Chapter 28: Azula
Azula aims her fingertips at Ricky, Allen and Rukia and a bolt of thunder erupted from her fingertips. Allen stood in front of Ricky and Rukia and holds up his Anti-Akuma arm, trying to block the thunder but the thunder was so strong that it knocks Allen, Ricky and Allen back and the three were send stumbling backwards on the ground. Allen's Anti-Akuma arm turned back to normal as he, Ricky and Rukia looked up at Azula in awe.
Azula laughs madly as she now charges at them, with her fists shining with blue fire.
Rukia gets up and yells as she draws out her zanpakuto. She deflects Azula's fists every time Azula swings them.
After a while, Azula's fists clanked against Rukia's sword and they both stayed there in stalemate for a while.
"No one will defeat me! No one!" Azula laughed as she looked into Rukia's eyes.
"What are you?" Rukia asked as she frowns.
Allen then yells as he charges Azula from behind and jumps in the air and brings down his Anti-Akuma arm. But Azula quickly turns around and uses her right hand and easily grabs his Anti-Akuma arm. Allen gasps and Azula swings his arm and Allen yells in pain as Azula smashes him to the ground.
Azula's evil smile broadens as she turns back to Rukia, who widens her eyes in shock, as Azula punches Rukia in the face, sending her sprawling on the ground.
Ricky yells furiously as he charges at Azula. He swings his Carsomyr at her but Azula quickly dodges it every time he swings it and then, jumps back and hangs onto one of the metal beams.
"What are you? What kind of powers you possess?" Ricky asked as he catches his breath.
"This?" Azula asked as she holds up one of her hands and a flickering blue flame danced in her raised hand. "High Commander Oswald possesses these great powers during the battle at DC. When the Faction stormed into the White House, Oswald was able to possess the Templar powers."
"That's…Templar powers?" Ricky asked, widening his eyes.
"That's right." Azula said, smirking evilly. "You see, the Rebel Templars' main headquarters is the White House itself. The president of the United States endorsed the Templars for being the new guardians of Earth and the president's home was the main base of the Rebel Templars since their formation in 3925. Since the White House is one of the most secured buildings in the world, the Templars kept their magical lamp in the house."
"Lamp?"
"Yes. You see, your mother Yoruichi, and the other Templars use this lamp to apply all their magical powers into their Carsomyr and ExCalibur swords. But now that the Faction has possessed this lamp, all the officers of the Faction , including me and Oswald, now have unspeakable powers within our bodies! That is why I'm proud to be an officer of the Faction!"
Azula then leaps from the beam and jumps towards Ricky with her hands flaming with blue fire.
Ricky holds up his Carsomyr while Azula lands in front of her. Azula then looked up and thrusts her palm out, shooting a blast of blue fire at Ricky. Quickly, Ricky blocks the fire with his sword. After that, Azula puts away her hand and then bangs her fists on the ground. A wave of fire then rushed towards Ricky. Ricky rolled to the right and dodged the shockwave.
He then stood up and smashes his sword on the ground. "Wrath of Light!" He cried out and a wave of electrical energy rushes toward Azula.
Azula however just stay where she is. Then, she just simply swings her hand and the wave of energy fades.
"What?" Ricky said in shock. Azula laughed madly.
"I'm invincible!" She cried.
"Oh yeah?" Rukia snapped. She gave a cry of battle as she charges at Azula, her sword pointed straight forward for a stabbing move. But Azula quickly stood up, turned to Rukia, swings her arm and a wave of fire hits her. Rukia groans in pain as she fell to the ground.
Azula turns around as Allen charges over to her with her Anti-Akuma arm. He curls his hand into a fist and thrusts his fist at Azula. But Azula smirks as she dodges the fist. Allen gasps.
Azula grabs his arm tightly and yelled, "You can defeat me!"
"Oh yeah?!" Ricky yelled, getting more furious. He charges over to Azula, preparing to swing his sword at her. But Azula quickly swings Allen's arm diagonally and Allen and Ricky both groan in pain as they both bump into each other.
Ricky and Allen then both stumble backwards on the ground together.
Rukia gets up and holds the hilt of her sword, with its edge pointing downward. "Tsugi No Mai…" She taps the sword around the floor and ice particles erupted from the floor. After that, she points her sword at Azula and the sword glows white. "Hakuren!" A huge blast of ice energy erupted from her sword and rushes towards Azula.
However, when the ice energy came close to Azula, Azula smashes the ice with her flaming fist! Rukia gasps in surprise.
"Impossible!" She said. Azula cackled evilly. Azula then swings both of her arms and shot two waves of fire at Rukia.
Rukia holds up her sword, trying to block it, but the fire hits the sword hard, pushing Rukia back and the Shinigami fell on the ground. Rukia tries to get up but Azula jumps onto her and pins her on the ground.
Azula then grabs Rukia by the head and pulls her up. Rukia squeals in agony as Azula lifts her up in the air. Then suddenly, Azula's hand sparked with thunder. Rukia screamed in pain as Azula electrocutes her. Azula smiled in delight at Rukia's torment.
"RUKIA!!!" Ricky yelled as he and Allen watched in horror.
"Yes, that's it! Scream!" Azula yelled, insanity in her eyes.
A few more seconds later, Azula stops electrocuting Rukia and Rukia stops her screaming. She moans in pain with wisps of smoke curling off her body. Her body is now blackened and her robes were ripped and torn, forming nicks and holes.
"Pathethic!" Azula mocked. She tosses Rukia onto the ground and Rukia sprawls on the ground. Azula's electrical energy itself has charred Rukia's body. She laid on the ground, gasping for breath.
Azula chuckled at Rukia, then cackled insanely.
"Damn you!" Allen yelled as he gets up and charges at Azula.
"No! Allen!" Ricky yelled to Allen. Allen yells as he jumps into the air and brings down his Anti-Akuma arm to Azula's head. "Take thi-"
He gets cut off and his eyes grew large in shock as Azula simply grabs Allen's fist, then dugs her nails deep into his fist and electrocutes him with her electrical energy.
Allen shrieked in agony as the electricity rushes through his entire body. Azula then swings his arm and smashes him to the ground.
Azula stops her electrocuting and Allen moans in pain with wisps of smoke curling off his body too. His uniform and pants were ripped and torn and his Anti-Akuma turns back to normal.
"Allen…Rukia…" Ricky uttered in horror as he looks at his allies, now lying on the ground in pain.
Azula turns around and grins fiendishly at Ricky. "What are you gonna do now, Templar? Your allies are defeated and there's nothing you can do to stop me."
Ricky glares at Azula and staggered to his feet. He points his Carsomyr at Azula and said, "Nobody…hurts my friends!"
Azula smirked and her hands sparkled with thunder. "Bring it on." She mocked at Ricky.
Ricky and Azula both yell at they both charged at each other. Ricky swings his sword but Azula easily evades it. She punches Ricky in the stomach and the punch was so strong that it cuases Ricky to cough blood out of his mouth. Ricky then fell to the ground but quickly gets back up again.
He glares at Azula as he wipes off the blood off his mouth and charges at Azula again. Ricky swings his sword furiously but Azula kept deflecting it every time he swings it.
Ricky swings again and Azula flips backwards. She then shot a bolt of thunder at Ricky and the bolt of thunder hits Ricky in the stomach. Ricky yelled in pain as he fell to the ground.
Azula then chuckled evilly and said, "This ends now!" She aims her fingertips at Ricky, preparing to finish him off for good. She shot another bolt of thunder at him. And Ricky shuts his eyes tightly, preparing for his fate.
However, the bolt of thunder didn't hit him. It hit someone else…
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Ricky snapped his eyes open and gasps as he sees someone standing in front of him. It was Allen Walker. He had just stood in front of Ricky and taken the hit instead!
Allen just stood where he is. His eyes are now snapped open and there was a huge hole scorched on his uniform and the skin around it is reddened and burnt. Allen then fell backwards while Ricky quickly catches him.
"Allen…" Ricky said, tears now streaming freely from his eyes.
Allen looked at Ricky and groggily looks at him. "Ricky…" He uttered.
"Allen, why?" Ricky asked his friend.
Allen chuckled. "Because…we're both allies…til the end." He then closes his eyes and passes out.
"NO! Allen!" Ricky cried. Tears streamed freely from his eyes. "Allen!" He shook him but Allen did not wake up. "No…no you can't do this! Please Allen, wake up!" However, Allen lay motionless in his arms.
Azula cackled evilly as Ricky wept for his friend. "Don't worry, Templar…" She said as she raised her hand and a flickering blue flame dances on it. "You will join him soon enough!"
Ricky turned to Azula, his eyes filled with rage and anger. "You…you monster!!!" He gently placed Allen on the ground and stood up. He breathes heavily in anger.
"That's right. What do you expect? I'm an officer of the Faction and I'm proud of it! Oswald is my leader and I am his most loyal officer, his greatest asset! He has immense pride in me! And together, the Faction will rule the world! The Faction will be the greatest organization in the world! We share our greatness to the world and therefore, we are SUPREME!" Azula exclaimed.
Ricky, however, laughed insanely. Azula's smile dropped and arched her eyebrow. "What's so funny?!" She demanded.
"You said the Faction is the greatest organization and the Faction share their greatness to the world. What an amazing lie! The people of the world are terrified by the Faction! They don't see your greatness, they hate you all!" Ricky snapped. Those words struck Azula with full fore. She widens her eyes in shock and the fire in her hand disappears. "And you guys deserve it. You have created an era of fear in the world."
Azula shut her eyes tightly and shook her head violently. "SHUT UP!"
However, Ricky continued, "And did you say Oswald has immense pride in you? Idiot. Only as long as you are useful. Do you really think that he cares about you? As soon as you cease to be valuable to him, he will toss you aside like a used doll."
"ENOUGH!" Azula shrieked.
"Face it Azula. You're not a soldier. You are a bully. A bully who would use slaves and abused them with your power. Mostly over women and kids. You're a sick person who would use slaves to build up your civilization just so that you can show how powerful you are. But you're not! And you join the Faction just so you can be strong and tough against others."
"No! You're wrong! I AM POWERFUL! Shut up if you know what's good for you!" Azula screamed, extremely upset. She charges at Ricky and yells with her hands flaming furiously. Azula swings her arm at Ricky but Ricky quickly evades it.
He quickly stand behind Azula and points his sword at her. "Thunderbolt." He uttered. He then shot a bolt of thunder at Azula's back and Azula screams in agony as she gets electrocutes.
When the electricity wears off, Azula turned around, her eyes filled with rage and insanity. She glares at Ricky with pure rage and hatred. She charges at Ricky and swings her arms at him. Ricky deflects her fists every time she swings at him.
Azula swing her arm again but Ricky flipped backward and said, "Thunderbolt!" He shot another bolt of thunder at Azula and Azula screams as she gets electrocuted again.
Ricky then swings his sword furiously and now launches his newest attack. "And now, let's finish this. Finishing Touch!"
He slashed at Azula and shot a huge whirlwind of thunder! Azula's eyes grew large in shock and she gets flew up by the whirlwind.
She yells ad she wne spiraling inside the whirlwind and the whirlwind smashes her to one of the metal beams. The whirlwind dissipated and Azula lies on the ground, breathing heavily and defeated.
Ricky puts away his sword and uttered, "Templar one, Faction zero."
Azula glares at Ricky and staggered to her feet. "No…" She growled as her fists sparkled with thunder again. "I WILL NOT BE DEFEATED!" She screamed as she was about to charge at Ricky.
"Tsugi No Mai Hakuren!" Rukia yelled as she points her zanpakuto at Azula and shot ice at Azula. The ice then pushes Azula back and freezes her to the metal beam. Azula squeals in agony as she tries to break free.
Ricky stares at Azula in awe, then turned back to Rukia who passes out again a few seconds later.
Ricky turned back to Azula and walked over to her cautiously. When Ricky is in front of Azula, Azula glared daggers at Ricky.
"No one! No one can defeat me!" Azula yelled. "I am far greater than any of you!"
She breathes heavily and Ricky reached out his hand. "How did you get yourself into this mess?" He said and he now touches Azula on the forehead. Ricky widens his eyes as a vision now went into his mind.
Vision:
A young Azula was shivering in fear as she is being cornered by her father Ozai. Ozai was glaring furiously at her daughter with a bottle of beer in one of his hands and a cherry pit in his other hand.
"What are you suppose to do?" Ozai asked angrily to young Azula.
"I'm…I'm supposed to serve you cherries." Azula shook in fear.
"Correct. What am I holding?!" Ozai asked angrily as he holds up the cherry pit to Azula.
"A…A cherry pit…"
"Correct. And who am I?"
"You're…you're my father…"
"Yes! So tell me, why do you decided to leave a pit in your own father's cherry?!"
"It wasn't a decision! It was a small mistake!" Azula said, tears rolling down her cheeks.
"Small." Ozai laughed insanely while Azula sobbed in fear. Ozai then looked back at Azula in pure anger. "Do you realized what would happen if I don't sense the pit in time?"
"I supposed…you could get choked?"
"Yes! You are my daughter! And how dare you try to choke your own father to death?!?!" Ozai bellowed while Azula sobbed and curled up and braced herself as Ozai towered her and tooked over her entire view.
"You…are…AN IDIOT!" Ozai yelled and he toses away the cherry pit, clenches his hand into a fist, pulled back and thrusts the fist to Azula.
End of Vision.
Ricky puts his hand away from Azula as Azula screamed in agony and cried unhappily. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she sobbed.
"When I was a little girl. My father was an abusive alcoholic and always beats me up repeatedly. Since that day, I worked hard in school to try to win my father's approval, but no matter what, I could never win his acceptance. So I run away…and with nowhere, I join the Faction. Because of my intelligence and hard work, I quickly became a high officer. I was a prodigy. But now, I've failed to defeat you…JUST LIKE HOW I FAILED TO WIN MY FATHER'S LOVE!" Azula break down into tears again. She is now completely torn apart by depression and sadness.
Ricky just looked at her with pity. The pity was not from sympathy, but from the sheer wretchedness Azula was displaying. The once proud Faction officer had been reduced to a deranged mad woman crying her heart out. She was pitiful.
"Tell me where Oswald's base is." Ricky asked Azula.
Azula looked at Ricky with puffy red eyes and said, "His main base is at Guam. That's where you will find him. NOW GET OUT OF MY SIGHT!"
Azula sobbed again while Ricky let out a sigh, turned around and let Azula cry. He walks over to Rukia and carries her on his back. He then walks over to Allen and carries him in his arms.
Ricky then walks over to the doors and makes his leave with rukia and Allen while Azula continues crying in pain and sorrow.
END OF CHAPTER
Ryo: Azula may be a jerk but her past was kinda sad, wasn't it?
Saber: Don't tell me you're feeling sorry for her.
Ryo: Hey, come on. Anyways, hope you all enjoyed the fight. The next chapter will be the last chapter of the China story arc. At the meantime, try and guess which country will the heroes go next. And no, it's not Guam yet. Stay tune and read and review!