Here is the final part of the "Siege of the North." As always, feel free to review and give me your thoughts on what you like and what you don't. Enjoy!
The Avatar's Redemption
Book 1: Awakening
Chapter 6: Siege of the North: Part 3
Toshi can only see an icy darkness as he tries to feel for any sign that he is still whole. "Groan…Am I…cough cough…alive?" Toshi struggles to open his eyes but can barely move a muscle. He hears a silent whisper of aggravation that he believes to belong to Terran. "Cough…Terran? Is that you?" Terran excitedly jolted up. "Toshi! Your awake! Listen, don't move just lay there until I can think of a way out of here."
Toshi can feel his sore muscles throbbing; he thinks that his ribs might be broken but he can't tell. His coughs are heavy with some fluid that he hopes isn't blood. He finally opens his eyes but instead of seeing the dark and cloudy sky he sees a dome of rock filled with Terran and Dai Lee Elites. Toshi lays there without moving an inch while he assesses the situation.
Toshi struggled to speak, "I remember now…cough…we were assaulted and I…cough…helped you make this temporary shield. I must have blacked out again after that…" Toshi waited for Terran to come up with a witty response or at least say something remotely reassuring but Terran just nodded his head. Toshi tried to hold back his coughs, "Terran…ughh…listen to me. This shield won't last much longer it's going to break soon. You have to tunnel us out of here…" Terran stared at Toshi with hopeless eyes, "I can't. They brought reinforcements with mech suits that are able to hit underground with specialized wave cannons. Unless I can shut them down it'll be too risky."
Toshi could hear and feel the dome getting hit with an onslaught of blasts. He knew they only had a limited amount of time left before it broke apart. Terran held his ribs as he sat up, "Lucky for you buddy I think I got my second wind." Terran didn't respond; Toshi couldn't believe it, for once Terran was speechless and hopeless. Toshi had to think of a plan to get them out of there. He went through all the different pieces of weaponry he and the Dai Lee carried with analytical accuracy. After going through the supplies in his head a hundred times, he figured he could try to assemble a few E.M.P. bombs.
Toshi dragged himself over to Terran and tightly grabbed his shoulder, "Hey. I am going to put together a few E.M.P.s but I need you to charge them. Now I'm not talking about a simple quick charge, I'm talking a "royal" charge. You got me? Terran! Listen we can do this if you just trust me." Terran didn't respond. Toshi was getting impatient and decided to slug Terran across the face. Terran was knocked down but the punch didn't faze him physically but it did manage to get through him mentally. "Sorry. You got it Toshi. Whatever you need. Just do it quickly."
Toshi ordered the Dai Lee to give him their supplies. He began to meticulously work on the scraps of tech he could find but he was getting worried. The dome was crumbling all around him and dust was rising; he had to hurry. He was still sore but the adrenaline pumping through him allowed him to move through the pain. Terran attempted to stabilize the dome with a help of a few Dai Lee but it wasn't going to give them much more time.
Toshi hands fumbled through the tech until finally, "Finished! I've made four but now you need to supercharge them." Terran simply nodded again and began to take in a deep breath. He went through the ancient motions that had been perfected thousands of years ago. He could feel his skin and heart tingle as lightning traveled through his stomach and chest up to his arm until it reached his fingertips. "Erggh!" *ZAP* Terran felt exhilaration as bright blue lighting rushed out of him and struck the E.M.P.s.
Toshi's eyes glowed with confidence, "Perfect!" Terran calmed down and walked over to Toshi, "All right hand me the bombs and I'll place them around the battle field." "No," responded Toshi, "I'll get the Dai Lee to help me carry them out. We need you to strike with full force once I activate them." Terran was somewhat skeptical that the battered and beaten Toshi could handle it but he was right; they needed him to be the frontal assault now. "All right good luck." Toshi smiled and punched Terran in the shoulder.
Toshi turned to face the Dai Lee, who no longer had judgmental eyes but rather foggy eyes of defeat, "Come on. You four cover me and you four help me place the E.M.P.s. The rest of you strike at the enemy as a distraction." The Dai Lee formed a tunnel under the dome and quickly shot back up with Toshi leading the way. Terran sat down and focused himself; he could feel that burning energy once again but just like before it faded away into nothingness.
Calais was surrounded in black smoke as he fell to his death. Calais moved the air around him and cleared the smoke. His eyes were burning and his vision was blurry but he could still make out what was happening. He didn't have his glider but he wasn't helpless in the air; he launched himself forward with the wind as he landed on several pieces of falling rubble. He leaped onto every piece of rubble he could find but each time he did the rubble would crumble apart. Calais felt glass cut through his skin as he fell further down; the cuts were shallow but he knew had to move quickly before he got seriously injured.
Calais glided on the air and finally landed on the ground as the building finished its descent into destruction. He jumped and spun himself through the air to avoid any falling debris. He landed safely out of sight and tried to collect himself. He saw soldiers belonging to the fire nation but on his way here he was certain he saw water nation soldiers. Where were they now? Calais took another look at the battle field and could see what he believed to be disoriented earth benders scrambling around a torn up wasteland that was burning to the ground as they tried to avoid massive explosions.
Calais knew that the current Avatar was an earth bender and that he had to be somewhere in this battle. He didn't believe that the earth benders had the right to continue this cycle of war, in fact, he didn't believe any of the nations had this right but if he didn't help the earth benders then the Avatar might die. He recognized that his omission might prolong the suffering of the nations and their people so he decided he had to help the earth benders for now. He saw that one of the earth nation soldiers was moving with a purpose as he struggled to hold on to four small devices. Could this be the Avatar? He doubted it but either way he understood that this particular soldier needed to accomplish something.
Calais tried to stay out of sight as he shot air strikes at fire benders to clear the path of the earth nation soldier as he moved through the battlefield. He also tried to use his air bending to lift the earth nation soldier out of the range of explosives and fire blasts. Calais couldn't keep this up for much longer; oh how he hoped he was doing the right thing.
Toshi was either incredibly lucky or someone other than the Dai Lee was helping him but he couldn't see anyone in his range that could have assisted him. It didn't really matter to him right now because he had already dropped of the E.M.P.s at their necessary location and he had located the General. The General was being held by fire benders near the back of the battle field as they tried to break every one of his bones and it sounded like they were making progress. Toshi yelled at the fire benders who turned to face him. Two of the fire benders pointed their guns at him; Toshi just gave a devious smile as he activated the E.M.P.s with his controller.
Four electromagnetic pulses opened up throughout the battlefield. Mech suits fell down, cannons deactivated, flight cannons began to fall out of the sky, and fire bender weaponry shut off. The General knew an opportunity when he saw one; he grabbed the fire benders around him and slammed them to the ground. He picked up two others and repeatedly punched their chests and launched them backward with a rock smash. The General told Toshi to leave the area immediately. Toshi saw the stone cold face of the General and knew that something big was going to happen.
Terran opened the dome and saw Toshi running back towards him, "You've got two minutes until everything comes back online! Hurry up and attack!" Terran leaped through the air and shot huge flaming comets down at the soldiers. Even if the soldiers managed to dodge the blasts of fire the comets would explode and engulf them in flames. Terran launched himself downward and caused an earthquake. He created intense air pressure that crushed the mech suits and anyone in them. Terran began pulling immense amounts of air towards him in attempt to suffocate the fire benders.
"AHHHHHH!" Terran heard the General scream in blind rage and felt the ground shake. In front of him he saw a huge wave of earth and metal at least one hundred feet tall pushing forward and crushing anyone in its path. Terran launched himself as high as he could with a tornado of fire; he saw that the Dai Lee and Toshi had already evacuated the crush zone but the fire benders weren't so lucky.
Terran landed back down to the ground and knew his two minutes were up but he wasn't worried. Terran knew they had one this battle but moments later he was immediately greeted with fear as he could feel more reinforcements coming in by way of underground drills that were now drilling upwards.
The General saw the drills reach the surface and he attempted to crush them but lacked the strength. The General reached into one of his compartments and pulled out a pill that he swallowed; his insides began to burn and he gnashed his teeth but his strength returned and he began crushing the drills and any new ones that were coming in.
Terran began to regain hope but he felt something that worried him. He didn't feel it in the earth but rather in the ocean. Water benders were bringing something in and that something was big. Terran locked himself into the ground and tried displace the water benders and whatever they were carrying. He was struggling to keep hold and his arms were starting to lock up but. There were too many water benders and they were beginning to overpower him. "NO!" Terran had lost his grip and the water benders immediately appeared out of the ocean in a water spout.
Calais was amazed he was still alive as he continually had to air bend his way out of blast zones. While he was moving he heard a few of the fire benders saying that soon this would be over with the help of the "Equalizer". Calais remembered reading up on the villain Amon and was worried if he stuck to close to the battle field he would die. Calais wasn't worried so much about his own death but rather what his death would bring about. If he died no one would have the necessary information to help the Avatar, who he now knew was here, so he decided to flee the area and jump back in if he was needed.
The water benders lifted up a huge piece of machinery out of the water and placed it in the center of the battlefield. The machine sparked in anticipation and blustered out black smog from its sides. Terran got ready to earth bend the thing back into the water, but as he began to lift up some earth he heard the water benders shout, "Activate the Equalizer!" The machine whirred a deathly and horrific sound as it shout out purple rays of electricity that were meant to directly affect the nerves of the body in an attempt to block bending abilities and cause immediate black out.
The rays hit every earth bender and even a few fire benders that were in the way. The Dai Lee screamed in agonizing pain as they were hit and each of them were launched back hundreds of feet. Toshi was hit by at least five bolts and immediately blacked out; the General was also hit multiple times and was launched forward through the air and landed with his face in the dirt and with smoke rising from his back. Terran tried to redirect the lightning bolts but as soon as it entered his body he was paralyzed and blacked out.
Terran pulled himself together and woke up just seconds later. He was filled with blind rage and could feel the familiar burning sensation. This time the sensation lasted longer and he knew he was going to enter a new level of power. As Terran shot out his fist in attempt to bend the burning sensation disappeared and nothing happened. Terran was gripped with horror. He began to breath in heavily while his hands became icy cold. He couldn't believe it…this couldn't be the end. He tried to bend fire, water, and air but nothing happened. He still had control over his earth bending but now that fear had taken him in and the sensation had disappeared he was far too weak to try anything. The water and fire benders began to move in for the kill.
Calais was in shock. He had just witnessed the complete destruction of an elite army by one machine. Calais knew he had to step in even if it was just to disorient the fire and water benders. He leaped into the air and pushed himself up as high as he could. He went higher and higher until he could feel the brisk sensation of the cold atmosphere. He launched himself downward like a meteor and could feel himself become lost with the air as if he was a bird. It was wonderful.
Calais slammed down in front of Terran and guided all of the air he had collected on his way down and blasted it forward like a torpedo at the fire and water benders.
Terran saw his enemies getting pushed backwards as they tried to push against the air that shot at them with the same strength as a typhoon. Terran had gotten an opportunity. He gathered all his remaining energy and created a massive sinkhole underneath the fire and water benders. He pulled every soldier he could and Calais underground and pushed himself backward with everyone being pushed along with him. He didn't stop until he was certain they were far enough away from the battle sight.
He launched everyone out and called for an emergency pickup, "I want you here in minutes!" The pickup came moments later and began to collect the lifeless bodies of the soldiers. An emergency responder grabbed ahold of the Avatar and began to yell at him in attempt to talk over the humming of the air ship, "Avatar Terran, we believe to have found an air bender. What do we do with him?" Terran saw them carrying the air bender's limp body, "Take him with us; he saved us." Terran got into the air ship and tried to maintain his composure but he just couldn't.
Terran fell to his knees and slammed the floor with his fists as tears rolled down his face. The Siege was a failure, he failed the people of the Northern Earth Nation, he had failed as a soldier, and most of all he had failed as the Avatar.
In the next chapter entitled "The Crossing of Two Paths" we will finally deal with the formal meeting between Terran and Calais and what their meeting holds for the future of the world.
