Devil's Advocate

Bartering 1.4

The fall from the second floor wasn't exactly high, so if I landed right I'd probably be fine – but I didn't want to risk it. I pushed my arms forward, focused my anger and-

Jets of flame shot from my palms, slowing my descent enough to send me into an undignified roll on the ground, leaving me in the house's side alley, covered in dust. I coughed a little, beating my chest, and looked up. An Earth Kingdom soldier stood there, unarmed. An Earthbender.

"Hey! Firebender!" He roared, calling for his fellow soldiers. "Stop, you're under arrest!"

Panicking, I glanced back. There was a small passage leading behind the house. Looking back, to more Earthbenders had joined the first. Panicking, I waved both hands in front of me, sending a gout of flame careening towards them. They had to stop to throw up a wall, and I continued my escape.

The passage I had escaped down was narrow, and lead out onto another busy street. Even as I ran down it, however, another Earthbender had covered the exit. I glanced up. There was a stone wall to the right of me, and the lip of the house to my left wasn't too high up...

I leapt, on foot braced against the stone wall, and used both hands to blast me up onto the roof of the house, scorching the wall. The Earthbenders at either end of the passage slammed heir palms together, and columns of earth launched them onto the roof. I was already running while they were in the air.

I glanced up as I launched myself off another roof, my technique with the fire-launching now refined enough to let me reach across a busy street. The sun was over there, and Mina said the Earth Kingdom base was to the east, so...

I turned suddenly as I landed, and launched off almost directly perpendicular to where I had been going. Another blast of heat and fire from my palms sent me rocketing off in that direction, and I smiled to myself as the Earthbenders in pursuit sailed past me, unable to change direction midair. They were quickly back on my tail, however.

I had no idea how I was going to escape these Earthbenders. They could keep up with me fairly easily by 'riding' a moving pillar through the town and with three of them there wasn't much chance of losing them.

I headed east. I had no idea where else I could go. All I knew was that the Earth Kingdom base was east of here, and that I could get directions to Omashu from there. So I kept running, leaping, and launching myself, from rooftop to rooftop – but I could tell I was tiring. And quickly. I needed a way to get these fucking Earthbenders off my tail, but I couldn't think of a way to-

No, I knew a way. Of course I did. I felt awful even thinking about it, but it was the only thing I could think of that would get these morons off my back.

I leapt once more, my foot powering off the lip off the building and, assisted by a blast of flame, I shot across the gap. As I did so, however, I brought my hands forward, and focused.

That fucking Devil-!

An enormous gout of fire gushed from my palm, and washed against the thin wooden walls of what looked like a bathhouse of some kind. At this time of day, it seemed unlikely that too many people would be in there- but as I sprinted across the roof of the building, flames licking at my feet as they engulfed the entire structure, I knew I wasn't in the right here.

Two of the three Earthbenders stopped to help keep he fire in check, but the third kept coming, only looking more enraged at what I had done. I gulped a breath, took a last leap and boosted myself with fire, finally clearing the town walls. I turned into a clumsy frontflip, landing awakwardly and stumbling. There was a slight clearing just beyond the walls before reaching the forest – and I needed to get that Earthbender off my back.

I spun after landing, facing the town and assuming what I hoped was a karate stance. I remembered it from an old Jackie Chan movie, anyway.

The Earthbender cleared the final wall as his pillar pushed him up, and he soared through the air with all the grace of a flying camel. When he landed however, he brought his fists down and slammed them into the ground, sending spikes of stone shooting up around his position. He had taken on what I assumed was an Earthbending stance.

We faced each other across the field of battle. I had my fists raised and clenched, one out in front of me, the other by my head. I was standing side on to present a smaller target. And I was very, very tense.

The Earthbender ended up acting first. With a spin, he roundhouse-kicked a chunk of stone a little larger than my head off the top of one spike, sending it flying through the air towards me. I stepped out of the way awkwardly, ducking my head slightly and having to rest on my right hand in order to avoid falling over.

Another chunk of stone was already in the air, and I had to fire a blast from my hand directly into the ground in order to push me up and out of the way of the rapidly incoming projectile.

As I fell in the opposite direction, however, I overbalanced. Still, I made the best out of a bad situation – as I spun clumsily, my right arm hooked over my head and fired a quick blast of flame towards the Earthbender – who quickly brought up a wall of earth to harmlessly dissipate the attack. I was already moving forward, however.

This time I nearly tripped as I ran forth, but I fell onto my hands and nearly flipped over from the momentum. I thought quickly and, legs flailing wildly, released two crescent-shaped gouts of fire from my feet and sent them bursting towards the Earthbender. He had to awkwardly summon two spokes of earth from his spikes in order to deflect both strikes, one by his legs and one by his head, but even then the embers licked at his stomach.

He withdrew the two spokes and gazed at me, consternated. "Drunken Fist... Firebending?" He muttered, frowning intensely. "I'd have thought such a common style would have been unbecoming of you, 'superior benders.'" He sneered.

I had no comment for that – I didn't even really know what Drunken Fist was. So I kept moving, scrambling to my feet and hurrying forwards once more. I brought one fist up in an uppercut from a distance, unleashing fire as I did so, firing another, this time vertical, crescent of flame flying towards the Earthbender. I kept going however, jumping and kicking forward clumsily, again levering that fire reflex and kicking a jet of flame behind the initial crescent.

The Earthbender slammed his forearms together, and when the crescent reached the earth, it scorched and cracked it. The Earthbender grunted, and then the jet of flame slammed into the already-weakened earth wall. It cracked it, sending chunks of superheated earth smashing into the Earthbenders body and face, and this time he let out an actual yell of pain.

I pressed my advantage, but the Earthbender recovered far more quickly than I had anticipated, stomping his foot and slamming an outcropping of stone into my leg. I grunted and stumbled once more, and he took advantage of it to slam both fists into my back, sending me crashing to the ground, head-first into a raised platform of rock. I slammed into it side on, turning my shoulder at the last moment and rolling a way.

We were now in close quarters, and I took the opportunity to attempt a couple of punches to the Earthbenders gut. I didn't use my bending initially but- the Earthbender grabbed my hands and raised his foot instead of blocking!

I focused, and my hand lit aflame, scalding the hands of the Earthbender and causing him to cry out in agony. He stumbled back, frantically blowing on his palms between yelps of pain. I didn't let up – rushing forward, I grabbed the sides of his head and slammed his face onto my knee. He groaned, and slumped over.

I paused there for a few moments, panting. I nearly sat down to try and catch my breath, but as quickly as I had done so, I heard yells from the other Earthbenders. "Oh for fucks sake!" I hissed under my breath, and clambered to my feet once more, running off into the forest, eastwards bound.

~/DA\\~

Cutting through the forest was difficult. It was more overgrown in this area, more jungle-like than it had been for the other woodlands. I managed to fight through most of the way, resorting to focused Firebending when my own hands wouldn't suffice, and doing my best to prevent a forest fire.

Still, I was beginning to get a painful stitch by the time I managed to fight my way into a clearing. I fell to my knees, sucking in deep, painful breaths of the midday air. It felt like I had been walking for hours, and I still had no idea how far away I was from he Earth Kingdom Base-

Oh, I thought. There it is.

Just past the treeline rose huge stone walls, higher than I could ever be able to climb and – just to the right along the wall – an even higher, circular stone wall. The Earth Kingdom Base. I was closer than I thought.

My fervour renewed, I fought to my feet and kept going, moving past the stitch and breaking into a run, breaking through the treeline and moving through the foliage without grace, indiscriminately blasting fire when I couldn't immediately get through – and I was finally there. I was finally at the Earth Base.

There were a large set of double doors, wooden, set into the stone so neatly that I very nearly thought they were merely painted on. Instead, I slowed as I walked past, and knocked. Then I waited.

I knocked again, but there was still no response. I pushed at the heavy wooden doors – they didn't budge. I frowned, braced myself, and put my whole body into the push. When that still wasn't enough, I braced my legs on the ground, my back against the door, hands out in front of me, and-

Blazing jets exploded from my palms, shoving me back into the doors with incredible force, slamming them open, and sending me flying through.

"Ohhh, my head..." I groaned, hand to my temple. That had not been the graceful landing I was aiming for.

I opened my eyes from where I lay face down on the ground – and bruised, bloodied face stared back.

"Aahhh!" I screamed, and leapt to my feet, arms raised. The broken and crumpled body of a man in Earthbender garb lay before me, eyes wide and body still. "Oh no..."

I gazed around, arms limp by my side and jaw open, uncomprehending. Suddenly, I very much knew what was wrong in this world.

For all around me, across the open courtyard of the Earth Kingdom Base, lay the broken, bloody bodies of Earthbenders, blood spraying against the walls in wide arcs, severed limbs strewn across the floor, and crushed discs of earth impaling men everywhere.

I turned around and noisily vomited. This was... This was... This was the kind of thing I was up against? A murderous Avatar? An Aang who was not Aang? This was awful. I couldn't... I wouldn't...

I dropped to my knees. Just a few feet away lay the severed head of a thickly bearded man, blood pouring from his ragged stump of a neck, leaking from his eyes, nose, mouth, and ears.

I got to my feet, eyes closed.

I was disturbed and horrified.

But I still had a job to do.