Chapter 38: The Comet: Part Two
Into The Inferno
After one hundred years of soaring through the cosmos, Sozin's Comet flew into the atmosphere of the third rock from the sun once again. The ball of ice and rock ignited in the air, gradually burning off the outer layer and leaving a trail of fire behind it. Gravity's pull was countered by the extremely shallow angle of the comet's trajectory, allowing it to bounce off the planet's atmosphere after a relatively brief skim through the higher layers. Orbital resonance with the sun and the planets kept the comet in a stable orbit, ensuring that it would meet the same world every one hundred years throughout its lifetime.
For this one day in a century the planet's sky was a deep red, while the burning comet outshined the sun. Its presence heated up the world below, saturating it with the energy that fueled firebending. Every last firebender in the world felt the power of a hundred suns, immensely tipping the balance of power in their favor. This was the opportunity of a lifetime to reshape the world in fire, one that the Avatar had no choice but to stop.
Avatar Aang was currently standing in Anya's saddle with Azula and Ty Lee, but he immediately jumped off the side to get back into Appa's saddle where Katara was waiting. "We have to get moving, now!"
Katara handed over the reins to Aang, letting him take over guiding the sky bison. "Where are we going?"
"Ba Sing Se," Aang answered, already making Appa turn to the east. "I just hope we can get there before Zuko does."
Far to the northeast a fleet of eleven sky bison was flying south towards the Earth Kingdom, having bypassed most of the continent by flying over the top of the world. Only a few hours earlier they finished a rest stop in the ruins of the Northern Water Tribe's frozen city, currently being rebuilt into a refueling station for the navy. Soldiers stationed there still didn't know what to make of the strange oasis located there, only that Zuko didn't want anyone messing with it until he had the time to study it himself.
Now the northern shore of the Earth Kingdom was on the southern horizon, while only small islands were scattered across the seas below. Fire Lord Zuko stood in the center of the saddle he was in, taking in the view of Sozin's Comet in the eastern sky. At first he took in deep breaths of warming air, feeling the comet's warmth increasing his power. And he couldn't wait to use it on a large island directly ahead.
"Time for a test run," Zuko said.
During the rest stop at the a wide metal platforms had been attached to the sky bison's horns, complete with a safety harnesses to allow a person to safely stand in the air while having none of the sky bison's flesh or fur underneath. Zuko climbed onto that platform and attached the safety harness to his clothes, doing so as quickly as possible in case a strong breeze tried to blow him off. There he could look down directly ahead without having the sky bison's head in the way, truly seeing the world from a bird's eye view.
When the large island was close enough Zuko aimed one palm at the near shore, concentrating his enhanced power into his hand. A cone of heat stretched out of his palm and was pointed at the land below, then ignited into a massive plume of fire that burned its way down to the island's shore. Fire spread from the shore across the island, burning down forests that covered most of the land. The burn was accelerated by the sky bison moving Zuko and his firebending forward, making his plume of fire cut across the island and burn down everything in its path. Zuko stopped firebending when his fire hit the far shore, but the island continued to burn until everything on it was reduced to ash, the burning stopped only by the confines of the island's shores.
From the front of the saddle and looking over the side Mai watched Zuko burn down the large island, glad to be on this end of Zuko's firebending. Even from so high up in the air she could feel the heat rising from the burning land below. "Is this what you were expecting?"
"Everything and more," Zuko answered, clenching his hand into a fist. He turned his eyes on the horizon ahead, where he could see the Earth Kingdom continent approaching. "Ba Sing Se, here we come."
To the south the battle for Minara was nearly lost, from the perspective of the Fire Nation defenders. The one hundred and fifty foot tall stone colossus was crushing building after building and tank after tank under its feet, steadily walking in a straight line for the tower in the center of the outpost. It was only a few streets away from the tower when Sozin's Comet arrived, a sight that could not be seen by the blind girl commanding the Dai Li agents inside the colossus. In the outskirts of the outpost Sokka and Jeong Jeong watched the colossus work, wondering how Toph would respond to the more powerful firebenders.
On the ground a captain rallied the troops that remained near the tower, now that they had access to enhanced firebending. "Go For The Feet!" he ordered. "Give It Everything You've Got!"
Dozens of firebenders surrounded the colossus and attacked at the same time, each shooting thick plumes of fire that converged on the colossus's feet. The sheer volume of fire surprised even the firebenders, covering the colossus's legs in fire and rising up to its torso. At first the colossus ignored the fire that burned its lower half, the agents inside shielded from the flames. Gradually the intense heat of the fire seeped through the rock and reached the agents, beginning to cook them alive.
As the temperature rose it became increasingly difficult for the Dai Li agents to concentrate on earthbending. Their responses to Toph's commands became slow and sluggish, making the colossus's steps more rigid and much shorter. One by one the agents in the legs passed out in the heat, bringing the colossus to a halt just in front of the tower.
"Keep Pouring It On!" the captain ordered, keeping up his own firebending attack.
Even from her position in the colossus's head Toph felt some of the heat coming from below, as well as noticing that the agents in the legs weren't responding to her commands anymore. Toph quickly earthbended some narrow shafts into the rock beneath her feet, allowing her to speak directly to the agents in the torso.
"Get those guys out of the legs!" Toph yelled.
Agents in the torso got to work rescuing their comrades in the legs, sinking into the hot rock to grab passed out agents and then rising back up into cooler rock above. In moments the legs and hip of the colossus were abandoned, leaving it unable to walk any further. Fire continued to burn against the legs and heated up the rock inside, making it start to crack and crumble under the strain. But that wasn't going to stop Toph from getting one last attack done with the colossus.
The colossus's arms reached forward and grabbed hold of the tower just ahead, squeezing its hands hard enough to make the metal walls crumple inward. Once it had a good grip the colossus pulled on the tower and tore off two large chunks of wall, exposing the interior on several floors. Then it threw the chunks of wall away and into the firebenders below, momentarily disrupting their attacks as the metal crashed into the street. The colossus clenched its hands into fists and punched with both of them, hitting the exposed interior and crushing it inward. The fists were pulled out only to punch again and again, burying the colossus's forearms inside the tower on the fifth strike.
Suddenly large cracks spread through the colossus's legs, finally starting to break apart after being baked in thick flames. Those cracks allowed the flames to spread deeper into the legs and accelerate the heating of the rock, widening the cracks and weakening the stability of the colossus. Scorched chunks of rock broke off in the heat, further weakening the colossus to a critical point. One leg shattered into hundreds of pieces, putting all of the colossus's weight on the remaining leg and breaking it apart a second later.
Right when the colossus started to fall its hands grabbed hold of the tower's central support pillar, wrapping its fingers around it and holding onto it. The front of the colossus slammed into the side of the tower, making a deep dent in the metal and shaking the entire tower all the way down to its foundations. All of the colossus's weight was applied to the central pillar, sideways.
Never intended to withstand sheer lateral force, the central pillar buckled towards the colossus's side of the tower, compromising the entire structural integrity of the tower. Metal screeched as it tore apart throughout the tower, glass windows shattered as their frames twisted out of shape, and the ground broke open as the foundations were ripped up and out of bedrock. The entire tower tipped over and fell apart as it dropped into the streets of Minara, right on top of the colossus and the earthbenders inside.
"TOPH!" Sokka screamed as he saw the tower fall. The impact shook the ground for miles around, and at the edge of the outpost Sokka was knocked off his feet. When he got back up Sokka saw a cloud of dust rising from the rubble, which settled onto a pile of very still metal. With no regard for his own safety Sokka ran towards the rubble that covered his friend, praying to whatever spirits would listen that Toph was still alive.
On the western shore morning finally came for the Fire Nation controlled port, though it was difficult to notice with the comet outshining the sun. The red sky above was matched by its reflection in the sea below, making the blue sails of the Water Tribe ships stand out when everything else was in shades of red and orange. Still the Water Tribe had most of the port under their control, having wrecked more than half of the Fire Nation ships already.
But now the firebenders had all the power they needed to overcome their disadvantage on the sea, more than making up for their damaged fleet with sheer firepower. Plumes of flame arced over the water between ships, each one requiring the effort of several waterbenders to extinguish before it could hit a ship. Even then the heat of the flames reached the Water Tribe ships, melting ice off the hulls and sails faster than it could be replaced.
"Fall Back!" Hakoda ordered. He saw one ship get hit by a plume of flame, which punched through the hull and set the ship ablaze before it sunk. Hakoda gave a series of hand signals for the man in the crow's nest to relay to the fleet, but also yelled in case he couldn't be seen. "Get the wind in those sails! Get everyone out of here!"
As quickly as they could the Water Tribe ships changed course, but it was slow going as they were still fighting off the Fire Nation. The ships closest to the enemy had the hardest time changing direction, taking the heaviest fire while the crews scrambled to get the ships moving. Wooden hulls were scorched, sails were ignited, and crewmen were burned by the half dozen. One by one the ships burned and sank beneath the waves, and Hakoda's ship came closer and closer to the line of fire.
Nearby Pakku did his best to shield Hakoda's ship from firebender attacks, weaving his water cyclone in the way and blocking the flames. Pakku knew that Princess Yue was aboard that ship, and had promised her late father that he'd protect her. Right now Pakku valued Yue's safety above his own, compelling him to get that ship out of the port as quickly as possible. Pakku lowered his water cyclone until he was just above the water's surface, then put all of his power into creating a strong but narrow wave. Pushing the water pushed everything floating on it, which took hold of Hakoda's ship and carried it into the open ocean many times faster than it could sail.
However Pakku's efforts left him vulnerable to an attack from behind, which a firebender did not hesitate to exploit. A plume of flame hit Pakku in the back, searing into his flesh there while the rest of him was covered in fire. Pakku's concentration broke and he plummeted into the sea, putting out the flames that burned him while sinking in the water. Pain prevented him from focusing on waterbending, and burned flesh kept him from swimming to the surface.
But before he could sink to the bottom a length of kelp twisted and wrapped around Pakku's waist, courtesy of Huu and his plant monster swimming underwater. Huu had a pocket of air that was maintained by a tight seal of the kelp that formed his monster, while his wooden mask had clear ice over it so he could still see. Huu made the monster's arms grab Pakku and lift him back up to the surface, quickly followed by the rest of it. Then Huu made his way to the nearest ship, climbing aboard before seeing Pakku down on the deck.
Huu let his plant monster fall apart onto the ship's deck, having no need for it at the moment. "Healer!" he yelled, needing to get Pakku some medical attention. He could only hope that one would get there in time.
The flight across the continent felt like an eternity, no matter how fast Appa or Anya flew from west to east. Even with the prevailing winds of the far north adding to their speed the trip seemed to take too much time, each passing second seeming like they would be too late. The scariest part was not knowing just how far away Zuko was from Ba Sing Se, and the entirely real possibility that he had already beaten them there.
"Come on… Come on…" Aang muttered, watching more and more land roll over the eastern horizon, wishing for Ba Sing Se to appear. For too long it seemed like the mountains would never end, but eventually flat plains began. Then he saw part of a giant wall, the top appearing first while the bottom was hidden behind the curvature of the Earth. "There!"
Just to the north on the horizon, too far away to accurately tell distance, there was a bright light that almost matched the comet above. "Aang, I think that's a problem," Katara said, pointing it out for him.
Immediately Aang changed Appa's course, turning just slightly to the left and heading straight for the light on the horizon. Over time the light and the distant wall appeared to get further and further apart, revealing that they were still much farther away than the two places were from each other. As they got closer the light got larger and wider, splitting into several sources that had shined as one from afar. And once they were close enough to see what those light sources were, Aang's blood started to boil in righteous fury.
In a wide V formation was the sky bison fleet, with Fire Lord Zuko in front. Each bison had a set of four metal platforms extending from their saddles and arranged like the corners of a square, while each platform had a firebender standing on it and secured with a harness. And each firebender was shooting a giant plume of fire at the ground ahead, all forty of them and Zuko burning down land in a path over a mile wide. The front of the burning earth still had some distance to cover before reaching Ba Sing Se, but at Appa's current speed Aang couldn't stop it in time.
Aang readied his glider and held on tight with both hands. Wind swirled all around him, building up air pressure that Aang kept in check. When he was ready Aang released the pressure into the glider to launch himself into flight, soaring away from Appa with a burst of speed. Adding his own speed to Appa's sent Aang flying far faster than he had ever flown before, so fast that the wind felt like it cut into his skin. The glider vibrated so much under the strain that Aang feared it would tear itself apart, as it was never meant to fly that fast.
From his metal platform all Zuko saw ahead of time was movement to his right, drawing his gaze in that direction for a second. Seemingly coming out of nowhere Aang slammed into Zuko so hard that his safety harness snapped instantly, producing a loud crack sound that was heard throughout the sky bison fleet. Aang's glider shattered into pieces of wood and fabric while Zuko's firebending stopped instantly, followed by both of them tumbling through the air and down towards the ground.
Mai's eyes went wide at the sight of Zuko being yanked off the platform. "The hell was that?"
Both Aang and Zuko were disoriented after their collision, tumbling around while falling out of the sky. To their eyes the ground spun round and round while the wall to the south and the massive fires switched places again and again, all while red skies and red-lit ground made it harder to tell which way was up. It wasn't until the ground started coming up way too fast that Aang and Zuko reoriented themselves, then they started bending to slow themselves down.
First Aang used a few small gusts of wind in strategic directions to get himself upright, and when he was falling feet first Aang summoned a gale that blew straight up all around him, slowing him down with wind resistance. Meanwhile Zuko used some small fireblasts to reorient himself, and then he blasted fire from his hands and feet straight down to generate enough thrust to slow down. At the same time they landed safely, discovering that they had drifted several miles to the east during the fall.
With the city wall to his left and his enemy in front, Aang locked eyes with Zuko. Aang walked towards Zuko, but didn't say a word.
Zuko didn't like the silence, expecting something a little more grand from the Avatar. "Well come on Avatar let's hear it, the whole 'destiny and honor' speech."
"Speech this!" Aang said, throwing an uppercut that earthbended rock up into Zuko's face and knocking him back.
Right away Zuko recovered from the blow, and wiped a small trickle of blood from his lip. "Alright then," Zuko muttered, accepting Aang's challenge.
Zuko punched towards Aang to shoot a plume of fire at him, which hit stone as Aang earthbended a column of it straight up to get out of the way. From higher ground Aang broke off a large chunk of it and threw it down at Zuko, which missed when Zuko rolled to the side. Coming out of his roll Zuko swept a leg up in the air to make a wide arc of fire that burned its way towards Aang, but he shot his own fire into Zuko's to disperse it. But while Aang countered the attack Zuko shot fire into the base of Aang's stone column, weakening it enough with heat to make it collapse.
As Aang fell off the broken column he used air currents to guide his descent, as well as blow a strong gale directly at Zuko. The gale pushed Zuko back and held him off long enough for Aang to reach the ground, where he punched it to earthbend a crack into the ground that quickly stretched towards Zuko and ran in between his feet. Then Aang clenched his fists and pulled them apart, earthbending the ground to split the crack wide open underneath Zuko. Zuko got both feet on one side of the widening crack before he could fall in, getting right in the path of Aang's next earthbending attack.
When he saw a boulder about to hit him Zuko kicked with his feet and firebended with them, shooting thick flames from his feet that pushed him up and into the air. He rocketed up and out of the boulder's path, and kept going even higher. When he was a few dozen feet up Zuko stopped and stood on top of pillars of flame, and from there he blasted more fire down towards Aang. The fire missed as Aang dodged the attack, but still set the land ablaze where Aang used to be.
Aang earthbended another column of stone under his feet that rose up so fast it launched him into the air, and he used airbending to control his ascent towards Zuko. Along the way Aang firebended at Zuko, and as Aang expected he saw Zuko dodge the attack. With a gust of wind to push him in the right direction Aang went straight for Zuko, colliding in midair with Aang punching Zuko's face. Momentary pain broke Zuko's focus on his firebending and made him fall to the ground, while Aang gently drifted down on a cushion of air.
After rolling along the ground to cushion his fall Zuko got back up again, and was about to firebend when he noticed something wrong. That's when he realized that he was wasting time fighting Aang here, and that a change of scenery was in order to tip the scales in his favor. Zuko threw fire at Aang that he knew was not going to hit, just to keep Aang busy blocking or dodging. With that small window of time Zuko blasted fire from his feet to take to the air, and with fire from his hands Zuko steered his flight towards the south.
Once he was finished stopping the attack with his own flames Aang saw where Zuko was going, straight for the wall in the distance. "No No No," Aang muttered, taking to the air by mimicking Zuko's firebending, racing to catch up before they'd reach Ba Sing Se.
Far to the southwest firebenders organized their defense of a colonial village, now ready to properly repel the earthbenders and Kyoshi Warriors attempting to take it. With the comet's power their firebending easily outmatched their enemy's earthbending, allowing them to incinerate thrown stone blocks long before any could hit them. Fighting with weapons wasn't an option anymore as well, as the Kyoshi Warriors couldn't get close enough to use their war fans without getting burned.
"Retreat!" Haru ordered, knowing that this fight could not be won. But that was never the point, as pushing back the Fire Nation through a third of the village was victory enough. Now all they had to do was slow down the Fire Nation's advance, make them waste time retaking the village.
In groups of five the earthbenders started raising thick stone walls in front of the firebenders, momentarily cutting them off from the fight. Intense fires on one side quickly scorched the rock, making it crumble under the stress. Once the walls fell firebenders put out any remaining flames and then charged over the remains, pursing a foe that had already retreated through several streets. But by the time the firebenders got within firing range the earthbenders threw up more stone walls, forcing the firebenders to stop and burn them down as well.
All too soon the retreat reached the eastern edge of the village, wasting less of the firebenders' time than Haru and Suki wanted. Outside the village they would be out in the open, where the firebenders could use the full power of the comet without having to worry about damaging buildings. Adding to their troubles was the arrival of Fire Nation tanks from the south, driving the retreat towards the northeast.
Once all of the earthbenders and warriors were outside the village, Haru turned towards the hill that they had used to launch their attack. "Now!" he ordered.
Four Fire Nation deserters emerged from behind the hill and attacked, using their own firebending against the enemy. Their thick flames collided with flames coming from the tanks, stopping each other before any fire could hit anyone. The deserters held off the enemy and covered the retreat, allowing Haru and Suki to lead their forces towards the nearby river with the dam directly ahead.
When the retreat was near the replacement dam under construction one earthbender ran beside Haru and Suki. "Now can we break the dam?" the earthbender asked, seeing it up ahead.
"How many times must I…"
An explosion directly ahead cut off Haru, echoing across the landscape for miles. Smoke rose in the distance up ahead, quickly dispersing in the red sky. Everyone expected to hear the roar of flames coming at them, but instead they heard the sound of raging floodwaters. All eyes looked forward, seeing that the dam had been blown open and the river unleashed.
Haru cursed under his breath. "Who gave the order to blow the dam?!"
"I don't think it was ours," Suki said, seeing a wall of water heading straight for them.
"Everyone, Wall, Now!" Haru ordered.
All of the earthbenders rallied together, bending the same stretch of ground in front of them. Together they raised a wall ten feet thick, fifty feet high, and two hundred feet long. The wall was in place just in time for the rushing water to slam into it, hitting with more than enough force to crack the wall in several places and spray water through the other side. And at the ends of the wall water flowed freely around it, cutting off any escape to the left or the right.
"Not good, this is not good," Suki said, turning around to see more firebenders in pursuit.
With their own stone wall in front, raging waters on the sides, and supercharged fire behind, it was quite clear that they were trapped. "We hold the line here!" Haru ordered. "Backs to the wall, try to use the water!"
Everyone turned around and faced the firebenders approaching, which were funneled in between the divided river. They still had a moment before battle could be joined, which Suki knew that it could very well be their last. "We're all going to die, aren't we?"
"It happens," Haru said. He stomped on the ground to bend stone up from it, which he then used to encase himself in a twenty foot tall stone titan. "But miracles happen too."
On jets of fire Zuko flew towards Ba Sing Se, planning to battle Aang there so he could defeat the Avatar and burn down the city at the same time. Behind him and on his own jets of fire Aang chased Zuko across the sky, and was quickly closing the gap between them. Having more flight experience and access to airbending gave Aang the advantage in the sky, even when the form of flight was unfamiliar to him. Zuko's head start only lasted until he reached the outer wall, when Aang got close enough to throw a gust of wind hard enough to knock Zuko off course.
Zuko fell out of the sky and landed on the outer wall, scorching part of the top with the flames he used to control his landing. Zuko saw Aang approach and shot fire at him, forcing Aang to change course to avoid getting burned. Aang landed nearby and earthbended a large brick out of the wall and threw it at Zuko, but missed when Zuko leaped towards the wall's inner side. Before Zuko could reach the inner side Aang punched to firebend a large wall of fire that burned along the wall's edge, cutting off Zuko's path for the moment.
After seeing that the wall of fire was on Aang's right, Zuko blasted fire back at him but deliberately missed, letting his flames shoot past Aang's left. Then Zuko shot fire straight at Aang, while his earlier attack was still burning and cutting off that direction. Aang shot his own fire directly into Zuko's attack, letting the opposing flames clash in the middle. The heat from the clashing flames was so intense that rock underneath started to melt, forming a puddle of molten rock that spread towards very vulnerable feet.
At the same time Zuko and Aang stopped firebending and backed away from the spreading molten rock, as well as get a small breather before continuing the fight. But their fire battle on the wall had been a giant signal flare to everything in the sky, revealing their location to the sky bison fleet. Nearly all of the bison pilots ignored it and stuck to their orders, which were to keep burning the Earth Kingdom even if the Fire Lord wasn't with them. The sole exception was Mai, who lacked a firebender and could not participate in the big burn.
The roar of her sky bison gave away Mai's approach, getting Zuko and Aang's attention. Hot on her tail was Appa with Katara, trying to intercept Mai and stop her from interfering. Mai ignored the pursuit and had her bison dive towards Zuko, and she took a second to grab something important. It was a sheath with a pair of dao swords inside, which had been left in the saddle since it wasn't proper for the Fire Lord to be armed.
"Zuko! Catch!" Mai yelled when she was close enough, and she threw the sheathed swords at him.
With a high spin kick Aang airbended a gust of wind just over Zuko's head, hitting the sheathed swords and knocking them away from Zuko's reaching hand. The weapons fell off the inner side of the wall, tumbling down towards the ground very far below. That didn't stop Zuko from jumping off the wall and diving after his swords, blasting fire from his feet to accelerate his descent. Aang ran towards the inner side to follow, but stopped just in time to pull his head back and watch a knife fly in front of his eyes.
From her bison Mai threw more knives at Aang, aiming for where she expected Aang to be when her attacks could hit. In addition to her regular supply of knives hidden in her clothes Mai had hundreds of knife-filled leather sacks lining the saddle, a small fortune in thrown weaponry. Mai threw knife after knife at Aang until one of her knives was knocked off course by a thrown dagger made of ice, courtesy of Katara approaching on Appa.
"Go!" Katara yelled.
Aang didn't need to be told twice. He ran off the inner side of the wall and dived through open air, seeing Zuko already near the bottom and still falling. Zuko caught up with his falling swords and grabbed them by the sheath with one hand, and then quickly spun around to get his feet below him and blast fire down to slow his fall. He saw Aang in pursuit and threw a large fireball at him, which Aang dodged by using some wind to push himself out of the way.
When Zuko reached the ground the flames he used to control his landing set the land ablaze, for now burning a small portion of the Agrarian Zone. When Zuko set foot on solid ground it was blackened and scarred, while wildfires began to burn fields of crops all around him. Nearby Aang landed and earthbended a landslide's worth of sand out of the ground and dumped it on top of the fires between him and Zuko, snuffing out the fires and giving Aang a clear view of Zuko.
In his free hand Zuko grabbed the handles of his swords and drew them both, then threw away the sheath into one of the fires burning behind him. Gripping the handles in both hands Zuko pulled the swords apart, channeling his firebending into the weapons. Both swords burst into flames that grew to five times the length of the blades, shaped like larger versions of the weapons in their cores. And then Zuko smirked.
"Now then, let's try this again."
"TOPH!"
Sokka's screams echoed through the streets of Minara, most of which were deserted after the tower collapsed. At the moment the Fire Nation troops were disorganized and scattered, as well as severely demoralized after witnessing the destruction of Minara's distinguishing structure. At first Sokka was able to run straight towards the remains of the tower, all the while hoping that Toph would dig herself out of it. Hope turned to fear when a wall of fire cut him off, created by a firebender that had expected Sokka to run right into it.
Instinctively Sokka reached for a weapon to throw at the firebender, but his hand only grabbed air behind his back, and he cursed at the reminder of his destroyed boomerang. Then he saw the firebender punch towards him, shooting a plume fire straight at him. With nothing to duck behind for cover Sokka thought he was about to die, but then another plume of fire came down from above and intercepted the firebender's attack, clashing in the street with none of the flames reaching Sokka.
Looking up for the source of the second set of flames, Sokka saw Jeong Jeong standing on pillars of fire high above the street. "You're flying?!"
Jeong Jeong shot more fire down into the street, overwhelming the firebender that had tried to kill Sokka. More fire followed as Jeong Jeong struck down every firebender and soldier in the immediate area, but he left the path forward clear for Sokka. "What are you waiting for?!" Jeong Jeong yelled, seeing that Sokka was standing still. "Go!"
With the path clear Sokka resumed his run through the outpost, quickly reaching the remains of the tower. Piles of twisted metal on top of crumbling stone were all that was left, and Sokka climbed over much of it to get on the largest pile that he believed Toph to be buried under. There he started digging into the rubble, pushing the larger pieces of metal out of the way and throwing away the smaller pieces.
"Come on Toph, earthbend already," Sokka said, even though he doubted she could hear him. He kept digging into the rubble anyway, thinking that the noise and vibration from it would wake her. When he had dug down a few feet in the crumbling stone Sokka found a flat and smooth surface underneath. "Toph, are you in there?"
Sokka started slamming his fist on the flat surface, which felt very solid to his hand. But then several cracks crisscrossed through it, which then shattered into stone pieces that hit Sokka and tossed him back. He tumbled down the side of the pile all the way to the bottom, but quickly got back up and climbed his way back to where he'd been digging. And when he got there he found Toph inside a broken shell of rock, lying on her back while her fist fell onto her chest.
Weak groans escaped from Toph, while she looked barely conscious. "Daddy… I don't want to go to school today…"
"Oh that better just be a dream," Sokka muttered. He hurried into the broken shell, which he figured was how Toph protected herself during the collapse. Sokka picked up Toph in his arms and carried her out, trying to get her to safer ground.
The safest spot he could find nearby was where large pieces of the tower's metal wall had gotten stuck upright in the ground, and each piece was several times larger than a person. Sokka used those upright pieces for shelter and put Toph down behind them, even though it wasn't completely safe. Then Sokka propped up smaller pieces of twisted metal to reinforce the improvised shelter, to make it harder to fall over on top of them.
In the time it took for Sokka to work Toph slowly recovered, sitting upright and rubbing her head. "What hit me?" she muttered, feeling rather sore at the moment.
Hearing Toph's voice made Sokka sigh in relief. "That was something very crazy you did back there."
"Yeah, well, I get it from you," Toph said. She got on her feet and walked over to Sokka. "So did we win?"
"This battle," Sokka answered. "The war? I have no idea."
Out of the sky Jeong Jeong descended and landed behind the shelter. "I've driven them back for now, but the enemy is regrouping and will be back."
"How in the world did you just appear like that?" Toph complained.
"He flew in," Sokka explained.
"Oh," Toph muttered.
"There's more bad news," Jeong Jeong said. He pointed to the northeast, where the light of a huge fire could reach them. "It appears that Fire Lord Zuko is closer to Ba Sing Se than we anticipated."
"Then we have to help Aang," Sokka insisted.
"And how do you propose we get there in time?" Toph asked. "We're fresh out of sky bison."
Sokka turned to Jeong Jeong. "Can you fly while carrying two passengers?"
"If you wish to tie my hands, then yes," Jeong Jeong answered.
"Big problem with that plan," Toph added. "I can't do jack squat in the air."
"Right…" Sokka muttered. He started pacing around in a circle with one hand on his chin, trying to think of a way to correct those problems. A glance towards the fire in the distance let Sokka see many flocks of birds flying away from it, all fleeing the destruction of their natural habitat. "I got something, but I don't think you're going to like it."
"Is it big, dangerous, and likely to get us all killed?" Toph asked.
"Yup," Sokka answered.
Toph smiled. "Then what are we waiting for?"
Dodging fire became a lot more difficult for Aang, now that it was in the form of wide arcs thrown from burning swords. Fast leaps and jumps kept him just out of harm's way, and the terrain all around him suffered instead. Yet it seemed like Zuko didn't care if any of his attacks hit Aang, as when they missed they still struck and burned down crops and fields by the acre. Gradually Zuko burned a path southward through the Agrarian Zone, pushing Aang back towards the inner wall.
Halfway through the space between walls Aang got sick of being on the defensive. Aang bended stone up from the ground and covered himself in it, which he then shaped into a set of ten foot tall stone armor. Long legs let him leap high into the air before coming back down on top of Zuko, throwing a punch straight down with a stone fist. Zuko leapt to the side and let the punch hit the spot he used to be, making a small crater on impact.
With the other stone fist Aang punched towards Zuko, even though he wasn't close enough to hit. Firebending within the stone arm broke off its stone fist and launched it at Zuko, rocking through the air like a missile. The flying fist hit Zuko in the chest and tossed him back, breaking his concentration and extinguishing his swords while he tumbled along the ground.
But Zuko didn't stay down for long. Aang was nearly on top of him when Zuko got back on his feet and reignited his swords, swinging both of them into the stone armor's legs at the last moment. The strike shattered the stone legs and Aang's momentum carried him over Zuko to fall on the other side, plowing into the dirt and leaving a short gouge in the ground. Zuko saw Aang replace the missing pieces of his armor with new stone, then stand up again to face Zuko.
Zuko swung his burning swords around him in wide circles, making the flames grow and twist into each other to form a ring of fire. With one swift swing Zuko threw the ring of fire outward in every direction, hitting Aang and covering his armor in fire. The heat was so intense that the stone began to crumble, and by the time the flames had passed Aang's armor shattered. More fire followed the attack and Aang defended himself by making a sphere of rock around himself, one thick enough to withstand the heat.
Pressing his advantage Zuko swung his swords underneath Aang's rock sphere, breaking through softer earth between it and the ground. Then he thrust both swords towards Aang with the blade tips touching, firing a powerful plume of fire from the swords directly into Aang's defense. The plume blasted away the rock sphere with Aang still inside it, launching it across the land towards the inner wall. The rock sphere bounced off the ground several times before it cracked open like an egg, spilling Aang out just short of the wall.
As Aang recovered he saw Zuko pursing him, flying on flames from his feet while his swords burned through the air like the wings of a phoenix. When Zuko closed in he brought down both swords and struck the ground, unleashing a narrow wave of fire towards Aang. The fire missed when Aang dodged but it continued on to the wall, crashing against solid rock and burning up to the top, leaving a dark scorch mark in the wall.
Aang put his back against the wall and slammed both fists into it, earthbending twin cracks that ran all the way to the top. Another strike broke off a long slab of stone ten feet thick, and Aang pulled down on it with earthbending. At the last second Aang got out of the way while earthbending the falling slab towards Zuko, expecting him to dodge it and in the process leave himself open to an attack.
Instead Zuko threw both of his swords into the falling slab, slicing into the rock while the weapons still burned. Fire from the swords burned into cracks made by the penetrating blades, heating the rock inside so fast that the entire slab shattered. Small pieces of rock rained down over the nearby area, prompting Aang to raise a stone shield to protect himself from it. But then Aang heard an unmistakable sound…
Lightning
Zuko was charging a bolt of lightning larger than any he had ever used before, drawing on the comet's power to amplify its strength. When he fired it seemed less like artificial lightning and more like the real thing from a storm, booming with thunder heard for miles. Lightning struck in the exact spot that Aang had pulled the stone slab from, an ever so slightly weaker part of the inner wall. On contact the lightning exploded so fiercely that it tore down part of the wall, leaving a large gash wide enough for several tanks to pass through at once.
"Well that seemed unnecessary," Aang muttered.
On the open seas the Water Tribe fleet, or what was left of it, was trying to outrun the Fire Nation ships pursuing it from the port. The Water Tribe had the wind in their sails and enough waterbenders to shape the seas in their favor, but the Fire Nation had powerful engines and hulls shaped to cut through the water with ease. And while the Fire Nation had suffered greater losses to their fleet in the battle, the Water Tribe had fewer ships to begin with. Slowly but surely the Fire Nation ships were catching up with the Water Tribe, and soldiers onboard were firebending whenever a target came within range.
Inside one of the middle Water Tribe ships healers were at work treating the wounded, most of which had burns of varying severity. Some of the healers gasped when they saw Pakku being carried inside the room they worked in, fearing the loss of one of their best waterbenders. Pakku was unceremoniously dropped into a tub filled with water, right in front of the best healer Yugoda.
"Oh you had better not die now," Yugoda muttered, putting her hands in the water to begin healing. All of the water in the tub began to glow a light blue, which was strongest around the burns on Pakku's back. Yugoda knew that Kanna would never forgive her if Pakku died in her care, not before Kanna could watch Pakku struggle to figure out who she was.
After a few short minutes Pakku gasped for air, while his eyes darted back and forth to see where he was. He calmed down when he saw Yugoda at work on his burned body, which still hurt in spite of the healing in progress. "Did… did we make it?"
"Not yet," Yugoda answered. She could only hope that Kanna's son could find a way out for everyone.
Meanwhile Hakoda was on his ship leading the retreat, facing the ship's stern and watching the pursuit. From his viewpoint it seemed that the Fire Nation ships were beginning to sail in a tight and narrow formation, in which the firebenders aboard were starting to hurl fire overhead and overlap their attacks into a blanket of falling fire. They still weren't close enough to hit the Water Tribe fleet, but the distance was quickly shrinking.
But then one ship in the fleet broke away from the Water Tribe, making a sharp turn to the left and starting to circle back towards the Fire Nation ships. The red sails identified it as the pirate ship, with the captain that Hakoda barely knew. "Where is he going?" Hakoda demanded.
Even as he turned his ship back towards the enemy, the pirate captain showed no fear. He didn't bat an eye as his crew started to abandon ship, and even recommended that they ask waterbenders to provide safe passage to the other ships. Because for where he was going the ship did not need its crew, only its captain to ensure that it stayed on course. This was his decision, to meet his end at a time of his choosing.
Besides, the captain never did want to live forever.
At maximum speed the pirate ship sailed straight for the front of the Fire Nation ship formation, and was now unable to stop with its crew having abandoned ship. The captain quickly found his ship under attack from the enemy, seeing large fireblasts hurtling towards his position. Almost immediately the pirate ship was set ablaze, yet continued to sail on a collision course. While the upper decks of the ship burned up the flames took their time to reach the lower parts of the ship, where the pirates had stored their emergency supply of black powder.
Until it was too late the crewmen on the lead Fire Nation ship believed the other ship was playing chicken-possum, refusing to change course when they figured the other ship would turn away first. The pirate ship crashed into the lead Fire Nation ship, breaking apart while it continued to burn. In the chaos fires reached the black powder stashed below deck and set it off, exploding in a giant fireball that consumed what remained of the pirate ship and damaged the Fire Nation ship. The impact and the explosion threw the lead ship off course and slammed into another ship to the left and behind, which them collided with another ship and pushed that ship into another one, and even more ships collided with those before the formation broke apart.
From his ship Hakoda saw it all, shocked that the pirate captain would destroy his own ship like that. And yet the sacrifice paid off, the remaining Fire Nation ships stopped their pursuit to begin rescuing the crews on the crashed ships. Before long the Water Tribe sailed far enough away for the Fire Nation ships to vanish under the horizon, and then everyone on every ship let out a sigh of relief.
That's when the full weight of the battle hit Hakoda, feeling the loss of every life that perished with the ships that they had lost. "My god… what have I done?"
While the Fire Lord battled the Avatar, the sky bison fleet continued to burn its way towards Ba Sing Se. They still had several miles to go when another sky bison flew straight towards the fleet from the southwest, which the pilots recognized as the bison reported missing. They would have recognized Ty Lee holding the reins, were it not for Azula standing in front of her on the bison's head. While Azula's face was behind the blue oni mask and her hair was hidden under a hood, she wanted to make sure that no one would believe that Princess Azula was here.
After all, everyone knew that the princess only used blue fire.
From her perch on Anya's head Azula aimed a palm at the closest sky bison, focusing her newfound might through her firebending. A colossal plume of fire shot out of her hand and seared towards her target, burning red and orange instead of her signature blue. The bison swerved to get out of the way and the flames just barely missed its fur, but the attack still hit its left side metal platforms and consumed them along with the firebenders standing on them. When the flames passed the metal platforms were reduced to hot slag, with no sign of the two firebenders.
Immediately the sky bison fleet scattered, momentarily stopping their attack on the landscape to focus their attention on the more imminent threat. Plumes of flame crisscrossed through the sky, most of which were concentrated on Anya. Ty Lee had to make her bison twist and turn through the air to avoid the attacks, and yet she also had to keep a steady position for Azula to strike back. Azula had ropes anchoring her feet to Anya's horns, keeping her on the bison even when it would roll upside down to dodge fire.
Though she was going for the heads of the sky bison, Azula's aim was thrown off by Anya's erratic flight path. None of her attacks made direct hits, only grazing bison fur at best. Three bison were set aflame before their firebenders put them out, leaving black scars on white hides. One of the scarred bison also lost a firebender to one of Azula's misplaced attacks, while four unharmed bison lost a firebender each to Azula's fire.
But while she fought Azula kept track of every bison, noticing that one of the eleven was missing. A roar from the south corrected that, and a glance revealed Mai guiding her bison back to the fleet with Katara in pursuit. Azula guessed that Mai didn't want to waste any of her knives on Katara when there were perfectly good firebenders around.
Katara was closing in on Mai and attacking with a pair of long waterwhips, sweeping them back and forth in the shrinking space between Appa and the other sky bison. Mai made her bison rise and drop to avoid the attacks, all while keeping it on course for the fleet. When the two were within range firebenders started attacking Appa, shooting so much fire that Katara had to stop her pursuit. Katara put away her water and yanked on Appa's reins, making a sharp turn to avoid getting burned.
Once she was back with the fleet Mai took command of it in Zuko's absence, using a series of hand signals to send new orders. On her orders the fleet split into three groups, two of them flying away while the third remained behind. Three bison flew directly south towards Ba Sing Se to assist Zuko, three more flew to the southeast to burn down the eastern side of the city, and the remaining four stayed behind.
But while Mai gave those orders there was a brief pause in the fighting, which Ty Lee didn't hesitate to use to give Anya and Azula a breather. Meanwhile Katara steered Appa towards Anya's position, taking advantage of clear skies to fly in a straight line. When the two bison met they flew side by side so close that their paws could touch each other, close enough for a quick conversation.
"They're splitting up," Katara said, pointing at the fleet.
"It's so we can't follow all of them," Azula reasoned. She saw the three groups of sky bison form, guaranteeing that at least one of them could not be attacked again. "We could really use reinforcements right about now."
As if on cue, Ty Lee spotted something in the air coming from the southwest. "Umm, what in the world is that?"
When Ty Lee pointed it out Azula looked in that direction, and had a hard time believing what she saw. "That's no sky bison."
Katara stared at the sight, having only one possible yet impossible explanation. "Since when can Toph fly?!"
Ten minutes earlier…
"Sokka, even for you, this idea is completely crazy!"
Toph's comment was shared by Jeong Jeong, who was currently busy using a narrow but intense flame to cut through metal. When he was finished Jeong Jeong had turned a large chunk of metal wall into a long right triangle, which was twenty feet long and seven feet wide at one end. There was a second metal triangle already cut into shape, the last part that Sokka needed to get his idea off the ground.
Literally
"Sometimes, crazy works," Sokka reasoned. He surveyed the area one last time, seeing Dai Li agents emerge from the rubble to fight off Fire Nation soldiers. "Now let's get started while we still can."
"Aye-Aye Captain Crazy," Toph said.
To make Sokka's idea a reality, Toph started by recreating her signature golem from the broken remains of the colossus. Once it was complete with Toph inside its chest, Jeong Jeong leapt onto the golem's back. Toph moved some of the golem's stone around to completely cover Jeong Jeong, except for a narrow shaft to let Jeong Jeong breathe through. Then she made the golem walk over to the twin metal triangles and grab one in each hand, so she could then place the seven foot wide sides onto the golem's back. Stone moved again to draw in the ends of the metal triangles, giving the golem a set of metal wings.
Even more stone moved around to balance the golem's weight, making sure that the center of mass was around Jeong Jeong. Toph's golem lost a couple feet in height in the process, while the portion that held Jeong Jeong was half the size of the golem's torso. She also made four narrow shafts in the stone around Jeong Jeong, two straight down from his feet and two aimed for the front from his hands.
But one piece still had to be added, a set of working eyes to replace Toph's feet. The golem picked up Sokka and put him on its head, which then sank into the torso and pulled Sokka down with it. When Sokka was buried up to his shoulders Toph bended some stone around Sokka's head, giving him a stone helmet that wasn't connected to the golem so that Sokka could still turn his head around. The new perspective felt weird to Sokka, but he knew it was only going to get weirder.
"Alright, here we go," Sokka said.
"Let's light this candle!" Toph yelled.
Jeong Jeong bended fire from his feet through the narrow shafts, using the tight space to amplify the amount of thrust he could generate. Fire shot out of the golem's back straight down, scorching the ground underneath while applying upward force. Weight shifted off the golem's legs, the burden gradually moving onto the intense fire. Slowly Jeong Jeong increased his efforts, bending more and more fire until the golem's feet lifted off the ground.
"It's working," Sokka said, seeing the ground slowly fall away. Now he wanted to see what they could really do. "Jeong Jeong: Maximum Burn!"
Almost instantly the flames intensified tenfold, producing enough thrust to send the golem rocketing into the sky. Toph screamed with excitement and terror, enjoying the fast acceleration yet dreading how her world had shrank to just the golem. After a few short moments of vertical ascent Toph tipped the golem forward, where fast winds caught hold of the makeshift metal wings and kept them aloft, preventing the golem from diving headfirst.
"Okay Sokka, control's all yours," Toph said.
"Let's test it out," Sokka suggested.
Inside the golem's upper half Sokka's limbs were spread out in the stone, having almost no room to move. But he could still apply pressure against the stone by trying to move his body, pressure that Toph could see with her vibration sight. When Sokka tried to squeeze his hand, Toph would make the golem's hand clench into a fist. When Sokka tried to lean to his right, Toph lightly squeezed stone on Jeong Jeong's left arm, prompting him to firebend with his left hand through the narrow shaft on that side, producing thrust that turned the golem to the right.
"Excellent!" Sokka yelled, very satisfied with Toph's response time. "Yes!"
In a quick burst of fire the flying golem rocketed across the sky, heading straight for the sky bison fleet at high speed. Just a few short minutes later the flying golem intercepted the closest sky bison, taking its pilot and firebenders by surprise. Wide spread arms slammed into the bison's front platforms, tearing them off along with half of the saddle. The pilot and two remaining firebenders were shocked by what they just witnessed, even as they watched the flying golem continue flying towards another bison.
The next bison's pilot saw the golem coming and swerved to the right, but not quick enough to stop it from grabbing the bison's left horn. Conflicting flight paths made the bison and golem spin round and round, and during that spinning the golem punched the bison's underside several times. Then the golem grabbed one of the bison's metal platforms before letting go of the horn, letting the spin momentum throw the bison and golem apart while ripping off the platform and its firebender.
While the golem restabilized its flight all of the nearby sky bison scattered, backing off to access the situation and figure out the best way to deal with the new threat. That's when Sokka spotted Appa nearby, and he had the golem fly in that direction to meet up with Katara. When the two shared the same airspace the golem flew side by side with Appa, close enough for Sokka's voice to cross the distance between them.
"Hey Katara," Sokka said.
"Sokka?!" Katara yelled, shocked to hear her brother's voice coming from under the stone helmet. "Have you gone nuts?!"
"Probably," Sokka answered. He took a look around and noticed that someone was missing. "Where's Aang?"
In the streets of Ba Sing Se there was only chaos, civilians fleeing every which way to avoid being caught in a crossfire. Zuko had retrieved his swords and entered the lower ring through the gash he made in the inner wall, and Aang had followed him through it into the city. Buildings that had only just been rebuilt after the uprising were burned down all over again, casualties in a two man war between Fire Lord and Avatar.
One street was torn apart when Aang earthbended a barrage of rock out of it, but swift sword swings deflected the rocks away from Zuko. A wide swing with both swords unleashed an arc of fire so large that the ends dragged against buildings that lined the street, setting them ablaze while it moved towards Aang. Even when Aang made a wall it didn't completely stop the attack, since his wall broke under the strain and spilled flames further down the street.
Zuko leapt over the burning street and swung both swords down, creating enough fire to fill the street for several blocks. Seeing no way out but down, Aang earthbended some rock over himself and then lowered the rock underneath, going underground to escape the attack. Heat seeped through the rock down to Aang, prompting him to go even deeper. Aang kept earthbending deeper below the city, entering a subterranean world where Zuko could not follow.
Suddenly the rock below Aang broke apart and dropped him into empty space, falling a short distance before hitting the bottom of a tunnel. To his surprise Aang saw light within the tunnel, coming from strange green crystals dispersed in the tunnel's walls. The light was brightest from one end of the tunnel, seemingly beckoning to Aang. So he followed the light down the tunnel, walking a short distance before reaching the end.
Aang found a large cavern that glowed with the green crystals, which seemed to grow from the very walls. In the middle of the cavern was an ancient square courtyard, surrounded by a shallow river that flowed from one corner to the opposite corner. All around the cavern were old buildings abandoned long ago, the remains of a society that vanished long before Aang was born. Even though he was the only person there, Aang couldn't help but feel like he wasn't alone.
"Hello?" Aang said. He made his way into the square courtyard, stopping in the exact center. He couldn't shake the feeling that someone was there, someone that he could not see. "Who's there?"
Only silence answered him. Even the flowing water around the courtyard barely made a sound, making it seem like the entire cavern was completely at peace. Aang sat down in a meditative pose, wanting to take in the peace and quiet one last time before returning to the war above. When Aang closed his eyes and calmed his mind the strange feeling only grew, almost like he was surrounded by a vast spirit.
"Whoever you are, I'm the Avatar. I can feel your presence here."
Emotions flooded Aang's mind, but they were not his own. There was the fear of burning alive, the guilt of survivors, the shame of failing to save others, the grief for lost lives, the lies of politicians, the shattered illusions of isolation, and the selfish attachments to material possessions. They were the voices of the citizens of the city above, the combined spirit of a civilization in peril. It had no form or name of its own, just the essence of the people.
"I ask you," Aang hesitated there, realizing that they were not the right words. Now was not the time for humility, but the time to invoke his authority as the Avatar. "No, I order you. Help us, in this dire time of need."
Silence shattered. The walls of the cavern started to shake and the river flowed more vigorously, while winds swirled inside and the ancient buildings burst into flame. Aang's eyes opened with a fierce blue glow, and his tattoos glowed as well. One by one the green crystals changed to blue, synchronizing their radiance with the Avatar State. The four elements surrounded Aang once again, but were merely the core of a much greater bending.
The collective consciousness of all Avatars joined with Aang, and greeted the spirit of the city, partaking in the power of the people.
In the streets Zuko was casually swinging flames at everything in his way, easily overwhelming city guards that had no experience fighting firebenders. All around Zuko the city burned, save for the path he walked through. He could hear the locals fleeing for their lives, but soon they would have nowhere to go. The walls that had kept them safe for so long were now their cage, leaving them at the mercy of fire that would eventually consume everything inside.
Still, Zuko kept his eyes open and his ears alert for the one threat left. "Where did you go Avatar?"
Suddenly the ground split in two, separating the street into separate parts with a widening gap in between. Zuko was almost knocked off his feet when the ground he stood on moved backward, while land further back crumpled and shifted upward. Then the entire city block Zuko stood on was raised into the air, supported by a rising column of stone. From his new vantage point Zuko got a good look at the lower ring, gasping at the sight all around him.
The city was alive.
As far as the eye could see buildings were moving around, some spreading apart while others collided and merged their walls. Elevation shifted wildly throughout entire districts, some lowering to make room for others to slide through while many rose up instead. Buildings rose up so high that they scraped the sky, before the stone columns they stood on started to slide towards each other, combining into a shifting mass of moving stone.
Underground aquifers burst open and released their water, flowing into the moving stone and lubricating it all. Powerful winds rushed through moving buildings, whipping up loose debris and adding it to the mix. Fire erupted from deep within the mixing elements and burned within hollow spaces, yet did not burn anything. And yet more and more land and buildings kept sliding in from further and further away, hollowing out the northern quarter of the lower ring.
Then a quarter mile long stretch of land straight to the south broke free and slid northward, almost taking a part of the next wall with it. Its northern end rose from the ground before attaching to the top of the moving stone, making a giant ramp in the process. That ramp split in two and the lower ends swung around to opposite sides, all while the buildings on it slid around and mixed with the moving ground they stood on.
And then the entire thing stood up, revealing colossal legs underneath composed of stone, water, and fire. Still buildings continued to move up and down the legs, sliding into places resembling armor. Above those legs an enormous torso took shape, vaguely possessing the proportions of a human body. Entire districts worth of buildings were worn like chainmail armor, but did not completely cover thick muscles made of fire and veins of water.
The mile long stretches of land compacted into arms, stone and buildings twisting around each other to create joints and large shoulders. Even from a distance the sky bison fleet could see the arms take shape, having a clear view of the left side. Then they saw the base of a hand extend out the end of the arm, which in turn extended a set of fingers, which clenched into a fist.
In between newly formed shoulders a large head rose up, resembling Aang's head but with a blocky helmet framing the face. At its core Aang hovered in a sphere of air with the other elements in rings around him, using the power at his command to animate the moving city. Crystals from the cavern slid into place where eyes would be, glowing bright blue like the Avatar inside. And those eyes looked down into the lower ring, where Zuko had retreated to a part of the city that hadn't moved.
A giant foot took a colossal step, crushing a burning warehouse underfoot like an anthill. That's when a deep and booming voice spoke, coming from the moving city itself.
"BA SING SE HEEDS THE CALL OF THE LAST AIRBENDER."