Before I get into the new chapter, I want to address a recent review I received. Now, I'm fully aware that I cannot write a story that everyone in the world likes, nor do I have a problem with that. If you don't like my story, that's fine. However, if you are going to critize another author's work, I would hope that you would follow these simple rules, which I feel all reviewers should follow to help make better writers.

1. Understand that in fanfiction, authors can can create worlds in which the 'base material' can take different paths. Allow the author to try to make their plot choices interesting before slamming them.

2. Read the story from start to finish, espically if the story is part of a series. Don't skim and expect to get a clear view of the story.

3. If you do not like the story and want to convey your thoughts, do so in a constructive manner. Tell the author what you didn't like and how he or she can improve; don't just say it sucks.

Sorry to bother everyone with this, but this review complained about some of my plot devices as if I was ignorant of the show(i.e. Katara, Sokka, and Zuko as siblings, which I established in the last story). I made it clear that this story is part of a series and full understanding comes by reading them in order, as so many of you loyal readers have been kind enough to do. Worse still, this reviewer offered no kind of constructive criticism, merely a 'I'm sure you can do better.' How can I do that if you don't tell me what to fix? Anyway, I just wanted to get that out, and I thank you all for reading and listening. On with the story!

Chap. 28

The Battle of Ba Sing Se Part 2

The hand moved forward, it's clawed fingers inches away from Azula. The Fire Princess tried to back away, but with the arch behind her, there was nowhere she could go. Before she could even begin to formulate a plan, the hand suddenly lunged forward. Azula screamed in terror and tried to bring up her arms to protect herself, but there was nothing left for her do. Because just before the hand clamped down on her, something grabbed her and dragged her out of the way, so that the hand clamped down onto nothing. Azula and her rescuer rolled out of the way, coming to a halt just the right of the arm. But the demon was quick, and turned its attention back to them. But this time, a blast of fire sparked across the air and splattered on the demon's hand. It pulled back in pain, and then became focused elsewhere as the attacks from the flyers resumed.

Zuko watched this with interest as he got back to his feet. The battle thus far was an even match. The creature was vulnerable to their attacks, but none of them appeared to be able to deliver a mortal blow. And if they couldn't do that, Ba Sing Se would be gone despite all their best efforts.

Not if I can help it. Zuko corrected himself a moment later. No, Zuko had been through too much in this city to allow it to be wiped off the map. Despite all his earlier misgivings, he truly had put roots down in this city. It was here he had found himself after three years of banishment and self-doubt. It was here he had discovered new friends, and new family. And it was here he had found Jin. This creature would never take this city from him, not after all he had received here.

Still, how are we supposed to kill it? He wondered. The Knights probably have a plan, but what? We can't keep this up forever! But before Zuko could go any further, he heard a groan from the side and remembered his sister. I still can't believe I saved her. He thought to himself as he turned around. And why didn't she blast the thing herself? She was able to roll away easily enough. But when Zuko saw his sister and her rescuer, all thoughts of disbelief at his rescue went right out the window.

"Uhh." Azula muttered, as she shook out the cobwebs. Whatever had happened, it had knocked the wind out of her. Still, it was better then being trapped in the demon's clutches. Slowly, Azula began to pull herself up, only to stop when she saw Zuko standing before her.

"What are you doing over there?" she asked. "I thought that you…"

"No it wasn't me." Zuko said, as he pointed to the side. Azula followed his direction, saw her rescuer, gasped and cried out, "YOU?!"

"Get ready, guys!" Katara cried out from her point, as she drew up the water from the nearby fountains and hurled it at the demon. Stunned, but not truly injured the demon stumbled backwards. Katara brought up another stream of water, prepared to strike again if need be. But thankfully, the others were well prepared. Moving as one, Toph, Tierra, and Long Feng sent a shockwave through the earth, straight at the demon. It stumbled backwards, unable to keep it's balance and after a combined fireburst from Iroh and the Fire Nation soldiers, finally crashed down onto the ground.

Once it was down, Hierro landed and dug all six of his hands through the pavement and began to direct his energies towards the demon. As his power worked through the ground, a mass of huge iron spikes suddenly shot up through the creature's body, impaling in about fifty different places.

The demon howled at the constant presence of the metal invading its body, as Hierro withdrew his hands, leaving the metal intact. As the spider looked over the demon, he heard Toph yell out, "Let's see you get out of that, you stupid monster!"

"Toph, let's not antagonize the creature until it's dying." Tierra said. "Right now, it's just really pissed off."

"Actually you should probably enjoy it now." Long Feng said. "Once this creature is deceased, I do have some plans for you."

"Yeah, we know." The dog snapped back. "But until then, you've got a threat to your whole city to worry about, so let's deal with one thing at a time, shall we?"

"Agreed." Long Feng said. "So, do you have a plan for killing this creature, or what?"

"Actually, yes." Tierra replied, as he pointed up to the sky. Long Feng looked up and saw the forms of Oscuridad and Luz hovering over the creature, waiting to attack.

"Nice plan." The minister replied, as the two Knights drew their weapons and prepared to drive them straight through the monster. "But why them? Certainly the Thunderer would be more effective."

"Oh no, this one is all about them." Tierra replied, as he looked up to watch his siblings strike. But before they could deliver the bow, the two Knights suddenly stopped in mid-air, inches away from the demon.

"Huh? What the hell are they doing?" Tierra swore as he stared in disbelief. "Kill the thing already!" he screamed to them in frustration.

"I don't think they can do that right now." Toph said, pointing to the front. Long Feng and Tierra looked over, and gaped in amazement as they saw people suddenly rushing past the gates and towards the royal palace.

"What—this is unprecedented!" Long Feng cried out as the people began to stream past him. "No civilian is allowed inside the royal palace!"

"I think they are now." Tierra replied. "But why are they coming this way? Osc told the others to get them to the outer ring!"

"We tried, but it didn't work." A familiar voice said from the crowd. Everyone turned to see Ty Lee, Mai, Jin, and the Captain coming towards them.

"What happened?" Tierra asked Jin.

"We got to the gate but it was smashed!" Jin said. "We couldn't get them through."

"The palace is the next largest structure we had available." The Captain explained.

"Dammit. All right, but get them in quick so we can kill this thing." The dog replied. But then Tierra paused a moment, looked over the group and asked, "Weren't there five of you before?"

"It was YOU?!" Azula cried out again.

"Gee, you're welcome." Sokka snapped, as he got up to his feet. "Are you always so polite to people that save you?"

"Sokka, what are you doing here?" Zuko asked. "I thought Oscuridad sent you to evacuate."

"We ran into a problem." Sokka explained. "The gate to the next ring is demolished; there's no way through. The next best thing is to load everyone into the palace and hope it can withstand the explosion. I came through to try to explain it to Oscuridad, but he was busy. Then I saw what happened to you and Princess here, so I thought I come and help."

"Never thought that a non-bender could be so useful. Not that I blame you; I'd try to save my betters too." Azula said.

"Don't flatter yourself." Sokka answered. "I saved you because of what Oscuridad said; you're a good Firebender and we need all the help we can get. That's it."

"Can you two stop for five minutes so we can deal with the problem at hand?" Zuko snapped, before they could continue what was becoming a rather annoying feud between them.

"Oh what's to worry about?" Azula snapped. "That thing's locked up; it's of no bother to anyone."

"Gee maybe the fact that it actually needs to die?" Sokka snapped back.

"Then go do it yourself. You're supposed to be the great warrior; slaying a monster would do wonders for your rep." Azula replied.

The second those words left her mouth though, Azula heard another howl fill the air. The trio took another look over at the demon to see it writhing around on the ground. As they continued to watch, the creature began to shrink, and as it's body contracted, it pulled itself away from the spikes, it's body reforming as it broke and twisted. The multiple arms folded back into the body, and after a few moments, the demon had achieved a new form. This form was that of a creature that seemed both lupine and spider-like, with four long appendages that stretched out from its sides and a flat, pointed head.

As the Knights and others looked on in amazement at this new form, the demon suddenly leapt in to the air, and with devastating speed, slashed at each of them. Most of the Knights were unprepared for the rapid attack and fell to the ground in pain. Iroh and the soldiers, along with Katara, Toph, and Long Feng also fell. The creature even went after Mai and Ty Lee. Only Aang, Oscuridad, and Luz were swift enough to avoid the attacks. Once all their friends had fallen, the creature looked up at the three remaining heroes, roared its defiance and then began to speed up the stairs of the palace.

"It's going after the building directly!" Luz yelled. "If it can get inside, it can wipe it out just by spreading it's chaos out from the center."

"Aang, go after it!" Oscuridad yelled. "If you go into the Avatar State, you should be able to hold it. We'll take care of the others."

"Right." The young Avatar nodded, and he quickly turned in the direction of the palace. As he glided off, Luz and Oscuridad landed on the ground amid the stunned bodies of their friends.

"Are they ok?" Oscuridad asked.

"Yeah. The demon didn't attack long enough to really hurt them. They'll be fine in a few minutes."

"Good. Then you know what we have to do."

"Right. I was hoping we wouldn't have to. It's so dangerous."

"I know. But this thing is too strong, and this is the best way to kill it. You knew it would have to be us, anyway."

"Right. Let's do it." Luz said, as she stretched forth her hand to her husband. Oscuridad stretched out his own, and grasped hers. For a moment, the opposing energy of light and dark was visible between their clasped hands, and then there was a sudden burst of black and gold light….

"Everybody ready!" Sokka yelled as he drew his club and boomerang. Azula and Zuko quickly moved next to him, just as the creature leapt over the final step and stood in front of them.

"You're not going anywhere, you ugly….. chaosy…… thing you!" Sokka cried out.

"Oh good job, I'm sure it's terrified now." Azula sneered.

"Will you just shoot it?!" Sokka yelled back.

"Good idea." Zuko agreed, as he sent forth a blast of fire at the demon. But again, the demon used its speed and dodged the attack. Before Azula or Sokka could even turn around, the creature had knocked Zuko to the ground and whipped past them as well. It rebounded off the wall and then slashed back down, knocking the Princess and the Water-Tribesman down. Once all it's foes were down, the demon began to head for the entrance, only to be stopped by the appearance of Aang.

"You're not going anywhere." Aang said, as he retracted his glider, and held out his staff in a defensive position. The demon's response was to roar and attempt to use its speed once again. But this time, Aang flipped over it and shot out an air attack that forced the demon back. The demon rode the attack and managed to remain upright, then lunged at Aang again. The Airbender dodged it again, but this time, the demon managed to scratch Aang on his arm. As they both came to a halt, Aang hissed in pain at the deep cut, then turned back to the creature angrily, his eyes and tattoos beginning to glow.

The demon lunged again, long claws growing out of its hands. Aang responded by slamming down on the earth, creating a huge pillar that caught the creature in mid-air. Before it could respond, Aang rose up on a funnel of air, and blasted the creature outward, right into a second pillar of earth. This time, the Avatar opened the pillar like a cocoon and then shut it directly over the creature, sealing it inside the earth. But even this did not last; within seconds, the pillar exploded, as the creature emerged in a new form. This one was comparable only to that of the legendary Hydra, a serpent with multiple heads. The only difference was the multiple clawed arms that grew out from the creature's sides. As the empowered Avatar prepared another attack, the creature suddenly sent out its arms in a massive wave. But the Avatar was prepared and began to send out concentrated airbursts that slice the arms into pieces. Nevertheless, there were simply too many arms to completely cut, and two of them managed to reach Aang, their claws ready to slice.

Before they could reach him however, there was a burst of energy that disintegrated the hands, and left two burning stumps in their place. The demon roared in absolute agony, as both it and the Avatar turned to see what had attacked. Zuko and the others were also beginning to pull themselves back up, and when they saw the attacker, they gaped in utter amazement. The attacker was a being that stood eight feet tall. It wore white robes and armor and carried a glowing white staff. A leather mask covered the upper part of its feminine face, and honey-blond hair spilled down it's back, right by its large, feathery wing.

But it was also dressed in tattered black robes and pieces of black armor, with blue scaly skin appearing in the bare spots. A leather mask covered its lower face, while it's red demon eye blazed forth from its scaled face. Black hair spilled down it's back, right past its leathery bat wing. It held a sword that blazed with black flame in its right hand. This creature, that seemed to be two, was literally split down the middle, it's right half black and demonic, it's left white and angelic. And yet despite this, there was no sense of confusion from it, like there was from the chaos demon. Even though it appeared to be as disordered as that demon, the more the group looked at it, the more this creature seemed…. Right, as if it was an ordered opposite to the madness of the chaos demon.

"What in Darya's name is that thing?" Azula breathed, her amazement not overtaking her curiosity. As if it heard her, the creature raised its weapons, and spoke in a voice like a man and a woman speaking together in unison.

"We are all that is and all that will be. We are the primal forces of creation. We are Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. We are angel and demon, male and female, light and dark, together as one ultimate power. We are the Almagan!"