In the last episode of Avatar and the Airbending Fellowship of Vampire Slayers, the Benders (minus Nerdly) were trapped in N'Hemia's illusory world, where they were to become her mind slaves. However, Nucleus manifested in Nerdly's body and overpowered N'Hemia, then left to Take Over the World. Because Nucleus spared N'Hemia's life, however, the other Vampbenders remained trapped in the illusory world, where they would be tempted by their greatest desires. It seems to be working for the most part, but Avatar is rightfully suspicious. We now return with the conclusion of this adventure.
The episode begins in the illusory world, in science class, which is nearing an end. Avatar is feverishly working on something.
- Avatar: Almost ready...
The bell rings, and Avatar starts to leave with the flask he'd been using.
- Teacher: Hold it right there! Where do you think you're going with that?"Avatar: You mean this?
He throws it at the wall, and the glass shatters, creating a brightly-colored explosion. Swirling colors cover the wall. Avatar pulls the other Benders in, much to their confusion. The show goes to the first commercial break.
When the show returns from the commercial break, the scene is the Netherworld. N'Hemia is still unconscious. We then hear an identical explosion noise, and the same swirling vortex appears. The noise wakes N'Hemia.
- N'Hemia (groggily): What the Netherworld? *sees the Benders emerging* But that's impossible!Avatar: We LIVE for the impossible.N'Hemia: But you're in the pods! You can't be standing here and lying there at the same time!
The others follow her gaze to the pods.
- Solo: Okay, this is disturbing. Those are our bodies there, yet we're here.Avatar: An illusory world...we're going to have to rejoin our bodies. Which means—N'Hemia: Which means it's time to resume our talks in earnest.
She releases their bodies from the pods.
- Sue: Hold on. Where's Nerdly?Krystal: I thought he was out sick.Sue: That was in the illusory world, remember?N'Hemia: Ah, yes, I see...that explains how you saw through it. I had prepared for all of you to be present, and so there were flaws...Sue (menacingly): That doesn't answer my question.N'Hemia: There was another person...he called himself "Nucleus".Solo: Nucleus? Do we know anyone by that name?Avatar: Unfortunately, yes. Or at least, Nerdly does. Nucleus is a member of the Dark Council...one that knows about the Executives. We might not have much time. Grr...Where's Loki when you need him?
N'Hemia then steps up and offers to send them back to their own world, saying that she has a grudge against Nucleus for what he did to her. She suggests they resume their conversation at a later date. Avatar fills the others in on what Nerdly had told him about his encounter with Nucleus back in the museum. They arrive to find their world already looking grim, and the show goes to another commercial break.
- Avatar: Are we already too late?Fluffy: No. *becomes winged serpent* He's close.
Fluffy gets shot in the wing by a laser.
- Solo: Very close, apparently.Nucleus: I don't know how you escaped from that succubus's grasp, but you're going to regret it. Soon... Already we have found two more of the artifacts. One more, and the power of the Executives will be ours! Mwahahahaha!!!
Sue punches Nucleus in the face, sending him flying into the wall of a building.
- Sue: You talk too much.
Nucleus's armor starts to disappear, and color returns to his face.
- Avatar: You know, I kind of expected it to be harder to get Nerdly back to normal...Sue (panicked): Nerdly? *runs over to him* Nerdly, are you okay?Nerdly (wincing): I'll be fine. Nucleus took a lot of damage, allowing me to reassert control. Hopefully I can keep control. Geez, Sue, I can't believe you took him out in one punch.Krystal: Yeah, I don't think I've ever seen you hit that hard. Did you forget that that was Nerdly's body in there?Sue: It...might've slipped my mind a bit. But freeing Nerdly from Nucleus's control was the basic idea, so, problem solved.Nerdly: Now, about those artifacts...the Dark Council already has two of the four artifacts needed to gain the power of the Executives.Avatar: Only two? But Nucleus said they'd found two more in addition to the one we already knew they had. He said they only needed one more...Nerdly: Found two more. The Dark Council member in possession of one of them is currently indisposed.Solo: You mean—
Nerdly nods and shows them the artifact.
- Nerdly: But keeping it away from them isn't going to be easy, especially if we don't know when I might become Nucleus again.Avatar: That's a problem we don't know how to solve right now. Do you know where the Dark Council's headquarters is now?Nerdly: I was only conscious of his actions, not his thoughts. And he was wise enough not to reveal that information. I don't even know where the rendezvous point for him to drop off the third artifact is.Avatar: Well, then, I guess that's a day.
- The shipping portion of the fandom was thrilled with this episode, considering Sue's sudden burst of strength and her actions after Nerdly regained control of his body to be undeniable proof of her feelings for him. The scene that provoked the most chatter on the fan forums was the one where Avatar pulled the other Vampbenders out of N'Hemia's illusory world. Did Krystal blush when Avatar took her hand, and if so, was it because the nature of the illusory world makes everything seem like a prelude to "something", or because she genuinely has a crush on him? A poll of forum-goers conducted in the days following the episode's initial airing revealed that 36% say she didn't blush, 33% say she blushed because she has a crush on Avatar, and 31% say she blushed because of the illusory world. Word of God refuses to confirm any of these.
