Toph slid across a wave of earth, ducking below a torn chunk of pavement that rocketed through the air above her head. The giant mass brushed by only inches from her skull. She kept moving. Never slowing. Never pausing. Spiraling through the evasion, she spun into her own counter attack. With a flick of her wrist, she ruptured the pavement at her feet and blasted a cracking fissure towards her opponent. Kyoshi stood unfazed, redirecting the fissure with a single stomp of her foot. Dirt and stone erupted from impact, showering earthen debris into the air.
Kyoshi kicked up another series of boulders, eliciting a frustrated grunt of annoyance from Toph's throat. Toph slid out of the way of each boulder, but only just, as the passing wind from each projectile brushed across her skin. Far too close for comfort. For as confident as she had begun, she found her patience rapidly draining. Despite her best efforts, she couldn't gain any ground on her opponent. Hardly surprising. In the first few moments of their exchange, she'd realized exactly how powerful Kyoshi was, and why the past Avatar had been so feared and respected in her time.
Toph pushed herself harder than ever before just to keep up with this woman, let alone defeating her. The mere act of sensing Kyoshi's actions through the vibrations in the ground was unlike anything she had experienced before. There were no wasted actions, no unnecessary movements. Every motion Kyoshi made was one of purpose. Firm, strong, and fluid. Beyond that, her attacks were fast, so rapid and unrelenting Toph had trouble keeping track of them. Against most opponents, Toph could almost determine what they were going to do before they did it. With Kyoshi, the best she could do was react as quickly as possible. Most of the time that meant after an attack was already on its way. Never before had she felt at a disadvantage being blind. Kyoshi was different. Right now, being able to see might actually help her.
Toph propelled herself upwards on a pad of earth, leaping above one of Kyoshi's attacks. Her heart jumped into her throat on the way there. If she could ever avoid taking her feet off the ground, she did, but right now her other routes had been cut off. This was the only way to dodge. With a quick swipe of her wrist, she caused another mound of earth to lift up from the ground and meet her, to give her a way to land. Not quick enough. In that brief instance of complete blindness, Kyoshi launched a melon-sized chunk of stone into her chest. A wheezing grunt erupted from Toph's throat, as she crashed into a rolling heap on the ground.
Instinct pushed her back to her feet, stumbling through the pain in her ribs. Not good. Not good at all. All throughout her life, Toph had been so much better than anyone else. She'd never had to work this hard before, never tested her skills against another opponent of such a high level. Someone who might well be her equal. Or her superior. Spirits, had she gotten lax over the years? Could she have been even better had she been constantly pushed like this? If she didn't buckle down soon, Kyoshi really would destroy her.
Kyoshi followed through with another lightning quick strike, rupturing the ground at Toph's feet. The self-proclaimed greatest earthbender in the world kicked her legs apart and slid towards the side of the street along a wave of dirt. There was still one advantage she had over Kyoshi. Time to put it to use, with what little of it she had available. Nearing her way towards a newspaper dispenser on the side of the street, she raised her hands and tore the entire metal structure from its fastenings on the ground. She split it apart into several pieces, warped them into jagged metal spears, and with a swift guide of her fingers launched them towards her opponent.
For the first time since the battle had begun, Toph sensed a jolt of surprise race through Kyoshi's body. The past Avatar took a step backwards and made her own attempt at bending the metal away. No use. The metal spears kept coming, forcing her to lift a wall of earth in front of herself to shield from the attack. Spear points punctured through the wall, finally brought to a stop inches from Kyoshi's body. With a frown, the past Avatar let her wall drop, along with the metal spears.
Toph grumbled in frustration, as she felt out in the surrounding area for more metal. There was precious little, from what she could sense. While most of the buildings in Republic City did have metal in them, she couldn't very well start ripping them apart and risk them collapsing on top of the innocent civilians trapped inside the ice all throughout the street. No cars nearby, either. Mako's police vehicle had been the only one on this block, and that too was frozen within ice. There were a few light poles, but they were spread too far apart to get to in a timely manner. Without the metal from the newspaper dispenser, she had only earth remaining.
"You're bending metal," Kyoshi muttered, kneeling down to inspect the metal spears. She didn't say it as a question, but rather a matter-of-fact statement somewhere between confusion and intrigue.
Toph managed to retain her cocky demeanor, flashing a smug grin at the past Avatar. "That's right. Developed the ability myself, actually. Why, you jealous?"
"Fascinating." Kyoshi examined the metal a moment longer, before returning focus to her opponent. "Still, it won't help you. You're starting to tire already, aren't you?"
"Please, I could do this all day!" Toph scoffed out a laugh and stood straight, hands on her hips. In spite of herself, she couldn't ignore the burning in her lungs, or the exhausted fire racing through her muscles. Not that her body lacked conditioning by any means, but she had never been pushed so hard for so long.
Kyoshi hummed with disbelief. "You're a poor liar."
The past Avatar struck again with even greater ferocity than before. She put more power into her attacks, and followed through in quicker succession. Toph ducked and weaved through each strike, deflecting what shots she could. What started as a few boulders became five, ten, fifteen and more, an unrelenting barrage far too overwhelming to keep up with, even for her. The entire air filled with earth, and Toph lost herself within. She ducked low beneath one boulder, evading so narrowly that the jagged edge scrapped against her cheek. She twisted and spun around, snapping up her wrist to counter, fingers set to flick forward. So close.
She sensed the chunk of rock before it struck her. Not quick enough. Nowhere to move, no time to defend. The projectile blasted into her gut with such power, Toph's mouth reflexively popped open in stunned pain. Spittle and blood sprayed from her lips. Her legs buckled, unable to hold up her own weight any longer. She collapsed to her knees, arms wrapped over her stomach in desperate attempt to quell the pain. Didn't work. Within seconds, she fell onto her side and curled inward, unable to move.
"The greatest earthbender in the world?" Kyoshi uttered a mocking scoff, as she lifted another boulder from the ground. The massive slab hovered in the air between them. "Maybe in your time, but I am the greatest earthbender to ever live. I will give you credit, though. You lasted longer against me than any of my previous opponents. Take solace in that."
Kyoshi pulled her arms back, prepared to bring down her boulder and finish off Toph once and for all. As she did, a shrill whistling zipped through the air. She strained her ears. Sounded almost like a projectile being thrown? With a raised eyebrow, she turned around to find the source. Too late. A spinning blue and white boomerang collided squarely with the back of her head. Stars erupted in her vision, and her senses blurred. Staggering down to one knee, she lost her grip on the boulder and dropped it with a thundering crash to the ground between herself and Toph.
Grumbling in frustration, Kyoshi staggered upright to her feet. The world around her spun, still stunned from the previous blow, enough that she didn't notice the figure approaching her with expert purpose. Before she could straighten upright, a woman appeared at her side. A woman wearing remarkably similar attire to herself, right down to the white and red face paint. The woman struck in one fluid motion, moving as water through a stream. Kyoshi recoiled to pull out of the hold, but found herself only falling further into the assailant's momentum.
Within seconds, Kyoshi's entire body lifted from the ground and swung over the woman's back. The world spun once again, as her body violently thudded into the pavement below with a blinding flash of pain. In the same motion, the attacking woman twisted Kyoshi's arm around and spun forward, cracking her knee into the past Avatar's jaw. Stars snapped into Kyoshi's vision, but she managed to sense the next attack coming. With a swift thrust of her arm, she split the ground between them, distancing herself from the attack. Kyoshi returned to her feet at last and glared at the other woman, who returned the gaze with equal fervor. The woman twisted into a defensive combat stance, complete with a pair of golden folding fans.
Kyoshi studied the woman with intrigue. The robes and armor the woman wore were nearly identical to her own, as were the fans. Even the face paint was the same. "That uniform… You are one of my warriors, aren't you?"
"My name is Suki," she said. "I am the head of the Kyoshi Warriors, as I have been for the past eighty years."
"I see." Kyoshi's eyes narrowed further, but she did not question Suki's young appearance. An easy conclusion to draw that she had been affected by Sen, the same as so many others.
"Throughout my entire life, I've worked to follow your teachings and continue your legacy." Suki's eyes never wavered, never flinched. The true gaze of a warrior. "Avatar Kyoshi, I consider this a great honor, but I must stop you. I will do whatever it takes."
Kyoshi shifted into an identical stance, mimicking her own fans with how Suki held hers. "To do whatever is necessary to protect the innocent and bring peace and balance to the world. That is my way. I, too, consider this an honor. For that, I will make this quick."
With a sliding step forward, Kyoshi propelled a jagged line of earth towards her opponent. As confident and determined as Suki may have been, there was only so much a non-bender could do against one of the most prolific Avatars to ever live. No doubt she knew there was no way she could win, and yet still she engaged. Still she fought. Suki focused her efforts on dodging and staying alive, making no attempt to close the distance and attack. If nothing else, she served as a distraction.
While Suki kept Kyoshi's attention focused, another figure ran across the street towards Toph, who remained collapsed on her side in a motionless heap. He picked up his boomarang on the way by and strapped it back to his shoulder, before sliding down onto his knees next to the downed earthbender.
"Alright Toph, come on, get up," Sokka said, as he attempted to pull the woman back to her feet. "This is no time to be playing games."
"Hey, I am not playing games." Toph heaved a pained groan, as she pulled her arm away from Sokka and staggered back to her feet under her own power. She paused, hobbled over with her arms clutching her abdomen, before finally standing straight. "I'm perfectly fine. See?"
Sokka offered a relieved sigh. "Okay, that's great. Now, how do we beat her?"
Toph shrugged. "You tell me. You're the idea guy, aren't you?"
"Oh, so just because I'm the idea guy means I have to come up with an idea?"
"Pretty much."
Sokka heaved out a frustrated groan, lowering his head into his hands. "Fine, fine, sure, I'll get right on that."
Toph took a step forward, pressing her hands to her knees to steady herself. When her legs stopped shaking, she sucked in a deep breath and focused on the vibrations in the ground. From what she could tell, Suki was losing, and probably wouldn't hold out for much longer. "She's strong, that much is clear. I can't just walk over her like I do most of my other opponents. If I had some metal, maybe that would even the playing field."
"Hmm…" Sokka went quiet a moment, thinking carefully. After a brief moment of silence, he snapped his fingers and ran off down the street. "I think I have an idea! You just keep her busy for a few minutes."
When Sokka was gone, Toph focused her attention on the battle. Suki had reached the end of her ropes. The Kyoshi Warrior ducked and spun through a series of rapid attacks, giving her all to keep her opponent's attention. Even as skilled as she was, she could only hold out so long. The ground tore up at her feet, forcing her back a step. The heel of her boot caught the edge of a loose rock, and she tripped. The misstep was only slight, and brief, but that single lapse was more than enough for Kyoshi to capitalize. The past Avatar shoved Suki further off balance and lifted a boulder into the air, ready to bring down a finishing blow.
Toph sprang forward and intercepted the strike with a countering wave of earth. Kyoshi's attention shifted, and the two prolific earthbenders engaged once again. Toph fought back harder than ever, unrelenting in her rapid onslaught of earthbending. Pain flared in her gut, but she pushed through it. Now wasn't the time to falter. She had to keep going. Had to stall Kyoshi long enough for whatever Sokka's plan was.
Even so, she couldn't fight forever. For as fierce an assault as Toph made, Kyoshi found a way to block or evade every attack, all the while countering with precision strikes of her own. A stone to the shoulder, a chunk to the knee. Small, glancing blows at first, slowly building in frequency. Toph's defenses wavered. She pulled back her offense and focused entirely on protecting herself, but even that wasn't enough. A more solid blow collided with her ribs. She stumbled, and another exploded against her hip.
Through the assault, Toph sensed Suki racing in from behind. Kyoshi was ready for her this time. With a simple wave of her fans, the past Avatar lifted a crag of earth from the ground and knocked the warrior away with all the effort of swatting a spider fly. Toph stumbled to a knee to catch her breath, as Kyoshi's attention turned back to her. Damn it, what was taking Sokka so long?
A loud horn blared through the air, drawing the attention of all three combatants. Toph pressed her fingers to the ground and focused, enough to sense the massive truck barreling down the street towards them, and Sokka sitting in the driver's seat. The truck took a sharp turn around the corner, plowing through benches and light poles on the way by.
"Toph! Suki!" Sokka stuck his head out the open window with an urgent call. "Out of the way!"
Both Toph and Suki leaped out of Sokka's path, giving him a clear shot to Kyoshi. The past Avatar stood firm, shifting her stance forward with a thrust of her fists. A sheer earthen wall erupted in front of her, directly in the truck's path. Moments before collision, Sokka shoved the driver's side door open and jumped out, hitting the ground in a rolling thud.
"Toph, now!"
The truck never collided with the wall. Toph immediately strengthened her stance and spread her arms apart, causing the metal vehicle to tear clean into two separate pieces. Each half of the destroyed vehicle parted around either side of Kyoshi's wall. With a second flick of her fingers, Toph peeled the exterior metal shell away from the truck's frame and snaked both halves through the air as fluidly as cloth sheets. Kyoshi's eyes flared. No time left to do anything. In a desperate attempt to defend herself, she lifted another wall of earth. Not quick enough. Toph clenched her fingers, and the metal sheets weaved through the past Avatar's defenses. In an instant, the metal wrapped around Kyoshi in a tight cocoon, imprisoning her within.
When the battle was over, Sokka fell back against the ground with an exhausted huff. "Whew… well, that was a thing."
Suki smiled, as she limped her way over to him. "Good thinking, Sokka."
Toph, on the other hand, raised her arms and flexed, a smug grin slashing across her face. "And the winner of the Ultimate Earth Rumble: Toph Beifong!"
The other two stared at her, clearing their throats as loudly and as obviously as they could.
"Yeah, yeah," Toph remarked, waving off their annoyance with a simple shrug. "And friends."
Korra held her breath, watching both Aang and Kuruk for the slightest sign of movement. Jinora did the same, keeping her own breaths deep and even. A strange calm lingered in the air moments before the fight. The moment was almost peaceful. Almost.
Kuruk struck first, sliding across a wave of ice towards Korra. He leaped forward with his fist pulled back. Ice trailed behind his arm, coalescing into a frozen spear that overtook his punch and launched at his target. Korra held her ground. With a quick shift of her stance, she dragged her arms back and took control of the frozen projectile. The spear liquefied back into water and coiled around her into a steady stream. Another shift, and she redirected it back at him. Kuruk split the stream down the middle and continued its path around himself. Sliding a foot forward, he brought the water around his arms in the form of two whips, and again advanced on his target.
With Korra and Kuruk engaged, Aang flipped towards Jinora with a burst of air propelling him forward. Spinning in a tight spiral, he swiped his staff down to meet the ground. A massive gale erupted from the point of the staff at Jinora. The younger airbender pinwheeled her arms and shielded herself with her own bubble of air. The bubble quickly tightened, and with a spinning thrust of her fingers it sharpened and pushed forward, splitting Aang's gust down the center with her own.
Aang spun out of the way and swung his staff a second time. Jinora was ready. Rather than wait and react as an airbender should, she raced forward and dropped to her knees, a rush of wind propelling her forward across the ground beneath the staff. She immediately sprang back to her feet and spun a kick at her opponent, trailing a hard blast of wind behind her heel. When Aang spun away, she continued her assault with fierce, direct attacks. Each strike missed their target, as Aang rotated into a defensive style and effortlessly evaded each blast of air she sent at him.
"You attack without relent," he said, with a swipe of his staff. Jinora lunged again and spun with her arms extended at her sides, creating a whirlwind. Aang poked her away with his staff, and swept the weapon beneath her legs to trip her. "You're almost ferocious, even. That is not the airbender way. You will never win like that."
Jinora flipped back to her feet, grumbling in frustration. "I know. I'm just—I'm trying to end this quickly. There are too many people counting on us. I can't waste time!"
Aang dodged her next attack and countered with one of his own, striking the butt of his staff square into the center of her gut. She fell away off balance, gasping for air. "And that is why you will lose."
Jinora swallowed the growing numbness rising in her throat. Her legs buckled, but she did not fall. She regained her balance, and looked to Aang with pleading intent. This was the first time she had ever met her grandfather. If only this meeting could have been under better circumstances. As much as she didn't want to fight him, she had to. No escaping that fact. If they were to prevail today, she would have to find a way to defeat a man who was not only her own blood, but the previous Avatar as well. "Granpa Aang, please. You can fight this. Fight Sen's hold over you. If anyone can do it…"
Aang breathed deep and closed his eyes. He held the breath briefly, before letting it out his nose. When his eyes opened again, his gaze refocused with vicious intent. "I'm afraid that isn't possible. Know that I do not enjoy this, but I do as I must."
Korra pulled back and exchanged a volley of water with Kuruk. Both waterbenders flowed through each other's counters in a constant state of redirection, neither able to land a solid blow against the other. Every so often, a lash of water or chunk of ice would break through the other's guard, but not enough to do lasting damage. Korra struck with every bit of skill and power she could muster, a true display of her waterbending mastery, and yet Kuruk matched her step for step. For all Korra's own skill, Kuruk was a master himself, as well as a past Avatar. The pair collided in an endless push and pull nearly impossible to break.
As Kuruk countered with another whipping wheel of water, Korra blocked it with a rising wall of ice. Flowing through in the same motion, she broke her wall down to pieces and fired a storm of icy shards towards her opponent. Kuruk stepped back and deflected the barrage, only to turn once again with another attack that forced Korra to jump backwards and create more distance between them. Kuruk followed, and their combative exchange continued.
Despite herself and the need to remain focused, Korra's mind swarmed with activity. Sen shouldn't have been able to revive any of the past Avatars. Shouldn't have, and yet had done so. Easy enough to figure out how. Each Avatar's spirit was tied directly to Raava. Even though Korra's access to them had been broken during Harmonic Convergence, they still remained, forever a part of the great Light Spirit. Under normal circumstances, Sen would not have been able to access their essences as he could with any other person who had died throughout history, or with anyone whose essence he had absorbed into himself.
That would have changed when he consumed Raava. In doing so, he had essentially consumed all the spirits of every past Avatar. If Sen wanted to, no doubt he could have brought them all back at once. If anything, they could be thankful for Sen's hatred of humans in that regard. The dark spirit likely wouldn't bring back anymore than he thought was necessary. Once the Avatars had outlived their purpose, Sen would destroy them as well.
And thank the spirits these resurrected Avatars could only use their native element. That was one more thing Korra could be thankful for. While each one was a prolific master of their respective element already, things would be far worse if they could use all four. Fortunately, Raava was what gave an Avatar the ability to use all four elements. With Raava absorbed within Sen's essence, she could not be bonded with any Avatar that Sen brought back. That alone gave them a chance. Masters these past Avatars might be, but they were still people. They could still be beaten.
Kuruk advanced with another attack, lifting himself upon a pillar of ice. He tossed a series of frozen blades, all while pushing himself closer. "Such a waste, the Avatar cycle ending with you. When we were still part of you, I could sense so much potential. But now?" When he drew close enough, he leaped towards her, a spear of ice wrapped around his arm. "Nothing but a disgrace!"
Korra deflected each of the blades Kuruk threw at her with a swipe of her arms. When the past Avatar leaped towards her, she lunged backwards to evade the strike, only moments before the point of his spear drove into the ground and shattered. "No, that's not fair! I have done everything I can to keep this world in balance. I've succeeded so many times, stopped so much evil…" She paused a moment, and hung her head, grabbing at her hair with both hands. "But it just keeps coming back. No matter how hard I try, there's always another threat to throw the world out of balance!"
"That's the thing, though, isn't it?" Kuruk stood straight, and for a moment he made no move to attack. "The Avatar must always succeed, always keep the world in balance. The evils we fight only need to win once. With you, they finally did."
"No, we're not done yet!" A flash of anger shot through her, a heat of defiance and unwillingness to resign to failure. She stepped forward, tightening her hands into fists. "Even if I'm not the Avatar anymore, even if the cycle is over, I'm not stopping, and I'm not giving up! None of us are! I will never stop fighting. I will never stop protecting this world! Even if we have to fight past Avatars. We will beat you, and we will stop Sen!"
The building heat within her pushed her forward. She charged at Kuruk, breaking into a dead sprint at her opponent. He watched her momentarily and shifted his stance. When she drew closer, he tossed a series of large ice chunks at her, each the size of a watermelon. Korra didn't flinch. She didn't stray from her path. She continued her charge, barreling straight through the frozen barrage. With every chunk that rushed towards her, she punched out of the way. Knuckles cracked into ice. Blood streamed down her fists. One of the frozen projectiles broke through and crashed into her shoulder. She staggered briefly, but kept moving. She never let the blow slow her down, fueled by the spark of determination burning through her bones.
With a furious yell, she backhanded away another projectile. The next one broke through and collided with her knee, and a third to her ribs. Still not enough to slow her down. She closed the distance with a lunging uppercut, driving every bit of force she could muster through her arm. Kuruk's eyes flared in unexpected surprise, no doubt amazed she had broken through his assault. A trailing geyser of water coalesced around Korra's fist, further empowering the strike as she cracked her knuckles into the bottom of Kuruk's jaw. The past Avatar lifted several feet into the air before crashing onto his backside. He didn't move.
Korra's legs buckled momentarily, as the adrenaline of combat began to wear off. Pain surged through her body, bringing her breaths into a stuttering wheeze. With a deep breath, she pushed the pain away and turned around. Jinora and Aang were still fighting, and from the look of it Jinora was losing. Badly. Aang whirled forward with his staff, cracking it across the side of Jinora's head. The younger airbender stumbled, but retained her balance. She attempted a countering strike, firing a series of air blasts. Aang evaded, and flipped over to her other side. With a thrust of his palm, he delivered a concentrated wind blast to Jinora's backside that sent her tumbling to the ground.
"Jinora!" Korra ran forward to assist, only for a wall of ice to lift in front of her. The wall spread wide, cutting her off from the other fight. When she turned around, she saw Kuruk upright on one knee, clutching his jaw.
"We're not finished yet," he said, with an angry grumble.
Korra glowered, and shifted back into a waterbending stance. With a quick lift of her arms, she raised ice from the ground directly beneath Kuruk, trapping him within a solid block. "Yes we are."
Moments before the ice encased him, Kuruk made one final swipe of his arm. Although his body locked into place, effectively imprisoned within a frozen tomb, he managed to bend one last block of ice through the air. Korra didn't notice it until she lowered her arms. She took a step back, a gasp lifting into her throat. Too slow. The ice crashed against the side of her skull with a dull crack. Light sparked into her vision. A second later she hit the ground, and the world went dark.
Jinora's frustration continued to mount. With every attack she made, and every time her opponent evaded, she put more effort into landing a blow. Her strikes were fiercer. Wilder. All the easier for Aang to continue avoiding and landing counter blows against her. After one particularly brutal strike from the past Avatar's staff that launched her into the air with a concussive blast of wind, Jinora struggled to find calm. She spread the wings of her wingsuit to steady herself and glided back to the street in as ungraceful a manner as she ever had. She hit the ground hard, bounced twice, and rolled to her backside, where she came to a crashing halt.
No way would she win like this—that much was clear—but what chance did she have against her opponent otherwise? This was Avatar Aang, her grandfather. How many amazing stories had she heard about him? How many awe inspiring tales of his strength and compassion, of what a wonderful person and Avatar he had been? Surely, she could never live up to such an image. Surely, she had no chance against him.
Defiance drove Jinora back up to her elbows, and forced her to shake her thoughts away. No. She couldn't doubt herself like that. If she worried about living up to Aang's legacy, she would lose. Everyone would lose. She didn't need to live up to his image. She only had to live up to her own expectations of herself. This was just another obstacle to overcome, like so many others she had faced before. Focus on that. Focus on this one moment. Pull together, and start acting like an airbender.
With a deep breath, Jinora flipped back to her feet and faced her opponent once more. This time, she didn't rush him or try to take him head on. She waited, watching him until he made the first attack himself. Taking a step back, she spun herself to avoid it. Keeping her palms up, she worked her way around him and evaded another swing from his staff. A blast of air followed, but still she kept spiraling, kept dodging. Several steps later, she whirled behind Aang and delivered a crisp palm thrust of air to his backside. He fell to one knee briefly, before shooting upright a second later. He countered with a spinning kick, but Jinora ducked out of the way and fought back with another thrust of wind. Aang fell back several steps, forced to stop a moment and reanalyze the situation.
"Now that is the way of an airbender." Aang breathed in deep and examined Jinora, watching her for a long moment. He made no move to attack, merely standing there and taking her in. "I never did live to see my legacy grow beyond Tenzin, but I see now that any worries I had about the future of the Air Nation were baseless. You are a phenomenal airbender, and I am proud to call you my granddaughter." He finished his words with a respectful bow, his staff straight at his side.
"Grandpa Aang…" Jinora's breath trailed off, and she returned the bow. "Thank you."
"But that still doesn't change things." Aang straightened himself again and took another combative stance. "I will stop you. You know you can't win."
As Jinora took her own stance, another voice called out from the air above to answer Aang's claim. "Maybe not alone, but she's not the only other airbender!"
A yellow and orange blur swooped down from the sky—Opal, gliding along with her wingsuit. Aang snapped a look upward to get a bead on the new arrival. Not quick enough. Opal dropped a whirling kick against his backside and blasted him forward with an explosive burst of air. While Aang stumbled to recover his balance, Opal continued her glide and landed next to Jinora.
"There are a lot of us now," Opal said, "and together we have strength."
"Opal!" Jinora's eyes flared, as her heart pulsed in surprise. "What are you doing here?"
"We had to split up to cover more ground," she replied, with a gesture towards the frozen citizens. "It's happening all over the city. Sen made sure we couldn't get them to safety, so they're ready for him when he gets here. If we don't stop his minions as soon as possible, we're not going to win."
When Aang's attention fell on Opal, his breath caught in his throat. His eyes flicked across her, glimpsing the flashes of blue that were her tattoos. While most of the tattoos were hidden beneath the wingsuit, the simple heads of the arrows that showed on the back of her palms and on her forehead were enough to bring something resembling a smile to the past Avatar's lips. Once again, he straightened himself and bowed. "Another airbender… It is an honor to meet you, Opal."
"And you, Avatar Aang…" Opal turned to him so she could return the bow, before shifting into an airbending stance at Jinora's side. "But we have to do this."
Aang nodded, and did the same. "I know."
The three collided in a series of high speed airbending maneuvers, with blasts of wind firing rapidly in all directions. In the brief clash, Aang displayed by far the highest level of prowess of the three. He had everything his opponents had and more, except one—a partner. Jinora and Opal worked expertly together, complementing each other's weaknesses in a whirling dance they had practiced hundreds of times before while training with other airbenders. They covered each other's blind spots, and pressured Aang in an increasing pace that not even a past Avatar could keep up with for long.
Aang lunged in with a swing of his staff, aimed square at Opal's shoulders. Opal ducked below the staff and its subsequent wind blast, while Jinora flipped up and over, floating around behind Aang. The past Avatar turned to greet her with a counter, but Opal delivered a strike to the back of his knees. The quick shot buckled his legs and bent him backwards. At the same time, Jinora leaped into position above him. As Aang fell backwards, Opal thrust her palm against his back and launched him straight upwards with a blast of air, while in the same moment Jinora struck with an opposite blow to his chest. The two air blasts collided with either side of Aang's body and sent him spinning wildly towards the ground.
Aang hit face first, rolling to a violent stop at the edge of the sidewalk. The grip on his staff broke, allowing the wooden weapon to clatter across the street until it too rolled to a halt. With several deep, grating breaths, Aang pushed his way slowly back to his feet. He stumbled before catching his balance, a hand held against his head in pain. Jinora never let him get his senses back. With a sliding whirl across the ground, she snatched up the fallen staff, flipped towards the past Avatar, and delivered a mighty blow to the back of his skull. Wood cracked into flesh, and Aang collapsed. This time, he didn't get up.
Jinora's gaze fell to the staff in her hands, and with a deep sigh she let it fall from her grasp. "I'm sorry, Aang."
Fire raged through the streets. Roku and Azula clashed in a heated sunburst, each of their strikes delivering an even more intense jet of flames than the last. Their strikes were crisp and powerful, delivered in rapid, relentless succession. Each blow roared with vicious intent, meant to finish off their opponent in a single strike, but for all their ferocity, neither opponent could land a clean hit. The two combatants matched each other step for step. Whenever one delivered a punch, the other blocked and avoided the trailing flames. When the other arced a burning kick, the other ducked and flipped out of the way, only to counter with another blast of their own. Stray fire scorched across the streets, engulfing the buildings. Within mere moments, they fought surrounded by a raging inferno.
Azula focused herself, defiant against the blistering heat of their hellish battlefield. She ignored the growing beads of sweat dripping down her brow. She ignored the pounding in her heart. She locked eyes onto her opponent, and concentrated. Roku raced in again with another snapping punch. Azula evaded, pushed the strike away. Flames roared. She darted inward, thrust two fingers forward. The air ruptured with a jet of blue.
Roku matched her yet again, countering with a swift spin to deliver a rising kick at her jaw. Azula leaned back, fractions of a second before his boot struck empty air. Heated flames followed, and her sweat beaded heavier. Another rapid flurry of strikes, and Azula leaped back to create some distance between herself and her opponent. If she couldn't beat him up close, perhaps she could overpower him with ranged attacks.
Azula held out both her hands, as a bright ball of blue flames erupted in either palm. She threw the first, and followed it up immediately with the other. While they were still in the air, she shifted back into her trademark firebending pose and shot off several more fireballs from the tips of her fingers. Roku never flinched. His eyes narrowed, and he held his ground, chopping a hand at each of the burning projectiles. Blue embers sparked into the air, as he cut each fireball in half. In the same motion, he snapped into his own assault, returning a blazing bombardment of his own. Azula did the same, deflecting each fireball with a series of expert strikes. Still no ground gained by either combatant.
More power, then. Azula breathed deep and filled her body with her chi. Energy poured through her, fueled her, and sparked into existence. A burning circle of fire whirled around her body, lifting above her head into a whirling cyclone of blue flame. With a push of her arms, the cyclone roared towards her opponent. Roku met the attack with one of his own. Bringing both hands together, the front two fingers of each extended, he thrust his arms forward. In an instant, his entire body engulfed with a cone of fire that shot outward to greet Azula's blast. The two fire streams met each other and swirled around at a central point before exploding outward in a shower of fading embers.
Azula's fingers twitched, fueled by a twinge of aggravation. How could this be? She wasn't holding back at all, and yet Roku could keep up with her just fine. Effortless, even. Throughout her whole life, Azula's own skill had surpassed most other firebenders. That held doubly true nowadays. When it came to modern firebenders, she could fight circles around any of them. Roku was different. Never before had Azula been forced to use every ounce of her skill and cunning to match an opponent. Only Yula had ever given her this much trouble before, and that was only because Yula had been powered by Sen's essence. Well, and perhaps Zuko during their last Agni Kai, but her mind had been falling to pieces then.
No excuse right now. No reason for her to be having this kind of difficulty. Her lungs heaved and her muscles throbbed, working overtime to keep her body going, as she exerted every bit of effort she could muster. This man needed no excuse to match her. No, he matched her for one simple reason: he was just that skilled. Roku was a past Avatar, after all. But he couldn't be invincible. One way or another, she would beat him. She would come out on top.
She always did.
Roku watched her with careful eyes, a hint of intrigue growing as he took her in. "Your style of firebending is different from most other firebenders."
Azula offered a cocky scoff, and held up one of her hands. A blue ball of flame sparked to life between her fingers. "Yes, well I am a prodigy. If you haven't noticed."
"No, I don't mean your skill, nor the color of your flames," he replied, holding a hand to his beard. "The source of your bending, your breath of fire—it comes from a different place than when I was alive. Though you strike with the intent to win, and without mercy, there is no hate or anger in your bending. Your flames may cause destruction, but they do not come from a source of destruction. There is a different sort of warmth in them. Something full of life." He paused a moment longer, easing a gentle sigh. "I don't suppose that would make any sense to you."
"Actually, it makes a lot more sense than you think." Azula narrowed her eyes in concentration, as the fire in her grasp flickered and dissipated. "I've met the Sun Warriors, learned their methods. I used to pull my firebending from more hate and rage than you could ever imagine, but now it comes from a place of peace."
Roku nodded in satisfaction at the answer, his eyes glowing in understanding. "Ah, I thought as much. Just the same as Aang when he was the Avatar, and your brother, Zuko. Firebending like yours is rare indeed."
"Don't let that fool you. I'm still just as lethal as ever." Azula took an offensive stance again, fire burning in both hands this time. The flames lit her body with a blue glow in the shadows of the storm above. Rain droplets hissed and popped as they met her fire, emitting lines of steam from her grasp. "I am the most powerful firebender in the world, and I'm more than a match for you."
Roku did not retort or refute Azula's claim, as he prepared himself to fight again. Rather, something resembling a smile broke onto his face, lips curled ever so slightly. "I suppose I should have expected nothing less from a descendant of mine. The blood in you is strong, just as it was with me."
"Oh, don't get all sentimental,"Azula muttered, with a roll of her eyes. "I'm still going to char you like an overcooked steak."
"We shall see."
They engaged once again, meeting each other's attacks with such ferocity that opposing flames exploded on impact. Neither combatant relented. Neither slowed down. Strike after fire-fueled strike collided, detonating miniature sonic booms of heat. Azula spun through her assault and delivered a kick straight at her opponent. Roku shifted and did the same, far enough away that their strikes never connected. Flames erupted, one side blue, the other orange, in an undulating dance of roaring power. The two opposing columns of fire circled each other, swirled into a central point, and exploded. The resulting blast launched them both backwards across the ground, spinning and rolling across the street. Neither remained down for long. Both flipped back up to their feet and steadied their stances.
With distance once again between them, Azula swirled two of her fingers through the air. Lightning began to spark at the tips, charging with as much chi as she could hold. "Alright, I think it's time to end this."
Roku followed suit, charging his own fingers with an equal display of lightning. "I think you are correct."
Air hissed and sizzled, as the two firebenders shot opposing bolts at each other. The two opposing streams of lightning connected with a high-pitched electrical whir, briefly coiling into a singular point. Sound vanished for one fleeting moment. A second later, the moment shattered. Both bolts exploded outward in a wave of sizzling, electrified air that engulfed the entire city block. Windows of the surrounding buildings shattered, parked satomobiles caught fire, and the falling rain briefly evaporated into a sphere of steam, before being swiftly replaced by the rain above it.
When the air cleared, Azula found herself lying flat on her back, staring up at the sky. Falling raindrops stung her eyes before she regained the sense of awareness to blink them away and try to sit up. Her body screamed with agony with every movement she made. Each muscle in her body fought against her will, threatening to rebel against her if she continued, but still she persevered. By the time she made it back to her feet, her stomach churned on the cusp of vomiting. Somehow, she held it down. With a quick glance, she searched for Roku.
The past Avatar had been knocked back into one of the satomobiles parked on the side of the street. The frame of the vehicle had caved inward upon impact, creating a human-sized dent in the side. For a long moment, Roku remained unmoving. Eventually, he began to stir and pull himself out of the dented car. His actions were sluggish and pained, each movement drawing an agonized groan from his lips, but he was not yet down for the count.
Time to fix that. Fighting through all the pain in her body, all the fire in her burning muscles, Azula raced towards her opponent in a dead sprint. By the time he returned to his feet, she was already upon him, leaping forward with her fist pulled back engulfed with blue flames. When her knuckles met the man's jaw, she released a massive eruption of fire. Flames engulfed the man's entire body in a brief flash, before being extinguished by the rain. The damage had been done. Roku flew through the air and landed with a wet smack against the pavement, his clothes charred and singed. He didn't move.
"Hmph." Azula scoffed, bringing an arm around her ribs to hold herself. It did little to lessen the pain. Turning from her opponent at last, she limped slowly down the street in search of the others. "Told you so."
The time following Kyoshi's defeat was sluggish and tired. Toph could barely stand after her fight, while Suki had sustained injuries of her own. Gathering together their unconscious friends proved to be a more laborious task than it should have been, but eventually they had lined up Mako, P'Li, and Suyin in a row underneath an awning, to keep them out of the rain. Most they could do right now was try to make the three snoozing benders comfortable with a few rolled up blankets and pillows from a nearby store. Suki had tried waking them, but so far her efforts had been fruitless.
Sokka, the only one to have escaped the conflict relatively unharmed, stood in front of the frozen citizens with a hand pressed against his chin, as he considered the best options in freeing them. "You know, if we had a waterbender this would be easy. Anybody know where Katara is?"
"Last I heard, she was on the front lines to fight Sen," Suki replied. "Same with Korra."
Sokka hummed a contemplative breath. "I suppose a firebender could melt the ice, but it'll take a lot longer."
Toph scoffed, and motioned to the unconscious Mako and P'Li on the ground. "Not to mention, the only firebenders we have are a little out of it right now."
"We can figure something out later," Suki said. "Right now we should try to find the others and regroup with them. All those who learned the special spirit forms need to get together so they can stop Sen."
With a defeated sigh, Sokka turned away from the ice and made his way over to them. "I guess you're right. Let's take these guys and get out of here. In any case, at least we stopped the giant lady over there."
As Sokka made a gesture towards the entrapped Kyoshi, the metal surrounding the past Avatar creaked and groaned. All eyes darted warily towards the sound, watching with worried reservation at what had caused it. A few moments later and the metal started to twist and bend, denting outward. In the next instant, the makeshift prison exploded, forcing Toph and the others to duck for cover.
They never had a chance.
The attacks were swift and merciless. A block of earth collided into Sokka's chest, while a second clipped Suki's legs out from beneath her, sending them both tumbling across the ground into a nearby building. Toph managed a passable defense briefly, but her body was still exhausted from her previous fight. Soon enough, her guard broke. A block of stone crashed into her gut, puffing the air out of her lungs in a single coughing gasp. Her vision flashed white, followed by rippling stars, as a following block struck her forehead. She crumpled, sprawling flat onto her back in a haze. Her mind warped. Her body refused to move. The entire world spun.
Kyoshi brushed herself off as she stepped free of the prison. Her eyes narrowed, and she glanced back to study the broken and twisted metal. "In all my years as the Avatar, I never once considered trying to bend metal. But seeing you do it and knowing it's possible... Well, it really isn't that difficult once you figure it out."
Toph managed to lift her head for a brief moment. Nausea flooded through her a second later, and her head flopped limp back to the ground. She couldn't see Kyoshi step forward and lift a massive boulder above her head, but spirits she could sense it. She could sense it, but do nothing to stop it.
Well, shit.
They really were screwed this time.
"Now, we end this," Kyoshi stated, lifting her arms higher in preparation to let the boulder come crashing down.
With a swift pull of her arms, Kyoshi dropped the boulder. What should have been a thunderous crash of stone against flesh instead erupted with a rupturing crack, as the boulder exploded into a cloud of rubble. Kyoshi's gaze sharpened in search of the reason why, only to flare wide at the sight of a figure crashing through the remains of the boulder. The attacker's knee collided into her jaw and shoved her backwards. A metallic whir zipped through the air. Something pulled tight around her wrist and yanked her end over end, something long and whip-like. A metal cable. She flipped through the air, helpless to stop the cable from snapping her back down to the ground in a crashing heap, half crumpled with her knees pulled up into her chest. Kyoshi heaved a deep breath and stumbled back to her feet, while tearing the cable free from her wrist. With a fierce glare, she focused on her new opponent.
"Nice try, but if you want them, you have to go through me." Kuvira retracted the metal cable to her wrist and took a wide stance, arms raised in a traditional earthbending style. "And I promise you, I won't make it easy."
"You..." Kyoshi's glare focused intently. "You are the one formerly known as the Great Uniter."
Kuvira flinched ever so slightly at the sound of her old title, but she shoved away the thought. "My name is Kuvira Beifong. I am the Matriarch of Zaofu, and I will stop you."
"Kuvira! You sure about this?" The call came from down the street, where a large polar bear dog stood at the end of the block. Zuko had to shout to be heard over the howling storm, his voice barely carrying far enough. Katara sat behind him on Naga's saddle, hanging onto a still-unconscious Shayu between them.
"I'm sure!" She raised her voice loud enough for them to hear her, but she never took her attention away from Kyoshi. Couldn't afford to let her guard down for one moment. "You two just get Shayu to safety! I'll deal with her."
Kyoshi frowned, barely acknowledging the polar bear dog as it plodded out of sight around the street corner. Her focus remained squarely on Kuvira. "You will try."
They clashed in a brief, rapid exchange, more a test of each other's skill than anything. In spite of her newfound ability to metalbend, Kyoshi continued to favor earth. While her earthbending was top notch, her skill in metalbending remained new and raw. Untrained. Kuvira exploited that fact, mixing in strikes with the metal strips around her bracers in addition to her own earth. Kyoshi held her ground and deflected the strips, but her defense lacked grace and elegance. Her deflections were crude and direct, breaking the metal apart rather than swatting them aside. Kuvira added more and more metal to her assault, both with a barrage of strips and with the cables beneath her bracers. Even so, Kyoshi's mastery of earthbending was enough to counter what metal she couldn't bend away herself.
Their second exchange was far more violent. Fiercer. Having suitably sized up her opponent, Kyoshi attacked with every bit of her might. The ground ruptured at her command and assaulted Kuvira with a storm of rocks and earth of all different sizes, from the smallest of pebbles to massive boulders. A display of power that would have decimated any opposing earthbender who tried to block it directly.
Kuvira wasn't any earthbender. Her training with Korra had given her mastery over the basics of all four elements, even if she couldn't bend those elements herself. She blocked the smaller attacks, while gracefully dancing away of the larger ones, moving in spirals like an airbender. Each time she dodged an attack, she asserted control over it and redirected a counter back towards Kyoshi, like a waterbender would. Each of those strikes were crisp and powerful, fueled with the perfect breath of a firebender. While she might only be able to bend metal and earth, Kuvira applied techniques of all four elements in her style. With that, she could match Kyoshi step for step.
Granted, the same was true for Kyoshi, given her time as the Avatar. In that, they were equals. Unable to be so direct with Kuvira, Kyoshi began to apply similar techniques, until they met again in close combat. What had been a crude, brutal battle morphed into something resembling more a dance than anything. Kyoshi struck with swift cuts of her fans, while Kuvira countered with the elegant swirl of her cables. Glancing blows connected with either opponent, but still they pressed on and refused to give ground to the other.
After one particularly brutal exchange that found Kyoshi thrown to the ground by a metal cable, and Kuvira struck down by a rising pillar of earth, the two combatants backed off and created distance between themselves. A chance for them both to catch their breaths, as they stared at each other with lungs heaving, desperate for air.
Kyoshi watched her opponent closely, analyzing her as if searching for something. Her eyes focused in a way that made her appear to be staring into Kuvira's very spirit. "There is something different about you, Kuvira. I can sense it deep within you."
Kuvira hesitated, pressing her eyebrows together in curiosity. "What are you talking about?"
"There is something familiar about you." Kyoshi's attention sharpened, unblinking in her examination of the other woman. "I may not be able to bend all the elements anymore, but I am still closely attuned to the spirits. I can sense a person's spirit, to know their character and their worth. It isn't much, but sometimes this sense reveals astounding things. Right now, it's telling me that there is a spiritual connection of some kind."
Kuvira's confusion only intensified. "You mean between us?"
"Yes, I know this feeling." Kyoshi closed her eyes and breathed in deeply. A moment later, she seemed to come to a revelation, and offered a simple nod. "There is no mistaking it."
Kyoshi unleashed a swift attack, with barely a twitch of her left foot. A fissure cracked across the ground in an instant, giving Kuvira only a single breath to step back and counter with an equal strike. Both their fissures collided, causing the ground to erupt with an earthen geyser.
As the dust settled, Kuvira resumed her defensive stance, never taking her eyes off her opponent. "You're not making any sense."
"I would have thought it obvious," Kyoshi said, mimicking the same stance. Her eyes opened again, and focused directly on Kuvira's. "You are a descendant of mine."
"What?" Kuvira's stance faltered at the statement, but Kyoshi made no move to capitalize on her moment of shock. Her mind raced. Surely that couldn't be true. This was a ploy by Kyoshi to throw her off and gain an advantage. But if that was the case, why hadn't Kyoshi attacked yet? The past Avatar remained standing there, staring.
Kuvira strengthened her stance again, but still her mind swam. Could that really be true? She had so few memories of her biological parents. Su had taken her in nearly thirty years ago now, when she'd been eight years old. So long ago now that her parents' faces had long since faded from her mind. She remembered being angry at them for a long time. Hating them. They had cast her aside like she meant nothing to them, forgotten about her and left her to fend for herself. That hate and anger had dwindled to apathy over time, and now nothing came to her when she thought of them. Had one of them been descended from Avatar Kyoshi? Was Kuvira really standing face-to-face with her ancestor, an ages old relative?
"You seem unsure," Kyoshi stated, without a hint of surprise in her voice. "Hardly unexpected, but this is something I'm certain of. Just looking at you, fighting with you, seeing within your spirit—I see myself in you."
"You're... not lying." Kuvira swallowed the knot in her throat and eased a steady breath out her lips. It wasn't a question, but rather a matter-of-fact statement. Even with the uncertainty in her tone, a part of her sensed that same connection the longer she gazed at Kyoshi. Somewhere deep inside her, something sparked. An understanding. A certainty that she knew more of this woman that what she'd simply read about in stories. There was a closeness there, between herself and Avatar Kyoshi. A kinship.
"Indeed," Kyoshi replied. The steel returned to her gaze, and again her stance shifted. "A pity then, that I must end you."
The two engaged once again. Kyoshi struck with the full might of her earthbending, putting everything she had into a finishing blow. Had she led with such a maneuver a few minutes ago, she might have won. In that moment, Kuvira was more focused and at peace than she had been in a long time. In that moment, she'd gained the final piece of understanding about her own being. In that moment, she knew she would triumph.
Kyoshi ripped out a massive boulder from the ground, nearly the size of the small buildings that lined the streets. Kuvira stood her ground, unflinching as the mountainous projectile launched towards her. She darted inward, straight towards the center of the earthen slab, and drove the points of her fingers square into the stone, focusing her earthbending into a single point. Stone ruptured and parted around her. In the same motion, she released the metal cable from one of her bracers and snaked it through the air. The cable wrapped around Kyoshi's ankle and retracted enough to pull her off balance.
Kyoshi pulled back on the cable with her own limited metalbending, a desperate attempt to redirect the flow of the attack. Not enough. While Kuvira did stumble forward, she never lost her footing. Never lost control. She retracted herself along the length of the cable, lunging the rest of the distance towards her opponent in a fraction of a second. Kyoshi took a step back, eyes flaring. Too slow. Kuvira's knee cracked into the bottom of Kyoshi's jaw, snapping the past Avatar's head backwards and leaving her in a staggered daze. Kuvira never slowed, continuing her momentum beyond Kyoshi with a firm tug on the cable. This time, Kyoshi dropped to her knees.
Kuvira turned and spread her arms, pushing the metal breastplate around her chest free of her body. The armor hovered in midair and shot forward, latching onto Kyoshi's chest. Kyoshi grabbed at it, attempting to rip it away with her own metalbending. Panic lifted when she realized the futility.
The armor was made of platinum
"Now it's over," Kuvira said, lifting her arms upward.
Both the armor and Kyoshi shot into the air and flipped end over end. With another swipe of her arms, Kuvira dropped the past Avatar down onto her head with a sickening crack. Kyoshi's body remained stiff for a brief moment, before finally collapsing limp against the ground. She didn't get up. Huffing out a large breath of relief, Kuvira allowed her legs to buckle. They gave out a second later, and she dropped to her knees. That was one problem down, and one bigger problem to go.
Asami's fingers twitched as she prepared to engage her opponent. In those brief few moments of pause, her mind flashed to mere minutes ago, when she'd sent Sinn and the Republic City Police away to help the citizens. The order had made sense at the time, but then she hadn't been standing face-to-face with one of Sen's minions. Perhaps Sinn had been right in her reluctance to leave.
Damn her lack of foresight. Asami had underestimated their enemy. This Megumi, as she called herself, had probably been waiting for exactly this moment, when Asami's protection had gone away and left the Spirit Conductor vulnerable. How they even knew about it was another issue she didn't have time to think about. An all-powerful spirit had to have his ways, after all.
Still, Asami was perfectly capable of defending herself, even against a bender. She had everything she needed. With a clench of her fist, the shock glove around her right hand sparked with electricity. Rain hissed against the brief flash, filling the air with a puff of steam. One touch would put Megumi down. Asami just had to get close.
Megumi struck first, guiding an arm forward. Water erupted out of the flask at her hip in a roaring stream. Asami dodged to the side and entered into a sprint all in the same motion, heading straight towards her opponent. Her focus remained sharp, watching for the next attack from the waterbender, and yet for as prepared as she was she never saw the next strike coming. A whip of water lashed out and struck the back of her legs, tripping her to the ground. Asami fell forward, but managed to use her momentum to catch herself against the ground with her hands and push back to her feet in the same instant.
Asami spun around to find where the attack had come from. Nothing there. Pain exploded in her shoulder, as an icy block collided against her. She stumbled, catching herself on the ground to keep from falling. A second blow cracked against her chest from a completely different angle, and she collapsed into a puddle. Rain poured over her, soaking through her clothes down to the bone. What in spirits name? The world spun for a solid five seconds before she rolled over and forced herself upright, eyes darting frantically back and forth. Where had the attacks come from? Why couldn't she see them? And how could they be hitting from so many different directions?
Rainwater dripped into her eyes, causing her to recoil and reach up to wipe them clear. Her hand paused partway. The rain. That was it. Megumi was using the rain, a massive water source falling all around them. With it, she could pull water from wherever she wanted, using it to attack from any direction. Asami was surrounded by water.
Shit. That made things a lot more difficult. Fighting an opponent who could control every individual drop on its way to the ground, Asami was little more than a turtle duck trying to take down a platypus bear. Not that she'd give up. She couldn't give up. If she didn't succeed here, they were doomed. Had to get up and keep going, had to find a way to take down this woman. However she could.
Asami sprang back to her feet and remained focused, trying to predict where the next attacks would come from. Water swirled in midair, prompting her to dodge backwards before the stream collided with the ground where she'd been standing. A second spark of water formed behind her. She dodged again, this time forward, closer to Megumi. A third strike formed above her. She rolled forward, sprang back to her feet, and continued to advance.
With every attack Asami dodged, Megumi doubled her efforts. A relentless barrage of watery tendrils flared into existence amongst a constant storm of icy shrapnel. Far too much to avoid. Far too much to overcome. A flurry of blows exploded against Asami's body. Light flashed into her vision. The world spun. When her senses swirled back, she found herself lying on her side with hot barbs of pain stinging through her body.
"You're fighting a waterbender in the rain," Megumi said, her voice barely more than a whisper. Her tone sounded almost sad. Reluctant, even. "You have no chance. Just stop."
"I can't stop." Asami twitched, clawing her fingers against the wet ground. With a heaving breath, she pushed herself upright, one arm wrapped across her ribs, teeth grit to bear the pain. "I can't give up. If we lose here, this entire world is done for. I'm not going to let that happen."
"I know..." Megumi stared with a distance in her eyes. There it was again: the sadness. As though she didn't want to do this, and yet couldn't stop herself. Raising her arms, Megumi pulsed her chi into the air. In a single flash, the falling raindrops froze in mid-fall under her control. With another motion of her arms, they flew outward to surround Asami. Each droplet elongated into sharpened needles—thousands of them, all around her. No escape.
Somewhere over the sound of pouring rain, Asami heard Varrick and Zhu Li shouting for her from the truck. Too far away to make out the words. Too far away for them to help. Asami staggered, mind racing to think of a way out of this. There was nothing. Nothing she could do. Nowhere to run. With a simple flick of the wrist, Megumi would bring the needles down and shred her to pieces. Pain warped her vision into a blurry haze. Resigned to her inevitable fate, she let her head fall and waited for the last pain she would ever feel.
The sound of needles striking into a solid surface brought her mind racing back on alert. There was no pain. No end. With a blink of surprise, she lifted her gaze again to find herself surrounded by a dome of sand. The barrier swirled and quivered, and with a simple shake threw the frozen needles outward into the sky. Asami balked at the sight. A miracle, come to save her. A miracle accompanied by a voice that split the rain-filled air, fueled by a blinding rage.
"Leave her alone!"
Sinn appeared a moment later, propelling herself airborne with a boost from the ground beneath her. She spun in midair, extending a pair of metal whips from her bracers that coiled rapidly around her form. When she landed, she sliced the whips in a vicious arc at Megumi. The waterbender recoiled with wild eyes and raised a desperate wall of ice in front of herself a fraction of a moment before the metal tendrils cut gashes into the frozen surface.
Following Sinn's attack, the sand surrounding Asami pulled back into a single stream and exploded through the air, snaking its way towards Megumi. This time, Megumi didn't see the attack coming. The sand wrapped tight around her ankle and pulled her upward. Hari stepped into view, his hands raised and fingers clenched to fists. With a simple yank of his arms, his sand slammed the now helpless Megumi into the ground.
"Sinn!" Asami called, with a rush of relief surging through her body.
Sinn glanced back at her with a knowing stare. "Didn't I tell you not to send me away? I knew something like this would happen!"
Asami recoiled, hissing out a sigh. "Okay, maybe you were right."
"Yeah, well you can make it up to me later." Sinn returned her attention to Megumi. "Right now, we have to take this bitch down."
Hari attempted to lift Megumi again with his sand, but the waterbender cut herself free with a blade of ice. She washed the rest of the sand from her leg with a quick stream of water, and retook a combative stance. Sinn lunged in to attack from close range, while Hari covered her with small, condensed shots from his sand cloud. With her attention now split between two opponents, Megumi struggled to keep up. While she managed briefly to deflect Sinn's sweeping metal whips, repeated clumps of sand pelted against her body, gradually wearing her down. Sinn broke through her guard in seconds.
Ducking around a slashing tendril of water, Sinn rushed close and thrust a fist upward. A block of stone followed her motion, colliding straight into Megumi's chest. The waterbender staggered two steps backwards, stunned and gasping for air. Exactly the opening Sinn needed. Spinning around for extra momentum, Sinn drove her elbow square into her opponent's gut. The strike brought Megumi to her knees, arms wrapped around her abdomen.
"It's over," Hari said, as he recalled his sand to the stone jar upon his back.
Sinn nodded and refocused her stance, prepared to deliver the knockout blow to the woman. Megumi stared up at her with widened eyes, but could do nothing to stop the impending attack. An attack that never came.
"I agree," said a new voice. "It is over."
A churning wave of water crashed across the street, sweeping over both Sinn and Hari before they could turn to defend themselves. The water froze in a single instant, trapping them inside. Asami blinked twice before she processed what had happened. With a horrified shout, she bolted back to her feet and ran to her girlfriend, desperate to break her free. But what could she do? She had no bending, no tools, no time. She managed only to beat her fists uselessly against the ice's surface. With each strike, pain jolted through her knuckles. By the fifth slam of her fists, blood streaked behind from open cuts along her skin.
"I see you haven't finished your job yet, Megumi." The same voice that had called out before the water froze Hari and Sinn. Moments later, a figure strode into view to match it, a gaunt man dressed in Water Tribe robes, who carried himself with sinister poise. Unalaq. He strode pointedly through the rain, coming to Megumi's side. With a firm grab of her arm, he lifted her back to her feet. "Pathetic."
"Let's just end this," Megumi muttered, grimacing with a pained wince. Her back bowed, unable to hold herself straight.
Unalaq merely sighed, turning his attention towards Asami. "Very well."
Asami snapped a searing glare towards him. "Let them go! Now!"
"No, I don't think I will." Unalaq sank into a waterbending pose and prepared to strike, gathering water from the falling rain to coil around himself.
Asami held her ground. Her legs trembled, threatening to give out at any moment, but still she faced him. The palm of her shock glove sparked to life, while her other hand tightened into a fist, fingers clenching so hard the blood from her bruised knuckles dripped into a puddle at her feet. As Unalaq shifted his stance to attack, Asami readied herself.
Unalaq recoiled in sudden pain. His legs dropped out from beneath him, collapsing him to his knees in a mere moments. Another cry of pain, as he fell forward to catch himself, hands planted against the soaked pavement to stay upright. Asami's brow lifted in surprise. A pair of red and silver throwing knives glinted in the rain, one stabbing into both of Unalaq's thighs. He made an attempt to pull the knives free, but before he could even clench his fingers around the handles, another figure flipped towards him through the rain. A woman dressed in bright pink cartwheeled her way towards him. When she sprang into range, she delivered a quick series of popping strikes to his left arm, instantly deadening the limb at this side. Unalaq recoiled again, a wild look of panic across his face. With a sweep of his good arm, he forced the attacker away with a whip of water.
"You!" Unalaq flailed, attempting to move his left arm. It dangled limp and useless at his side.
"Yup," Ty Lee replied, with a bubbly smile. "Can't have you causing too much trouble."
"Sorry we're late." Mai stepped into view, making her way next to Asami with a pair of knives clutched between the fingers of either hand. "We'd have been here sooner, but... you know." Looking around at the supernatural storm, she gave an indicative wave to the surrounding chaos.
Mai tossed another volley of knives through the air, aimed at Megumi. With a desperate recoil, the waterbender shielded herself with a wall of ice. Her balance wavered as she did, causing her to stumble to the ground. Ty Lee flipped across the pavement towards Unalaq, but before she could close the distance the former chieftain pushed himself away to a greater distance with his waterbending. He might be unable to stand and only have one working arm, but he was still a threat. He raised his arm again to counter the approaching Ty Lee, only to crumple when another knife pierced the side of his shoulder. A pained cry burst from his lips, and Ty lee closed the gap.
Unalaq's attention flared towards the chi-blocker. He stumbled back, his gaze shifting again. Not at Ty lee. At something beyond her. With a furious shout, he whipped his uninjured arm through the air, causing a column of ice to explode forward. Ty lee swiftly dodged the strike, dancing out of range with almost no effort. Not that she ever needed effort. Unalaq hadn't been aiming at her. The ice continued beyond her, beyond Mai and Asami. Continued towards his true target.
The truck.
Asami's throat tightened. Time slowed. She could do nothing. Nothing but watch as the ice drew closer, powerless to stop it. She screamed, but her voice drowned beneath the roar of the storm, and the pounding of her own heart in her chest. A massive spear of ice erupted from beneath the truck and launched it into the air. Varrick and Zhu Li both leaped out to safety a second before impact, but they could do nothing to stop the truck from flipping end over end. Or the Spirit Conductor from crashing to the ground.
Bits and pieces exploded off the machine. Nuts and bolts clattered across the street. Paneling tore away in horrific fashion. From her angle, Asami couldn't tell if any of the wiring had been exposed to the rain. Didn't matter. With the amount of damage done to it, the Spirit Conductor had no hope of functioning. As the truck came to a crunching halt, the ice spread outward, consuming both Varrick and Zhu Li moments later. In a single flash, they both became lost beneath a frozen prison.
Ty Lee closed the remaining distance between herself and Unalaq. With a few quick strikes, she completed chi-blocking the former chieftain. He fell with a thud to the ground, still conscious but unable to move. Ty Lee quickly remedied the conscious part. One more solid strike to the back of his head, and Unalaq fell out cold.
"We told you, you don't have any chance!" Megumi carved another wave of water forward, forcing Ty Lee to flip back and rejoin Mai and Asami. Her voice cut through the air, shrill and pleading. The way her face contorted, she might have been crying. The driving rain made it impossible to be sure. "Everything you're doing here, trying to stop Sen—it's hopeless! It's all hopeless!"
Megumi unleashed a relentless barrage of ice and water. Both Mai and Ty lee scattered in attempts to regroup, but they had already lost the advantage of surprise. As skilled as they were, they couldn't dodge a furious waterbender's attacks in the rain for long. Within a short few moments, Megumi's water swarmed them, and they too were lost within an icy prison.
Asami blinked, but didn't move. Shock rooted her in place. Her body refused to obey her commands. Refused to act. Even as her focus shifted from the shattered Spirit Conductor to the sight of her friends frozen within ice, she could focus only on the thumping of her own heart. Thunder boomed in her ears with each pulse. Louder, and louder, and louder, deafening above the storm. This wasn't supposed to happen. This wasn't how things were supposed to go. It couldn't end like this. Not now, not here. She couldn't let it.
A flicker of movement jolted her out of her daze. With a quick step backwards, she evaded the slicing water torrent with inches to spare. If the destruction of the Spirit Conductor had slowed time down for her, the following moments only sped it back up. Without a thought, Asami spun into a dead sprint towards Megumi. Another blast of water. She slid to the ground, ducked beneath it. An icy spear next. She sprang to her feet and leaped over it, spinning through the air. The flash of a frozen blade cutting towards her. She tucked her arms in and turned sideways. Loose strands of hair sheered away against sharpened ice, while she remained unharmed.
Asami landed three paces from Megumi. The waterbender took a step back in surprise and brought her hand up to repel the non-bender. Water surged forward. Asami ducked. The water surged harmlessly over her shoulder, and she lunged the remaining distance, clamping her right hand tight around Megumi's arm with the palm of her Equalist glove. Electricity sizzled into Megumi's body, lifting a shrill scream from the waterbender's throat. Asami pulled her hand away, and the scream silenced. Megumi crumpled, landing in a motionless heap on the ground with coils of hissing steam billowing from her body.
In spite of her victory, Asami found no sense of triumph. She could only turn around, her attention falling again on the Spirit Conductor in pieces on the ground. Her attention shifted, pausing on Sinn frozen within the ice. A bubbling sickness tore through her stomach, and with a weak shudder of her legs she fell to the ground. They'd failed. She had failed, and now they were doomed.
On the battlefield outside Republic City, Sen stood tall above the fallen United Forces. Thousands of bodies lay strewn about the field, each motionless on the ground with wide open eyes staring blankly forward. Their essences were gone, all freshly consumed by the Spirit of a Thousand Faces. There were no more planes bombarding him, no more airbenders attacking his legs. There was only silence.
Only one man remained, though he could do little more than gaze up at the dark spirit from his spot on the ground, barely able to move. His legs had long since given out, exhausted and injured from his efforts against the spirit.
"Foolish humans," Sen bellowed, with a pleasant chuckle. "You never had a chance."
"No..." Bolin uttered, with a heaving breath. He tried to force himself back to his feet. No good. His exhausted body shuddered and fell limp. As hard as he had fought, he and the other defenders had done little to slow Sen down. "We have to... have to stop you..."
A wide grin carved across Sen's human-like face. "You cannot stop me."
With a simple gaze, Sen drained the essence from the lavabender. It was only one more after thousands consumed that day, and yet somehow it tasted sweetest. Even so, there were plenty more to come. Turning his sights on the city, Sen skittered towards the mass of buildings. By now, his minions should have prepared the city's citizens for him.
It would all be over soon.