Ugh...these last few days sucked : ( I've bin sick in bed with my stomach hurtin, barely able to eat anything. but now I am mostly better and ready to bring you a new chapter.
as I said in the last one, sum unfortunate characters are going to die. 2 obvious, 1 not so much. those who don't like action violence or scary situations (which I doubt is many of you) please look away and think about small kittens or fluffy bunnies or pink ponies that fart rainbows and poop butterflies.
also, Huge props to my hubby Jason who helped provide ideas and edit the fighting scene. : D thanks hunny!
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Chapter 25: The Battle
As a bolt of lightning burst from the scepter, Katara lunged forward and grabbed Hakoda out of the way in time. Setting the small krillshrimp back down, she glared angrily at Hama and formed two ice daggers in her hand.
"You monster! Change him back!" Katara demanded as she lunged at Hama with the daggers.
"Not on your life!" Hama yelled as she blocked Katara's daggers with the scepter. Katara then stabbed repeatedly at Hama who parried with the scepter. After a short struggle, Hama threw Katara off and pinned her against the ground with the scepter aimed at between her eyes.
"Don't mess with me you little brat! Contract or no contract, I'll still- OUCH!" A harpoon suddenly whizzed by and grazed her shoulder. Gripping her arm, Hama looked behind her and saw Zuko floating near the surface glaring down at her.
"How dare you! Pitful insignificent fire bender!" Hama shouted and turned to Yu and Xin Fu. "After him!"
"Zuko!" Katara tried swimming towards him but was held back by Hama's tentacles. "Zuko look out!"
Seeing the benders coming towards him, Zuko quickly turned and swam back up to the surface. Toph meanwhile used the distraction to free herself and Sokka from the rocks. "Come on! We gotta help!" she said pulling the seaweed out of his mouth and dragging him upwards.
Zuko had managed to make it back to the boat but was instantly dragged back down as Yu and Xin Fu grabbed onto his arms and legs. While he struggled to get free, Sokka and Toph swam up behind the earthbenders and tapped them on the shoulders.
"Hey there. Remember us?" Sokka said taking out his boomerang.
"Payback time chumps!" Toph said raising up her fist which was encased in rock. She then slammed Yu right in the jaw, sending him spinning backwards. Yu managed to recover but found that he was missing a few teeth. As he tried punching her back, Toph ducked out of the way, grabbed Yu by his fins and hurled him into the ground.
Xin Fu tried holding onto Zuko but was finding it difficult as Sokka kept hitting him in the back of the head with the boomerang. Hard as he tried though, the bender refused to fall and kept swinging back at Sokka with his free hand. His efforts fruitless, Sokka resorted to using the sharp part of his boomerang to chop off Xin Fu's long hair.
"Hey! What the-!" Xin Fu's hand flew to the back of his head as he felt a huge bald spot on his scalp. "My hair!"
"Oh relax. It's not so bad. Just a little more off the top and you can pass for a bald eagle." Sokka said sarcastically.
"Why you little-!" Xin Fu then let go of Zuko and chased after Sokka. With the benders distracted and him rapidly running out of air, Zuko quickly swam back to the surface unaware that Hama had the scepter pointed straight at him.
"Say goodbye to your little sweetheart." She said as the scepter began to glow.
Looking at where she was pointing, Katara panicked and lunged straight at Hama, yanking back her hair back just as a bolt of lightning shot out of the scepter.
It missed Zuko but Yu and Xin Fu weren't as lucky. While chasing after Sokka, Xin Fu was hit from the side by Yu who was being flung around by Toph. Both fell to the ground and got tangled in a large bed of seaweed. As they tried freeing themselves, both got caught in the crossfire of the lightning bolt and were instantly vaporized.
"NO!!" Hama shouted as she watched the benders disintegrate. "My henchmen! My poor little poopsies..."
As she gathered their remains, Hama sneered up at Katara who was heading to the surface towards Zuko. Growling in anger, Hama gripped the scepter tightly as her moonstone burned a dark red. Sokka and Toph watched in horror as smoke started billowing from around her, causing her to steadily grow in size. Quickly, both swam away and headed up towards the surface.
--
The waves began churning roughly as Zuko struggled to get onto his boat. As he tried lifting himself into the boat, he felt someone push from behind and turned to see Katara giving him a leg up.
"Zuko quick! You got to get away from here!" Katara said pushing him into his boat.
"No! I'm not leaving without you!" Zuko said as he grabbed her by the arm and lifted her into the boat. Before either could even grab an oar, there was a loud rumbling from under water as Hama rose up laughing maniacally. She continued to grow bigger, even lifting Zuko's boat out of the water with her hand. Quickly, both of them jumped off the boat and back into the water before Hama smashed it in her palm. They held onto each other and watched in horror as Hama grew to the size of a mountain.
"YOU PITIFUL INSIGNIFICANT FOOLS!" she bellowed above them.
"Look out!" Zuko shouted as Hama slammed one of her tentacles into the water. Both were able to dive under and avoid it as Hama raised her scepter towards the sky.
"NOW I AM THE RULER OF ALL THE OCEANS!" Hama yelled while conjuring up a huge storm. "WATCH AS THE WAVES OBEY MY EVERY WHIM!" Rain began pouring down heavily as she then conjured up wave after wave of large and destructive proportions.
"Zuko!" Katara shouted as he started to drift away. Zuko tried to grab her outreached hand but got caught in the rip tide of a huge wave, which flung him high into the air before crashing down upon him. Katara tried going after Zuko but was almost hit by the lightning, causing her to duck and cover behind the rocks.
"THE SEA AND ALL ITS SPOILS. BOW TO MY POWER!" Hama shouted as she started blasting everything in site. Katara pressed herself against the rock trying to conceal herself but Hama immediately spotted her and shot at the rock, blowing it to pieces. She then aimed at Katara but was instantly knocked upside the head as a large winged creature flew at her.
"Aang!" Katara exclaimed as she looked up into the sky. Sure enough, buzzing around her head was the young airbender who hurled huge gusts of winds at Hama as he tried to knock her off balance. After blowing her hair over her eyes, he flew down to Katara and held out his hand.
"Come on! We need to get out of here before-AAAH!!" Aang yelled in pain as lightning from the scepter grazed Aang's leg, causing him to fall in the water. Katara grabbed Aang and quickly pulled him away as she bended a wave at Hama who easily deflected it. She started moving towards them but stopped when she heard a loud voice call out from behind.
"Hey Hama! How's the weather up there?" Sokka shouted from below her.
"WHAT?" Hama asked turning around.
"What's wrong? The altitude making it hard to hear?" Sokka said in a sarcastic tone. "You know maybe it's me, but don't you think your aiming a little too high?" Hama raised a tentacle and slammed it into the water. Sokka bolted away to dodge and returned to the surface. "I mean c'mon! I know you want to be large and in charge but I think you're getting a little too big for your britches?" A bolt of lightning shot from the sky, and again Sokka avoided it though just barely.
While Sokka continued to distract her with fancy fin work and bad puns, Toph surfaced next to Katara and pulled her toward the nearest rock, creating a second rock to hide them. She then bended up a small platform for Aang to lie on as Katara healed his wounds.
"Thanks Katara" Aang said as Katara finished healing his leg. "Man, that Hama sure can pack a punch."
"I'll say." Katara agreed. "How are we supposed to defeat her? I can't even aim my bending properly without being zapped."
Toph thought for a moment "We'll need to cut off her power supply and get that scepter away from her somehow. Maybe if we lure her near the shallows, we can trap her within the rocks. The hard part though is getting there without being blown up." she said as Sokka made a joke about Hama 'getting a big head'.
"Wait! We need to find Zuko first. He's still out there." Katara said worriedly.
"It's too risky. Zuko could be anywhere and Hama will destroy you the minute you swim away from this rock. "Toph then peeked out the side and got an idea. "Which is why you'll need a distraction."
"What did you have in mind?" Katara asked.
"Aang and I will grab Sokka and lead Hama out towards the shallows. While she's chasing us, you go out and find Zuko. Meet us near the bay where all those jagged pillars are."
"Got it. But will you guys be able to handle her?"
"We'll be fine as long as we have a head start." Aang said optimistically.
"Hama may be all powerful but she's still got nothing on us." Toph smirked. "Now get ready. I think snoozels just ran out of puns."
"And I mean why destroy me when you have bigger fish to fry?" Sokka said nervously as Hama scowled at him.
"ENOUGH! ANNOYING LITTLE GUPPY!" Hama shouted and took a long swipe with a tentacle, casting out a powerful wave towards him. Sokka yelped and dove underwater to get some distance.
"Wait till we're a good distance away." Toph said as she grabbed onto Aangs glider. "Alright Aang now!" Quick as a flash Aang took off and flew right past Hama, bringing his glider just low enough to grab Sokka's outreached hand in the water. As Hama followed after them, Katara swam out from behind the rock took off in search of Zuko.
"Bout time you guys showed up. I was running out of material." Sokka said steadying his grip on the glider. "So what's the plan? Where we going?"
"We need to lure Hama to the shallows and get that scepter away from her." Toph said as they neared the shore. "Then we need to find a way to take her down for good."
"No problem. Shouldn't be too hard right?" Sokka asked. Aang yelled then went into a dive as more lightning whizzed past them. All three tumbled onto one of the pillars as Hama approached the middle of the bay. Aang gritted his teeth as he stood on his sore leg then took his staff and hurled a large wind at Hama, spraying her with water and debris. As she conjured a wall of water to defend herself, the three teens jumped into the water and hid behind the pillar for cover.
"Okay maybe it is gonna be harder then I thought." Sokka said nervously pressing himself against the rock. "But don't worry, I may have an idea..."
--
In the other direction, Katara searched desperately for any sign of the prince. "Zuko! ZUKO!"
"Katara! Over here!"
Hearing his voice, Katara battled through the waves and current till she finally spotted Zuko who was holding onto a piece of driftwood from his destroyed boat.
"Oh Zuko thank goodness!" Katara exclaimed as she swam up and wrapped her arms around him. "I thought you had drowned."
"With you around, not likely." Zuko said as he hugged her back. "C'mon we need to head to shore quick."
"I can't." Katara said shaking her head. "My friends are out there, about to go face to face with Hama and they'll need my help. She'll destroy everything if we don't put a stop to her."
"Then I'm coming too." Zuko said letting go of the driftwood. "Together we'll be more then a match for that witch. Besides, I need to make sure you don't get hurt."
Katara smiled "With you around, not likely." she then grabbed his hand and together they set out for the shallows.
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"COME OUT, COME OUT WHEREVER YOU ARE!" Hama called as she looked among the pillars.
Suddenly she was ambushed as dozens of spikes rained down upon her. Shielding herself from the attack, she spotted Toph, encased in rock armor and gliding on a rock slide towards her. Hama tried zapping her but the earthbender was too quick and kept deflecting rocks back at her. Once close enough, Toph began earth bending Hama's tentacles against rocks and to the ground, slowing down her movements. As her attacks continued, Aang flew overhead with Sokka and dove behind Hama, trying to grab the outreached scepter. Unfortunately, Hama spotted them and took a huge swipe with her free tentacle, nearly knocking Aang out of the sky. In a hasty maneuver, Sokka leapt off the glider and whacked Hama in the eye with his tailfin.
As Hama clutched her eye in pain, she began randomly blasting lightning all over the place in a desperate attempt to destroy the three teens. Toph tried using a boulder to knock the scepter out of Hama's hand but the lightning destroyed her rock slide, throwing off her aim and sending her falling back into the water. The lightning also struck Aang's glider, causing him and Sokka to land abruptly on the nearest pillar so they could put the fire out. As the three regrouped, Hama towered over them and let out an amused cackle.
"YOU FOOLS THOUGHT YOU'RE MEAGER POWERS WERE A MATCH FOR ME?" she said mockingly. As she lifted up her tentacle to slam down upon them, it froze and became incased in ice. Shocked, Hama tried freeing it when she was struck from behind with a fire blast and let out a painful scream. Looking up from the pillar, the three were ecstatic and relieved to see Katara and Zuko side by side on the pillar behind Hama, poised and ready for battle.
"Correction Hama. We know our meager powers are more than a match for you!" Katara said as she encased more of Hama's tentacles in ice. Hama let out a screech and tried breaking herself free as Zuko jumped from pillar to pillar, hurling large fireballs at her that set her clothes ablaze. Katara then conjured up an ice pillar and started hurling ice disks at Hama which sliced up her robes. As Hama flinched in pain, her grip on the scepter slackened, giving Sokka the opportunity to knock it free with his boomerang.
Hama leaned forward to catch it but Toph launched a boulder at her, which collided with Hama's hand and broke into a dozen pieces. Hama screamed and tried to retaliate but was held back as Katara bound her hands together with a water whip and froze them in midair. Aang then leapt forward and summoned a wind vortex which left Hama motionless as he went to grab the scepter.
"I WILL NOT BE DEFEATED!" she screamed. Tearing her wrist free of the ice, Hama dispersed the vortex and summoned the scepter, which flew right out of Aang's hands and into her. She then began flailing it all over the place, destroying all the rocks and ice in site. Everyone ducked and fled for cover as pillar after pillar was destroyed, including the one that Sokka kneeled on. As he was about to fall off, Toph bended a rock underneath him, grabbed his hand and pulled him back up. Hama then appeared and was about to flail them when she felt a searing heat strike her shoulder.
Zuko had unleashed his fire, which engulfed both his arms and created two very long fire whips. He attacked repeatedly, burning any part of her that wasn't covered. From the other side, Katara leaped out of the water and summoned her own set of water whips which she used to also attack Hama. Together they attacked from both sides leaving Hama overwhelmed and unable to aim the scepter long enough for an attack.
As she tried desperately to defend herself, Hama felt both her arms get wrapped up by the whips and pulled behind her, causing her to lose her grip on the scepter. She managed to grab it with her tentacle but couldn't move it as it was earth bended to the ground. As the rest of her limbs were immobilized, she looking up and saw Aang, Sokka and Toph riding a wind vortex towards her. Each jumped onto a different pillar as Aang blew another razor sharp gust at Hama, causing the scepter to fall over and be blown onto the beach. When the winds died down, she spotted the scepter far away from her reach and Katara, Aang, Zuko, Sokka and Toph on all sides of her. She was surrounded.
"IT SEEMS I HAVE UNDERESTIMATED EVERYONE. ESPECIALLY YOU KATARA. WHO KNEW THAT ROYALS AND PEASENTS FROM THE FOUR ELEMENTS COULD WORK SO WELL TOGETHER?" Hama said with a smirk as her moonstone began to glow. "IT'S TOO BAD THERE'S ONE PERSON IN YOUR GROUP WHO HAPPENS TO BE AT A CERTAIN...DISADVANTAGE." By the witches will, the scepter then raised itself off the beach and flew back towards her as Hama used all her strength to burst out of the rock and grab it.
The shattered rock surprised the teens, who seeked cover or parried away fallen stones while lightning gathered in the sky above Hama. All of them wondered for a moment what she was talking about, but simply steadied themselves for the incoming attack. All except Toph who gasped as she realized that one of them did have a disadvantage. One of them was not able to bend...
"SAY GOODBYE!" Hama then raised the scepter high, summoning lightning from all around her. Before she could aim it, Toph quickly bended a rock wall in front of Sokka to protect him. Unfortunately, that was the cue Hama needed. Glancing at Toph, she turned and shot a bolt of lightning right through her chest, shattering her rock armor.
"TOPH!!" Sokka screamed as he leapt out from behind the rock. Time seemed to stand still as Toph was thrown back from the blast, hovering in midair as the lightning coursed through her body. Then, without a sound, she fell backwards off the pillar and into the ocean.
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NOOES!! TOPH! : O oh what has science done!!
Now comes the part where yall will really hate me. Since school will be startin soon, I need to take the week off to register, buy books and do all that lovely jazz. Fret not as I will update come September, just not as soon as I'd like to.
On a side note, sorry to all you Toph fans out there. It kills me to off such an awesome character, but believe me when I say that I am going somewhere with this. In the meantime (gets out marshmallows) let the flames begin! : P