Chapter XXXV: Endgame
Two columns of fire shot from Jin's hands, arcing towards Rao. Calmly, he formed a rock sphere, which the two columns slammed into. They failed to break through. Then, the front of the sphere exploded into thousands of small rocks aimed toward Jin. He punched his fists against each other, a sphere of air surrounding him, deflecting the stones. Suddenly, Jin saw the other half of the sphere hurtling toward him; he rooted himself, holding his arms up in front of him. Just as the projectile was about to make contact, he crossed his arms in front of him; the rock literally exploded around him, and he emerged from the dust unharmed. But Rao was already making his next move. He launched several fireballs; Jin diverted each one, but didn't notice that Rao had been able to close the distance between them. He swung his arm at Jin, flames lighted in each hand; Jin ducked, and attempted to launch a fireball at Rao. He dodged, jumping high into the air before sending down a jet of fire. The flame was extinguished by an air swipe from Jin, with several stones following. Rao quickly created a shield of wind that deflected the stones; he landed, only to be immediately met by a rock spire. He rooted himself as best he could, and blocked the spire with his arm.
Jin glanced around quickly, spotting a trough a few feet away. As fast as he could, he pulled the water inside toward him, before whipping it out at Rao. He shot a fireball that evaporated some of it, but enough got through to make a large scratch in his armor. As Jin pulled the water back to his side, he noticed something rather odd- where Rei had used all four elements, Rao seemed to be restricting himself to earth, fire, and air. There was a water trough sitting only a few feet away, but Rao wasn't trying to use it to his advantage. Then, he had a rather sudden realization- Rao couldn't waterbend. With this thought, Jin guided the water up from the trough before throwing it at Rao. Caught off guard, the stream knocked him off his feet. Quickly, Jin tossed the water at his side at Rao as well, freezing in into several long, sharp shards. Rao's hand shot out, creating a jet of fire that melted the shards and continued toward Jin. Jin created an air shield with several wide swings of his arm, diverting the flames, but it did nothing to stop the rock spire that had been hidden behind the flames. It hit directly in the chest, sending Jin flying; he was thrown into the side of a building alongside the road, impacting it hard and causing the wall to collapse down on him.
Rao began to approach slowly. "The Avatar Spirits were fools to choose a weakling like you!" he called to the pile of rubble. "You don't deserve to exist in this world- in my world!" He stopped in front of the pile, and raised his arms, coating them in fire. "You're an imperfection that I will erase from this world! Prepare to--"
He never finished. At that exact moment, something impacted Rao in the abdomen, knocking him straight into the building across the road. He staggered away from the wall, dazed, and looked at his attacker; it was Jin, arm outstretched, eyes and arms glowing white. He remained motionless. Rao recovered his senses and launched a fireball at Jin; Jin didn't react until the fireball was just about to hit him, at which point, he seemed to disappear. A fraction of a second later, Jin reappeared a few feet to the right of where he had stood, arms at his sides. Rao fired another fireball- as before, just as it was about to hit, Jin disappeared and reappeared, this time, a few feet to the left. Then, very slowly, Jin began to walk forward. Rao began to throw everything he could think of- fireballs, rock spires, air swipes, jets of flame, wind vortexes, stone blocks… but every time it seemed that the attack would connect, Jin would simply blink out of existence and reappear a few feet away, continuing his advance. Soon, he was only a few feet away. In desperation, just as Jin appeared right before him, Rao grabbed the Mach Pistol at his belt, pointed it at Jin's face, and pulled the trigger.
Jin caught Rao's arm in his left hand, forcing the barrel away from his face- in spite of his speed, the bullet still grazed him, leaving a long gash under his right eye. Then, Jin's right arm shot out, slamming into Rao's elbow and forcing it the other way with a loud, sickening pop; Rao let out a long, anguished cry from the pain. He collapsed to his knees, the gun falling from his hand. Jin quickly caught it, and with one hand on the barrel and the other on the handle, twisted as hard as he could manage; the gun snapped, its delicate internal mechanisms falling to the ground before Jin tossed the two pieces away. Then, he began to walk slowly toward Rao. Rao's arm shot out, firing several rock spires; as soon as they impacted Jin, he got to his feet, and ignited a jet of flame at his feet, flying into the air. Rao no longer considered fighting the Avatar- with a broken arm, he would never stand a chance. The best he could hope for was to escape with his life. But suddenly, something wrapped around his leg; he looked down to see a stream of water gripping his ankle, the Avatar holding the other end. Rao added more thrust to his rocket boost, but the Avatar's grip wouldn't loosen. Then, Jin pulled, pulling Rao in a wide arc before viciously slamming him into the ground. Before Rao could get to his feet, Jin took a step, blinking out of existence and reappearing right in front of Rao- from the gust of wind that followed, Rao guessed that Jin was using some sort of airbending technique, but one he'd never seen before. Then, Jin stomped down on Rao's leg, directly on the knee. There was a sickening snap, and Rao cried out again, pain coursing through his leg. But Jin didn't let up, keeping all of his weight right on Rao's leg. Rao had a sudden, horrible realization.
He was pinned. And he was completely at the Avatar's mercy.
Jin pointed at Rao, his fingertips crackling with electricity. After a few moments, the energy spread all the way up his arm, glowing an intense blue and filling the air with an energy that made Rao's hair stand on end. Then, Jin growled down at him, "It's time to finish this." His voice… it was as if hundreds of voices had spoken all at once. With one last glare, Jin fired.
No!
There was a blinding flash, and a deafening crash of thunder. Jin gritted his teeth. His arm no longer pointed at Rao, but to a smoldering hole in the ground a few feet to the right. "What do you think you're doing?" he asked Aang, glow fading from his eyes and arm.
"Look around you!" Aang replied angrily- the ferocity in his voice surprised Jin. "The Avatar is supposed to a pillar that upholds peace and balance in the world! What sort of example do you think you'd be setting if you killed Rao in front of all these people!?" Jin looked around for the first time- seemingly, hundreds of people looked down at him and Rao, not just soldiers of the Order and the White Lotus, but non-benders as well. It seemed that no matter where he looked, eyes stared back at him intently.
"But… Rao… we can end this, right here, right now!"
"No, Jin! You can't end all this violence with another act of violence! You'll only allow the cycle to repeat itself all over again!"
"Then… how…?
"You have a way. Remember what I have taught you." Aang's voice fell silent. Jin understood what he had to do. He looked down; Rao was slowly crawling away, making one last attempt to escape. He clenched his hand into a fist, the earth closing around Rao's hands and feet. As Rei had done with him, he pushed Rao up into a sitting position, and circled to his front. He stared down at Rao for several moments, trying to figure out what to do- then, his eyes began to glow, and the Avatar Spirits guided his hands to Rao's forehead and chest. His hands in position, Jin could feel the Avatar Spirits guide his energy down his arm, and into Rao's body.
Suddenly, Jin found himself in an endless void. He stood on a floating platform of stone, only one of many that seemed to form the only ground in the void. The "sky" of the void was an eerie mixture of numerous colors, primarily blue. From time to time, waves of color would swirl and ripple across the surrounding space, brightening everything for a few brief moments. Although there was no sun, everything seemed to be illuminated in an ethereal blue light. Jin guessed that somehow, he was inside Rao's mind. Then, he looked over to see Rao across from him. He seemed to be just as surprised to see the inside of his own head as Jin. He was distracted, making the perfect opportunity to make the first move. He began drawing his energy out- unlike in the Spirit World, it took several moments before his energy left his body. He drew out several strands, merged them together, and lashed them out at Rao. He noticed Jin's attack, at brought his arms up to defend himself; almost as soon as it happened, a nearby wave flew toward him and formed itself into a massive shield, defending Rao from Jin's attack. Almost immediately, Rao sent out a whip of his own, much more massive than Jin's. Jin dodged the attack- he wouldn't have been able to create a shield in time. Then, he began trying to draw Rao's energy toward him. Rao quickly withdrew his attack, but not before Jin was able to pull off a few pieces of his energy whip.
Jin again began to draw out his energy- he summoned it with all the strength he could muster, but even then, it still took several seconds. Wisps of energy swirled around him like mist, before he lashed out with another whip. As before, a massive shield formed to block it, before drawing back and whipping out at Jin. The attack left Rao wide open, so Jin hardened a strand of energy before shattering it, firing dozens of tiny fragments directly at Rao. They made contact, but rather than making a wound, they seemed to simply disappear into Rao's body. But it still had an effect- Rao's body blurred and distorted for a moment before reforming, and the sky briefly flashed an angry red. His body reformed, but it still possessed a very slight blur along the edge. For one brief instant, he lost control over his energy; seizing the opportunity, Jin focused and pulled all the energy Rao had gathered over to him. Swathed by the misty energies, Jin charged. He spread the energy into a shield, blocking the numerous projectiles that Rao fired at him. Finally, when he was close, Jin lashed out several whips from his energy shield; Rao created his own energy shield in response, defending himself from the blows. Then, Rao took in another wave, and launched what seemed to be a spire directly at Jin. It broke through Jin's shield, dissolving it into a cloud of mist that quickly dissipated, before hitting Jin directly in the chest.
The blow knocked Jin right off his feet and onto his back. He struggled to his feet- the pain wasn't focused just in his chest, but seemed to spread throughout his entire body. As he struggled to his feet, he glanced down at his hands- his skin seemed to flicker, allowing him to see a skeleton and numerous blue trails underneath. He pondered what they were briefly; they couldn't be nerves or blood vessels- there were far too many. Finally, the pain subsided, and his skin stopped flickering. He got to his feet, again summoning all the energy he could muster. A few narrow strands emerged from his body. But it wouldn't be enough to protect him from Rao's next attack. All Jin could do was avoid Rao's energy bursts as he continued to summon his own energy. He fired back a few small bursts of his own, but Rao easily deflected them with his energy shield. He was just about to lash out another energy whip when Rao struck him with his own. Again, Jin was knocked on his back, his body becoming completely transparent.
"It seems I underestimated you," Rao said, enshrouded by white mist- his voice seemed to come from the surrounding void, rather than Rao himself. "You were even able to get the upper hand against me for a few moments." The mist began to rapidly expand around Jin. "But it ends here. Your past lives won't be able to help you now." In desperation, Jin reached out to whatever energies he could control and swung his arms down in front of him.
Rao let out a horrid shriek. Jin looked up to see Rao pierced by numerous spikes of pure energy- the sky pulsed the same angry red that it had before. He staggered back, his form flickering wildly, the spikes still lodged in his body. His body disappeared completely, replaced by a large network of those strange blue trails. Concentrated in his stomach was a large glowing sphere, but something there caught Jin's attention- it was another, smaller sphere that glowed pure white. Circling the sphere were three colored trails: one green, one red, and one yellow. Suddenly, everything made sense- those blue lines… they were chi paths. And the sphere… Jin understood what he had to do. Rao staggered away, and began rapidly throwing out wide arcs of energy in all directions. Jin began to make his approach, dodging any arcs that came close. Eventually though, Jin could no longer approach- Rao's attacks became too desperate, too wild for Jin to approach without being harmed. Suddenly, Jin had an idea. He drew in as much ambient energy as he could, before forming a shield to defend against Rao's assault. Every few moments, an arc would strike the shield, and Jin would absorb it into the shield. Finally, when Jin felt the shield had absorbed enough energy, he shattered it, sending thousands of tiny shards directly at Rao. The barrage stopped as Rao let out another pained cry; now was his chance. Jin rushed toward the stunned Rao, rapidly closing the distance between them. He reached for the white sphere, but his hand was suddenly deflected by some… barrier. Rao threw another desperate attack, but Jin dodged it with some difficulty. Again, Jin began drawing in energy, coating his hand in it; and again, he thrust his hand out, trying to grab that sphere. This time, his hand broke through whatever barrier had stopped it before, and his hand clenched around the sphere. Sphere in hand, Jin began to pull as hard as he could. In response, Rao tried to push Jin away, but it was a fight he was rapidly losing- Jin could feel the sphere slowly move toward him, and the lines of chi inside Rao dimmed, slowly but surely. Then Jin gave one last tug, pulling with all his might. Mercifully, the sphere suddenly ripped out of Rao, and the two were consumed in a blinding white light.
The sky was suddenly lit up as three blinding bolts of lightning streaked into the clouds: one green, one red, and one yellow. Jin's hands fell away from Rao, and he staggered back a few steps, hunched over, trying to catch his breath. Eventually, he held up his fist and unclenched it, releasing Rao from his bonds. Rao staggered to his feet, trying to make one last attack, but suddenly, his legs gave out and he collapsed to the ground. He glared up at Jin and asked between heavy breaths, "What… what did you do?" Jin stood upright and replied, "I took your bending away. You'll never be able to use it to hurt anyone else." Rao made one last attempt to push himself of the ground, but his arms refused to support his weight, and he remained where he had fallen.
Suddenly, Jin was pelted by stones and other rubbish. Numerous insults and catcalls were hurled at him and the downed Rao. In mere seconds, he was surrounded by a handful of guards, all pointing their spears directly at him. Suddenly, amid the insults and the stones that pelted him, something inside Jin… snapped. He thrust out his arm, and a massive crack tore across the ground, snaking up buildings and eventually, the great wall itself. "I come here," he said, his voice low at first but gradually rising in intensity. "I come here, to Ba Sing Se, I fight the Order, I defeat their commander, I save your city, and this is the thanks I get!?" Another crack snaked its way across the ground, as small flames began to flicker in the air around Jin; in response, the guards jabbed their spears threateningly in Jin's direction. "Oh, you're really going to stab the Avatar?" he asked. "I'd love to se you try." One drew back his spear as though he was going to strike; at once, Jin's hand flew up, surrounded by fire.
All action ceased, however, when a voice called out, "That's enough!" Jin looked over to the source; coming through the crowd, Jin could see a small, but extremely well-dressed man approach. One of the guards turned to him and said, "My Lord, please stand back. This bender is very dangerous and we haven't restrained him yet."
"I'm sure that this bender would be willing to cooperate with us if he didn't have a dozen spears being waved in front of his face. Now please, step aside- I wish to speak with him."
"But my Lord--"
"I hope you realize that by refusing to carry out a direct request from your king, I can have you arrested for treason. Now stand down." Begrudgingly, the guard backed down, and allowed the man to pass by. The man then stepped in front of Jin and said, "I must apologize for that. But now, if you don't mind me asking son, who are you, and what brought you here to my city?"
Jin paused for a moment before replying, "My name is Jin. And… I'm the Avatar. I came here because an organization called the Order tried to capture your city so they, um…" Jin scratched his head.
"Perhaps your superiors would be able to better explain this. Please, take me to them." At this, the guard asked hesitantly, "My Lord? I don't think it would be safe for you to travel with the… Avatar alone." The man sighed. "Alright, you may escort us to… do you have an encampment?" he asked, turning toward Jin. He nodded. "Alright, then you may escort us to the Avatar's camp." Jin began to walk toward the gate with the man at his side, the guards following them. As he approached, the few Order soldiers that remained panicked, fleeing out the gate, the remaining White Lotus soldiers pursuing them. "Those soldiers… are they under your command?" the man asked.
"No. The Grand Masters of the White Lotus are in charge of them."
"White Lotus?"
"We have a lot of explaining to do, your highness."
"You can call me King Zhi. Or simply Zhi- whichever you would prefer." At that time, Jin noticed Kohta limping over to the two, Nina supporting his weight- the guards moved to stop them, but Jin said, "It's okay; they're friends of mine." When they were close, Nina said to him, "Jin, I've never seen anything like that before. Did you do that?"
Jin shrugged, staggering slightly. "Yeah, I… I guess I did."
Jin's stumble wasn't lost on Kohta, who asked, "Are you feeling alright Jin? You certainly have seen better days."
"Yeah yeah, I'm just fff… juss fffff…" Jin wanted to finish his sentence by saying "fine," but he just couldn't. Jin severely underestimated how exhausted he really was; the two previous battles had provided plenty of adrenaline to keep him going, but now the adrenaline high had worn off, rapidly stripping away what little strength he had left. He teetered again, his vision dimming to near black. He felt himself pitch forward; the last thing he heard before exhaustion over came him was Nina call out, "Uh-oh, somebody catch him before he--" Thump. "…too late."