Chapter Thirty-Five:
Kuma Beifong swung her sword in a wide arc, summoning a large wave of rock out of the ground. The wave swelled upwards, knocking away enemy combatants flying. She sliced through incomings rocks, crumbling them into dust.
Kuma leaned to the side and a fireblast whizzed by. She ducked under a water whip, and jumped before the earth could swallow her up. Kuma swung her swords back and forth, and the earth shifted in sync with it. Soldiers collapsed and toppled over, falling into heaps.
A thick gauntlet swung at her, and she sliced straight through it. The man backed off clutching his hand, and Kuma gave him a swift kick. She heard cables behind her and turned around. There stood some officers still loyal to Arashi.
As the cables reached for Kuma, she sliced and hacked at them. As they cables grew shorter, the officers approached closer. Kuma swung her sword at the nearest one, slicing through his breastplate. She gave a shove, and the pieces slammed him in the gut.
Another officer charged at Kuma. She dodged out of the way and cut the spool of his armor. The cables unraveled, and Kuma tied him up with it and gave him a kick to the back. She cut the top off another officer's helmet, and then gave him a hard strike with the flat.
Kuma heard a hissing sound and turned to see a fire and water blasts spiraling towards her. She put up a wall and the shots exploded against it. Coming at her was Arashi as well as Agni Kai leader Kosuke.
Kuma swung her sword overhead and slammed it into the ground. The earth split open, and Arashi and Kosuke jumped to avoid the fault. Kuma lunged at Arashi and swung at him. He grabbed her blade, but she delivered a swift kick to his gut to get it free.
Kosuke punched two blasts towards Kuma. She turned a swung her sword, sending a spray of rocks towards him. She then dodged a water whip from Arashi and swiped back at him. He moved quickly to avoid them, keeping himself out of her reach.
Kosuke moved in closer. He coated his fist with fire and swung at Kuma. She saw it coming and dodged, but was hit by Arashi's waterwhip. Kuma grunted and took a wild swing, but was hit again.
Arashi lifted up his whip to strike her again, but something hit his wrists. Recognizing it as a bola, he quickly froze it solid. He then took a sharp kick to the back. He turned around and saw Arata's friend Sela. "That was a cheap shot you..."
Her fist then slammed him in the mouth. He stepped back at swung at her with his whip. Sela ducked and threw a bola at him. He jumped over it, but Sela was able to jump back into striking distance.
Arashi dodged as Sela tried to punch him out. He then ducked as Kuma's sword came at his head. Sela avoided a few fireblasts from Kosuke, then continued attacking Arashi. Her fist hit Arashi in the gut, giving him a numb feeling. Not giving up, he swung his waterwhip in a wide arc, to keep Sela and Kuma away.
Sela then turned to Kosuke, and punched at him. Kosuke backed off, and threw a fireblast at her. She dodged it and kept attacking him. Her punches came closer, with Kosuke struggling to dodge and block.
Kosuke threw a kick, which Sela dodged. She slugged him hard, knocking him to the ground. Sela lifted up her foot to send a kick, but she tripped and collapsed. Kosuke grinned and tried to get up, only to fall back down.
Arashi saw Visola approach them. She stared at him with a wicked grin. "Daddy, I'm home."
Genji jumped away as a water whip came at him. He swiped at it with his shock glove, but Nao pulled it back. "You little pest." he sneered.
Genji backed off quickly to dodge the lashes. A couple of resistance fighters stepped in front of him, and grabbed Nao's whips. Genji quickly rolled a gas grenade at him, but Nao yanked his whips free and tossed it away.
Genji ducked down and crawled quickly towards Nao as he battled the fighters. He soon gained the upper hand and turned towards Genji. Nao swung his whips downwards, and Genji rolled as they splashed beside him.
Nao got more irritated and made short but sharp swings. Genji evaded for a while, then lunged at him. Nao pulled his arm back to avoid the shock glove, but Genji grabbed his arm with his bare hand and tried to pull him closer.
Before Genji could put the shock glove to Nao's chest, a whip hit his head. In relation, Genji swung his fist and hit Nao hard in the jaw. Nao snarled and struck him harder. "You stupid brat, I'll teach you, and then Visola will really teach you."
My eyes snapped open and my limbs spasmed wildly. Then they were held taught and I couldn't move them. Kinto was standing over me. "What's going on?" I asked.
"You were out." he said.
I suddenly remembered where I was. I sat up. "It's not over yet?" I asked.
"Not yet." Kaze replied.
I sat up and looked to see the battle all around me. Tsume had noticed what had happened to me, and went straight for me. He had tossed aside allies between us. I stood up and hurled fireblasts at him.
He stopped them with chunks of rock, but was hit with a waterwhip from Kinto. "You working with my sister?"
Tsume nodded and sent a spray of nails at him. Kinto batted them down. Tsume then lifted up a large rock from the ground. I quickly grabbed hold of it, and Kinto controlled his arms. We tried to drop it on him, but Tsume crumbled the rock to pieces.
Before we could stop him, Tsume started hurling the pieces. We dodged and ducked at his wild throwing. I grabbed some and threw them back at him. Kinto made a waterwhip with a bunch of rocks at the tip.
He swung the flail towards Tsume who tried to grab the rocks on the end. I kept throwing rocks and fireblasts towards Tsume, but he continued to shrug them off. Suddenly the ground under me collapsed. I struggled as the rocks squeezed all around me.
Kinto tried to control Tsume to get him to stop, but Tsume distracted him with bursts of nails and kept pushing me down. He came closer to me and extended his nails. I took a deep breath and let out a burst of flame.
Tsume jumped back, but came back at me. I struggled and forced myself free. I hurled blasts towards Tsume, but he continued to deflect them. A strike from a waterwhip stunned him briefly, and my blasts knocked him back.
Tsume swung his arms overhead, and I jumped back. His hands flew past me, and dug into the ground. I quickly glanced over to Kinto and realized what he had done. Before Tsume could react, and dug his claws deeper into the ground.
I bombarded Tsume with fire and airblasts. Even restrained Tsume could still move earth to protect himself. He pushed against the ground, but Kinto made his leg split apart. We beat down on Tsume, who kept struggling and to get free.
Seeing the tide turned on him, a few Water Tribe soldiers attempted to assist. Kinto stopped a watershot before it hit my head, and I threw a trio of fireblasts at him. A man took a swing at Kinto, and he ducked and aimed it another man.
Kinto and I froze water under the soldiers feet and they went toppling to the ground. We turned back to Tsume, who pulled himself free. He ran furiously at Kinto but he dodged. Tsume ran straight past him, and tried to turn around. When he did I threw fireblasts, that sent him through a wall.
Tsume got up and furiously hurled rocks from inside the building. I stomped the ground repeatably, cracking the damaged building. The building shook and quaked with each stomp, and Tsume rock throwing did not help. He was so enraged, he did not see what was happening.
The building collapsed. It's floor came crashing down into a heap of rubble. Briefly we stared at the pile, looking for motion. We then turned back to the battle.