Chap. 26

"We all fight together, or we all die"

The creature stood in front of the portal, screaming it's horrible roar. Everyone who stared at it remembered the sight for the rest of their days. But when asked to describe it, they were never able to give a complete recollection of its appearance. All they could ever give were strange, conflicting reports; it was so short, yet it towered over them, its skin was every color in the rainbow, yet the sun gleamed off its white skin. It's body seemed to have the shape of a man, but draped in a fluid, watery skin that shifted and changed with each movement. It was a sight that filled them with horror, but everyone found themselves staring at it in wonder.

Everyone except the Knights. A burst of flame suddenly erupted against the creature's shoulder, and it howled in pain. But the attacks kept coming, as Tierra suddenly fire off rocks at the creature, keeping it off balance, while the others added to the battle.

"Keep going! Don't let it get its balance back!" Oscuridad screamed, as he began to fire his own shadowfire at the creature. There was a new element in his voice now, an element that the others had not heard before; pure and undiluted fear. It was that fear that caused the rapid attacks by the bat, which were quite effective. Upon the first touch of the black flame, the creature screamed in utter pain, more then any other attack. But before the creature could recover, bursts of light suddenly bombarded it like arrows, seeming to strike with hundreds at a time. Oscuridad turned to see Luz firing lightwaves at the creature at a ferocious rate, her face a twisted mask anger, broken only by a smile every time the creature screamed.

"Come on, it's on the ropes!" Fuego yelled, as he turned up the flame. "Luz, Osc, get ready!" the red man yelled. But then, he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. Fuego's face became a mask of horror, as he yelled out, "Zuko, Toph, NO!" But the two benders didn't hear him, and they let loose with their respective elements. It was then that everything changed.

As the two attacks began to move towards the creature, it suddenly turned its attention to them. It suddenly held up its hands, and the fireburst and wave of earth suddenly stopped. But before anyone could wonder why, the earth beneath their feet suddenly bucked and shook, tossing them around like a rampaging horse.

"Toph, what are you doing?!" Katara yelled as she was pushed down and around by the rampaging earth.

"It's not me!" Toph yelled back. Katara started to ask something else, but before she could a word out, the earth suddenly changed into mud that began to absorb her. Katara struggled fiercely against it, but then the mud began to grow hot, as if it was being stoked by flames. As it grew hotter and hotter, Katara screamed as it burned her skin. In moments, those screams were joined.

The creature howled again as it watched its victims. Suddenly, it brought out its arms, and a wave of strange white light began to ooze forth. The light touched a pair of nearby houses, and they vanished into it. The creature howled again, almost in delight at this sight, but then halted. Looking over to the side, it cocked its head. Then, as swiftly as it had appeared, it vanished. The second it did, the ground returned to normal, and the group fell out of it, strangely uninjured.

Everyone began to pick themselves up, as they looked at in another in confusion. In their time on this earth, they had never heard of or seen bending such as this. It was powerful and dangerous, but at the same time, there seemed to be no real strategy or meaning to the attacks. It was strange and random and chaotic, totally unlike anything that they had ever seen. It was enough of a puzzle to even make them forget their personal rivalries for a brief moment.

"That was fun." Mai gasped, as she took a deep breath.

"What…. was that thing?" Zuko asked, as he helped Katara to her feet. "I've never seen such raw power before."

"Or such madness." Iroh agreed. "There was no strategy to that; simply blind power."

"Its aura was so dark." Ty Lee shivered, and for once no one disagreed. "What do you think, Azula?"

"I don't know." The Fire Princess answered. "But I want to find out. And I think I know who can tell me." With that, she pointed over to where the Elemental Knights had conjugated, arguing loudly about what they had just seen.

"I don't understand. How did one of them get here?" Aire asked in a panicked voice. "They said we locked them all away. How can there be one here? And how did these people manage to lock it up?"

"Maybe there was one they didn't know about." Hierro suggested. "This is a world of magic; the people here could've found a way. Their ancestors must've locked it in a pocket dimension, and unknowingly used the Ra-ketah to refill the magic. Then when it broke, whatever held it all together went haywire and bounced us through the rift that led us to New York. But does it really matter? We have to stop that damn thing!"

"My thoughts exactly." Luz replied with a growl. "And I think we all know where it's headed." Turning to the group, the fox said, "Aang, call Appa. We've got places to go and we need to get there fast."

"Wait just a minute." Azula snapped suddenly. "I don't give a damn where you need to go; I just want to know what the hell that thing is!"

"Yeah, you guys seem to know about it." Sokka added. Azula looked at him with a quizzical expression, which Sokka returned, realizing he'd just supported the Fire Princess. The Knights looked at each other, unsure of who should speak. Then Oscuirdad, as he always did, came forward and spoke.

"That thing," the bat began. "Is a creature known as a chaos-demon. They've been around since before the dawn of time, populating the nothing that existed before the High-God decided to create the universe. They revealed in the lack of rules and existence then, which allowed them to do and be anything. But then the High-God created the Architects and the elements, and used them to create the universe. The demons were enraged; creation spelled an end to the chaos that they revealed in. They rebelled and fought against the High-God and the Architects. But the order and power of creation proved to be anathema to them, and the High-God was able to lock them away in a pocket dimension, forever keeping them apart from the rest of his creation. But the demons are as much an anathema to creation as it is to them, and they have been able to escape periodically to cause havoc. But they can't hold it, and their effects leave with them; that's why none of you retained any injuries."

"So how did it get here then?" Sokka asked.

"I don't know. It's possible escaped and the people here were able to find some kind of magic that could lock it away in some kind of pocket dimension. That would explain the ceremony; lots of different magics have to be refilled periodically. But that isn't important right now." The bat said. "What is important is that we get after that thing and stop it. Aang, call Appa. It's going to take all of us to stop this thing. And I mean all of us." He finished, looking over at Azula and her group as Aang blew the bison-whistle.

"What? Osc, do you really think that's a good idea?" Desierto asked in amazement.

"She's an excellent Firebender, and you know that Elemental power is the only thing that can hurt a chaos demon. Besides her troops and friends are good warriors. We need all the help we can get." The bat replied.

"You do remember that she's, oh I don't know, a complete and total psycho?" Sokka snapped.

"He's right. If you bring her along, we'll be dead before we even find this creature." Zuko added.

"Oh please." Azula sneered. "Do you two really think I care about your little problems? I wouldn't help you if my life depended on it."

"It does." Oscuirdad answered grimly, as he walked over to the Fire Princess. Looking the girl right in the eyes, the bat said, "That thing has the power to change any element of creation it wants; that's how it could disrupt your bending. It hates everything in this world, and the only reason it left us alive is because it sensed an even bigger stronghold of order."

"And what's that?" Mai asked.

"What's requires more order then a small town to operate? And what's close by?"

There was silence a moment, then Jin gasped, and said, "Ba Sing Se. It's going after the city."

"And why should I care about that?" Azula sneered. "Once that city falls, the Earth Kingdom will belong to the Fire Nation. That creature will do us a favor."

"No, it won't." Oscuridad said. "If the demon gets rid of Ba Sing Se, it will wipe it out of existence in every form. No one will remember the city existed. The people inside will die without anyone mourning for them. The land will look like it never supported a city. And once Ba Sing Se is gone, it'll go after the rest of the Earth Kingdom. And then, it will turn its attention to the next largest piece of order in the world: the Fire Nation. And believe me, none of you will be able to stop it Princess, and the rest of the world will fall after that. So understand me when I say this; there are no sides right now. We all fight together, or we all die."

"Why should I believe you?" Azula asked.

"Because I have seen the evil that thing is capable of. But even if you don't believe me, remember this. You interrupted the ceremony and let that thing out, so if I'm not lying, the destruction of the Fire Nation will be on your head. Besides that, we saved your friend's life, so you owe us one. Or do you only do the honorable thing when it suits you?"

Azula's eyes narrowed at this crack at her honor, but before she could reply, Ty Lee stepped forward and said, "I'm in. What do you need me to do?"

"What are you doing?" Azula hissed.

"They're right, Azula." The acrobat replied. "They saved me and now they need help. What else can I do?"

"I never thought I'd say this, but Ty Lee's right." Mai said. "I'm in too."

"As are we." The Captain said suddenly. "The Elemental Knights are sent from the gods, and if they fear this creature then it clearly threatens all that we hold dear. Besides, it is the honorable thing to do given their charity to us."

With that, the Captain, Mai, and the rest of the troops moved over to stand with Ty Lee and the Avatar Gang, while Azula stood fuming.

"Not easy being alone, is it Azula?" Zuko asked mockingly.

"Make your choice. Do something honorable for the first time in your life." Iroh said sternly.

Azula looked at the ground, clenching her fists in anger and frustration. But eventually, she muttered, "Fine. I can't afford to lose any troops to that thing anyway."

"Good, we're all in agreement then." The bat said, just Appa flew over from his holding place. As everyone began to move towards the bison, the bat said, "Don't bother. We're taking a special route."

"Oh no, don't tell me we're flying again." Toph moaned.

"We aren't. Everyone get around me." Oscuirdad said.

"Why?" Ty Lee asked.

"Because he's got a very special route he plans to use." Luz answered roughly. "Now just do it."

The acrobat backed off at that, and quickly did just that. The others quickly moved around the bat, as he brought his hands together and shut his eyes. Suddenly a black circle appeared under the bat's feet and began to spread over the ground, underneath the other's feet.

"What is this stuff?" Katara asked. "It looks like….."

"I thing it's shadow." Aang replied. "Oscuridad is going to send us through it to reach Ba Sing Se."

"Well then he'd better make it a little bigger." Jin said, as she moved away from her father and leapt into the circle. As she touched down, the shadow stretched out and went under her feet as well.

"Jin no!" Kinjo yelled. "This thing is too powerful. Even the Elementals are afraid of it. Stay here with us!"

"Dad, this thing is going to destroy Ba Sing Se. I have to try to help." Jin replied.

"No, he's right." Zuko said. "We're going into something really dangerous here. I don't want you to get hurt."

"And you think I don't want the same for you?" Jin answered back. "You could die fighting this demon, and I am not going to let that happen."
"Dear Chirron, you are not going to protect that Firebender!" Kinjo screamed. "Get over here now!"

"Jin, please listen to him!" Zuko begged.

But Jin merely looked from her father to Zuko, and then moved across the shadow circle to where Zuko stood. Looking right into his eyes, she suddenly drew him in close and kissed him, as Kinjo literally frothed at the mouth. Finally she pulled away and said to Zuko, "I'm coming." Zuko, half-dazed, just nodded.

"Is that everybody then?" Oscuridad asked. Agua nodded, and with that, the bat began to use the power of the shadows. The circle began to move inwards, and as it moved past the people standing on it, they were turned into shadow and sucked down into the blackness. But despite this, there was still time enough for Jin to move over to Luz and speak with her.

"Luz, can I ask something?" the young girl asked.

"What is it?" the fox asked, in a tight voice.

"Well, what is it about this thing?" Jin asked. "The second you saw it, you became angrier then I've ever seen you. You attacked it like you were ready to rip it's head off, and frankly you're still mad."

Luz gave a brief chuckle, and said, "Remember how I told you an Elemental is partially made up of a deceased human soul?"

Jin nodded, and Luz said, "Well, what do you think killed me?"

Jin gasped, but before she could ask anything else, the shadow passed over her and Luz and the two of them were drawn down into the void. A moment later, the shadow moved to cover Oscuridad and the bat vanished into the blackness he'd created. The last bit of shadow vanished then, leaving Kinjo, Aia, and Hita standing there alone, as the family stared in the direction of Ba Sing Se and began to pray.