Chap. 26
The Battle of Ba Sing Se Part 1
The Royal Palace of Ba Sing Se was located in the exact center of the city's central ring. From this point, one could climb to the roof and overlook the entire city from any direction. The palace had been built this way to symbolize how the rule of the Earth King spread out in all directions, and how all fell under his gaze no matter where they lived.
But for the last decade, the Earth King's rule had not been felt throughout Ba Sing Se, despite the belief of the populace. The power of rulership had belonged to one man, despite his lack of a title. But this fact never bothered Long Feng. Indeed, as he stood on the roof and looked out onto the utopia he had created, he felt immense pride at what he had accomplished. That was the main reason he came up to the roof; whenever he felt troubled, he could look out upon the ordered, peaceful metropolis he had created and feel at peace.
And why shouldn't he? Because of his efforts, Ba Sing Se was free of the plague of war, free of the influences of the other, less deserving nations. Ba Sing Se was forever rich in it's own culture and history, and there were none who would ever destroy that. The people inside had been organized and used to the bets of their abilities. Let the rest of the world fall under it's own weaknesses and failings. Ba Sing Se was strong enough to survive on it's own.
But the Avatar could destroy it all. Long Feng thought as he looked out over his city. That boy and his friends are wildcards. Despite my efforts, there is still a chance that they could disrupt all I have built. They are extremely powerful and clever, and the Avatar and the Knights are beyond measure. Sooner or later, they will try to find a way to contact the Earth King. If he learns how I have been pulling his strings, I will be imprisoned and stripped of rank. I must make sure that does not happen.
But to do that, I will need leverage on them. I cannot convince the Earth King that the Avatar or the Knights represent a threat to Ba Sing Se; their legends are too great for that. So I must go after their friends. My best chance may lie with the Earthbender. The Bei Fong family has been looking for their daughter for months. If I can get my hands on her, I can use her as leverage to force the Avatar into silence. It is fortunate that the Dai Li was able to find the information on her and the two Water Tribe children. Now, how can I get my hands on her?
But before Long Feng could begin forming his next plan, the ground below his feet suddenly shook. "What on earth are those troops doing?" he cried out, as he struggled to keep his balance. The shaking stopped a moment later, but then began to continue on and off, as it something was punching the building. As Long Feng tried to keep upright, a Dai Li agent suddenly ran up from the roof entrance.
"Sir, Ba Sing Se is under attack!" the agent yelled, as he ran over to his leader.
"What?" Long Feng yelled back. "These attacks are directly against us! How did they get past the walls?"
"Reports just came in sir. Apparently, a huge creature suddenly appeared outside the main wall. Before the troops could attack, it somehow.. walked through the wall. The wall became weakened and eroded after that, and the creature kept walking through the walls, immune to the troops' attacks."
"Don't call it a creature." Long Feng snapped. "This is obviously a new device of the Fire Nation. But Ba Sing Se had prevailed against….."
But Long Feng never got to finish, as another attack suddenly rocked the palace. Long Fend finally lost his balance and stumbled to the side, catching himself just before he went over. But it was then he saw the chaos-demon, as it unleashed its power on the palace. Staring in horror, Long Feng felt a thought go through his mind for the first time in many years; that perhaps, he didn't have the answer this time.
The creature that stood in front of the palace was not the same one that our heroes and villains had encountered in the village. This creature was much larger, towering over the palace at close to ten stories high. It's appearance had changed as well; it still kept the shape of a man, but now it's body was covered in glistening scales, which glowed with the same strange palate of colors that the group had seen. Four arms sprouted from it's sides, and horn grew from it's had. Yet despite all this, the form seemed strange and watery, as if it could shift and change at any moment.
Not that it truly made a difference. The demon's power was strong, and its attacks on the palace were more devastating then Long Feng realized. The demon was slamming its fists down on the palace grounds, seeming to shake it to pieces. But there was a darker motive to the creature's attacks. Each time it touched the grounds, part of it's chaos seeped into the ground, weakening the very essence of the earth, and the palace itself. If it was not stopped, the entire building would fade away into the nothingness it had been all those millennia ago, when the universe had not yet been formed. And with the loss of the palace, the demon would grow stronger, for another symbol of order and creation would be gone.
But the demon's own power was enough of a menace by itself. Chaos radiated from it in waves, causing madness as it had moved through the city. People's very natures changed in seconds as the creature walked by. Some became the animals their ancestors had once been. Others were driven mad, destroying all around them. But it was not only people; objects were also cursed by the chaos. Buildings, carts, anything and everything came to life or crumbled to dust under the chaos. Those few people that had managed to hold onto themselves were filled with terror and panic and the horrible changes that had riddled their city and their neighbors, and from their chaotic minds, the demon also drew strength.
It was into this madness that a pool of shadow suddenly appeared on the ground. As it grew, strange figures began to grow out of the shadow, looking as if they were extensions of the shadow itself. But after a moment, the shadow began to pull away and its inhabitants regained their true forms. Finally, the shadow was absorbed back into the man who created it, and Oscuridad opened his eyes and looked at the group before him.
"Everybody all right?" the bat asked.
"Is it always that cold?" Toph asked, shivering.
"It is utter shadow; it isn't usually warm." The bat replied.
"I think we're all ok." Aang said, as he looked around. "Although we may be the only things around that fit that description."
"I see what you mean." Sokka said, as he looked around at the madness before them. As the group began to observe it as well, a man dressed in green clothes suddenly ran past them, screaming as several green, round, vegetables hopped after him, with mouths full of razor-sharp teeth. "Cabbages, why have you betrayed me?!" the man screamed as he ran in absolute terror.
"Does that guy seem familiar to you?" Sokka asked. "I could've sworn I've seen him before."
"No, but maybe you can ask him, and have a nice lunch while the city falls apart." Azula sneered. "Honestly, do you always ask such stupid questions?"
"Oh I'm sorry." Sokka snapped back. "I guess I should to ignore everybody that I can't step over to get somewhere, just like you."
"Knock it off you two." Katara said, stepping between them. "We've got bigger problems now. We need to find that thing before it causes more damage."
"I don't think that'll be a problem." Mai said, pointing to the front. Katara turned and gasped, as she saw the huge demon crushing the palace before them. "What happened to it?" Katara gaped as she stared in horrible wonder.
"Chaos-demons change their form constantly." Hierro replied. "Staying in one permanently reflects the influence of creation. The only constant is that glow with their skin."
"But regardless, we need to send that thing back to hell." Oscuridad said. "All right, everybody who can bend, either spread your wings or climb onto somebody who can fly. Elemental power is the only that can hurt this thing, and we need as much firepower as we can muster. Remember, you have to stay absolutely focused on your attacks so that the demon can't corrupt them like at the village."
"Hey what about us?" Sokka asked, gesturing to himself, Mai, Ty Lee, and Jin. "What are we supposed to do?"
"Sorry Sokka, but boomerangs and pressure points aren't much good against this thing." The bat replied. "What I need you four to do is try to contain the chaos here, and get as many people as you can into the next ring of the city. When we kill this thing, there is going to be a backlash, a combustion of seismic, nay, biblical proportions."
"Huh?"
"In layman's terms, it's gonna blow up real good." Agua explained. "That's why we need you to evacuate."
"OK, but shouldn't at least one bender stay with us, since anything really can happen here?" Sokka asked.
"I'll stay." The Captain said suddenly. "There are enough Firebenders already." Turning to his troops, he said, "Men, you hereby under the command of the next highest military figure; General Iroh. Listen to him well, and you may survive this day."
The men nodded, saluted, and turned in the direction of Iroh. The old general was surprised, but quickly recovered. "Men, this battle will test every inch of your mettle. If you are to survive, then you must rely not only on your own strength, but also on the strength of your fellows. Only together, can we defeat this evil. Protect each other, and protect those you fight with. Let the battle be joined!"
"All right then! Everybody, climb on!" Oscuridad yelled, as the benders quickly made their way onto Appa, or onto the back of a now-armored Knight. Once everyone was ready, the bat held his sword high, and cried to the heavens, "VIVA LA RAZA!"
"VIVA LE!"
"For the Fire Nation!"
With those cries in the air, the group launched themselves into battle, the others watching.
"We cannot hold out!" the General yelled, as the creature unleashed another attack. The guards dodged it, and attempted to use their Earthbending, only to fail under the creature's evil.
"We must!" Long Feng yelled back. "I will not have all that I have worked for be destroyed!"
"The creature is too powerful!" the General insisted. As if to prove, the demon's massive arm suddenly came down and scooped up the General. Long Feng watched as the General struggled against the creature's grasp, only to suddenly scream and literally fade away. The minister of state started in horror at the General's fate, then his fear grew as he realized that the arm was now coming for him.
But before the creature could touch him, there was a crack in the air. Twin bursts of lighting suddenly shot and blasted the creature, which pulled back and howled under the pain of the attacks. Long Feng watched as two beings suddenly circled around the creature, focusing their lighting on it. One was a man, dressed in strange silver armor with wings. The other was the Avatar's bison, and perched on its head was a young girl dressed in red armor and a teenage boy, directing lighting of their own. Long Feng instantly knew who they were; he'd read several reports on them from all over the Earth Kingdom. As the two forces broke off their attacks and circled around, other armored beings and the Avatar himself began to attack, letting loose their own elements onto the creature.
"Keep it up!" Trueno yelled out to the others, as he and Appa moved to the main entrance of the palace. Landing, Azula, Katara, Zuko, and Toph quickly dismounted Appa.
"Uhh, how do you ride that thing?" Azula swore. "It smells like it hasn't bathed in weeks!"
"It has been a while." Trueno said. But before he could continue, the ground rumbled, and suddenly Azula and Zuko were encased in twin pillars of earth. Everyone whirled around to see Long Feng standing there in an Earthbending stance.
"Let her go!" Katara yelled. "We need her help!"
"It wasn't bad enough you had to start talking about the war." Long Feng sneered, as he began to advance on the group. "You had to go to the next level. You had to bring in Firebenders! You probably brought in that creature to destroy my utopia! Well you won't succeed, do you hear me?"
"I think this guy's cheese just slid off his cracker." Toph said, as Long Feng continued to move forward. But before he could take another step, the demon suddenly let out a roar, and swung its arms around, scattering the flyers to the winds. It also brought another arm down on the ground, knocking everyone back and shattering the pillars of earth around Azula and Zuko. The two siblings shot back into two of the supporting arches of the palace, then slumped down. As both sat there stunned, the demon looked down and saw them. Reaching out with its arm, it moved towards the closer of the two, meaning to end their existence right then and there…
Azula slowly opened her eyes, only to see a giant hand reaching for her. Too stunned to move, the Fire Princess nonetheless felt fear fill her as death slowly came near…