky.
** He can also use his firebending to fly.

* ThirdActStupidity: Again, Azula banishing all her minions.
** Justified: By this time, she's [[VillainousBreakdown completely bonkers]].

* AGodAmI: Ozai is really power-tripping.
-->'''Ozai''': I have all the power in the '''[[IncendiaryExponent WOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRLLD!!!]]'''

* NeverSayDie: Averted in Ozai's ReasonYouSuckSpeech.

* PrepareToDie: Said word for word in Ozai's ReasonYouSuckSpeech.

* NoOSHACompliance: Averted. Fire nation troops on the airships have safety tethers to keep them from dropping to their death should they fall of the catwalk.

* FootFocus: In full force for Azula in this episode; ironically the only time she's not seen barefoot is during the ''agni kai,'' when all previously-seen ''agni kai'' matches have had barefoot combatants.

* {{HSQ}}: Very, ''very'' high in this episode.

The view changes to show Ozai rocketing downward. As he approaches the water below him, he straightens out the angle of his flight and rockets forward across the water, leaving a plume of water in his wake. Aang turns around and begins to wave his arms in circles, using waterbending to propel himself toward shore. Reaching the shore, he stumbles and trips from his momentum as Ozai closes in behind him. Right before Ozai reaches him, Aang swings his arms and bends a thick sphere of rocks up to surround himself. As Ozai stands before the small sphere of rock, he laughs, saying, "You’re weak, just like the rest of your people. They did not deserve to exist in this world, in ''my'' world. Prepare to join them! Prepare to DIE!" As he shouts the last word, he brings his hands up and smashes them down on the rocky sphere, releasing a blast of fire upon impact. Within the sphere, Aang closes his eyes as small pebbles fall and the sphere shakes. He braces himself further, trying to keep the sphere intact. The fire from Ozais attack blast downward before rising in an orange cloud. Ozai jumps back several feet before running forward and releasing a huge blast of fire right before everything fades to white.

* SoundtrackDissonance: The sad violin piece playing during the Agni Kai only underlines the ferociousness and senseless destruction.

* SlasherSmile: Azula.

* VillainousBreakdown: Azula

As she gets to her feet, breathing heavily, Zuko taunts her about the fact that she has not yet used lightning, asking if she is afraid he’ll redirect it. Katara runs into sight behind him as he enters a stance with his right hand thrust forward. Azula shouts, “Oh, I’ll ''show'' you LIGHTNING!” and begins the ''kata'' to charge it. As she goes through the ''kata'', her movements are far more dramatic and irregular than usual. As lightning appears at her fingertips, Zuko breathes deeply and enters his stance, his right hand extended and ready to absorb the lightning. The lighting flickers from red to blue and back again as the lightning charges in Azula’s hands. She finishes the ''kata'' and poises herself to strike. Her eyes briefly flicker to her left and she smirks before releasing the lightning to Zuko’s right, aiming it at Katara.

Everything slows down as the lightning leaves Azula’s fingers. Shock spreads over Zuko’s face as he turns to his right. He runs to his right, leaping between Katara and the lightning. Crying “Nooooo!”, he extends the fingers of his left hand and absorbs the lightning in mid-leap. Everything returns to a normal speed as Zuko hits the ground, releasing the lighting from his right hand. A side view of the outside of the caldera shows the lightning erupting into the sky from within the caldera. Zuko lies on the ground, twitching as the lightning surges through his body. Holding his chest, he groans as he rolls onto his back. Katara begins to run toward him, calling his name. As Katara runs toward Zuko, she is halted by a bolt of lightning that strikes the ground between them. Azula, who is swaying from side to side, begins laughing maniacally before rushing forward.

The view changes to show Ozai rocketing downward. As he approaches the water below him, he straightens out the angle of his flight and rockets forward across the water, leaving a plume of water in his wake. Aang turns around and begins to wave his arms in circles, using waterbending to propel himself toward shore. Reaching the shore, he stumbles and trips from his momentum as Ozai closes in behind him. Right before Ozai reaches him, Aang swings his arms and bends a thick sphere of rocks up to surround himself. As Ozai stands before the small sphere of rock, he laughs, saying, “You’re weak, just like the rest of your people. They did not deserve to exist in this world, in ''my'' world. Prepare to join them! Prepare to DIE!” As he shouts the last word, he brings his hands up and smashes them down on the rocky sphere, releasing a blast of fire upon impact. Within the sphere, Aang closes his eyes as small pebbles fall and the sphere shakes. He braces himself further, trying to keep the sphere intact. The fire from Ozai’s attack blast downward before rising in an orange cloud. Ozai jumps back several feet before running forward and releasing a huge blast of fire right before everything fades to white.

* BigNo

* DivingSave

* LimpAndLivid: Azula

* RageAgainstTheReflection: Azula
* SanitySlippage: Azula
* ShirtlessScene: Ozai

* SlasherSmile: Azula

* SoftWater: Averted
* TakingTheBullet