Chapter 14: Dancing Warriors For Justice
"So, the Briggs soldiers are going to help us stop this Father bastard… Sounds like something Major General Armstrong would do." Saphira muttered. She and Azura had taken a train back towards Central, deciding to help in the effort in their own ways. Terra had already gone on ahead, apparently going with Olivier herself.
"I won't deny, I'm a bit worried for our other friends…" Azura trailed. Saphira chuckled.
"Why? There's no need to."
Azura looked up at Saphira.
"Ed and Al are quite the team, and they can both transmute without a circle. They were taught by Miss Curtis, who is a force in and of herself. Colonel Mustang knows how to use his flames well, Lieutenant Hawkeye's sharpshooting skills are well-known throughout the military, and the soldiers from Briggs spend every day of their lives, ready to take on a whole country. They'll be fine." Saphira assured. Azura smiled.
"Terra's no doubt the greatest earthbender anyone's ever seen, and I've been training to waterbend since I was young. Plus, if what you said is true, you've been training since you were little. We're not gonna let them have all of the fun!" She added. Saphira chuckled, and ruffled her companion's hair.
"That's right-"
"I'm afraid this is the end of the line for you two."
The two turned sharply to see a young boy with purple eyes and black hair, wearing casual clothing. He had bizarre shadows around him, with creepy eyes and mouths laid in them. Saphira focused on him.
"What's with that boy? That's not an ordinary shadow, that's for sure…" Saphira wondered.
"I can sense a Philosopher's Stone in him! It's one of those Homunculi guys!" Azura exclaimed. Saphira tensed.
"A Homunculus, huh? Then I guess there's no need for talk-I highly doubt he has any intention of just letting us walk by." Saphira mused, pulling her spear from her back. The boy chuckled.
"You're quite intelligent for a human. That's right-I have no intention of letting you escape me alive. My name is Pride, the First Homunculus. Prepare to die, lowly humans!" Pride exclaimed, sending shadows their way. Saphira blocked the ones sent at her easily, but Azura was having a harder time, not having easy access to water. The Easterner gasped as a shadow was about to impale her-
WHOOSH!
In an instant, a powerful gust of wind blew back all of the shadows. Pride scowled, and Saphira stared.
"What was that?! What kind of wind could come out of nowhere like that and be strong enough to deflect my shadows?!"
"It's not just any wind-it's airbending!"
The trio turned to see a young girl with ice blue eyes and cool grey hair standing on a lamppost. She was wearing lightweight clothing. Azura's eyes widened in joy.
"Kaze!"
The young one smiled.
"It's been a long time, Azura!" Kaze exclaimed, leaping from her perch. The waterbender beamed at her friend-
"Watch out! He's coming!"
Lightning arced across the arms of the young wind master, and she sent an even more powerful burst of compressed air at Pride, blowing his shadows back and actually forcing him back.
"Damn you!" Pride cursed, sending more shadows at the three.
Kaze's movements were closer to dancing, as she cleverly dodged the Homunculus' attacks, replying with burst of compressed air that forced him to often shield himself. Saphira took advantage of this, and broke open the road for Azura. The waterbender took advantage of this, and began sending the tainted sewer water at Pride.
"This fight is pointless-Father needs me elsewhere!" Pride snapped, slashing down several concrete pillars. Azura sent several bursts of compressed water at them, destroying them, but when the dust faded, Pride was gone.
"Damn him, using such cheap tricks!" Saphira cursed.
"That's certainly true, but there's still other things we can do!" Azura pointed out.
"There's not much time before the eclipse. We'll have to split up and see what we can do to stop all of this." Saphira said.
"I'll go through the sewers-there's a lot of water there, so I can be the most effective." Azura said, leaping down into the sewers.
"I'll go for the rooftops-I can see better, and my airbending will let me move quickly." Kaze said, dancing around and creating a tornado that propelled herself up into the air. Saphira sighed.
"Terra has the upper part of Central… I guess I should head underground. See what I can find." She mused, sprinting towards Headquarters.
"Finally… I got you."
Olivier let out a pained grunt, feeling the pair of giant hands crush her to a pillar.
"Kill the female general. What a pain."
It gripped tighter, and she writhed, trying to get out-
WHAM!
In an instant, Olivier suddenly felt the pressure around her body fade, and saw the monster go flying into the wall behind her. She looked up-
"Yo, bossy lady from up North! Looks like you need a hand!"
Olivier snorted upon seeing Terra, who was smirking.
"And you need some respect!" She fired back. Terra laughed, offering a hand to Olivier. The Ice Queen took it, and let Terra pull her up.
"So, what's with the big sack of weight, huh?" The earthbender questioned.
"It's a Homunculus. It was sent to kill me, after it finished digging the underground tunnel for the circle." Olivier explained.
"One of those Homunculus freaks, huh? He doesn't seem to be anything more than a gigantic sack of dead weight-"
WHOOSH!
Terra locked both Olivier and her own feet in place with earthbending just as she felt a wind go past. They stared.
"Did you see that?"
Terra scowled.
"I felt it alright. That thing moves fast for being a big fat blob!" She replied. Olivier raised an eyebrow, but let it go, focusing on the battle.
"I think… I think it moves so fast it can't control its direction." Olivier said. Terra nodded.
"There's no way it could, moving that fast with that much weight. It's constantly gonna get its head stuck in walls and ram itself into things... what kind of idiot makes this? It's just stupid!" Terra wondered.
"Hell if I know. All that matters is that it's an enemy, and we need to get rid of it." Olivier said. Terra smirked.
"Alright then! One thorough asskicking, coming up!" She exclaimed.