Author Notes: While the progression of the story roughly follows that of the show, many events are changed, arranged in a different order or omitted. This is fan fiction, after all.
Note 2: Forgive me for the long chapter! There was a lot I wanted to write at this time...
The morning was harsh; as Omashu was on red alert given the wave of bombings and terrorist actions. Men were running to their posts as if an attack was going on at that very moment, but that was the norm in "New Ozai" these days. Mitsu and Kuei opened their doors, bleary eyed and cursing as the soldiers ran in the corridor like truant schoolchildren.
"Hey, you two get into uniform! The Governor is staging an inspection! Tell that fat guy in there to wake up and shave! Good god, he needs to hit the blades and the shower!" the sergeant held his nose.
"Bosco, wake up!" Kuei kicked at his best friend. "Mitsu, go out now! The soldiers aren't expecting us, now they're in the yard so you can go free."
Mitsu nodded and opened their window, dropping down onto the street below. True enough, Fire Nation soldiers were running towards the central courtyard together with some others, answering a ringing bell the resounded over the town. Some eyed him over, but the lack of uniform and the urgency of the bell rushed things, making them virtually ignore the stranger. Mitsu noticed that there were few civilians in the city who were Earth Kingdom people, with many red-hued banners over the doors of emptied houses filled with tell tale Fire Nation furniture. In peacetime, the rivalry between Fire and Earth was in industry; both powerful and prosperous nations were dominant in producing things, furniture more than anything else being fiercely contested. Mitsu remembered reading a copy of Avatar Yang Chen's journal saying that she had to act as a judge between two 'warring' companies, hosting a contest in Omashu itself which ended up becoming an expo and selling war. The Water and Air tribes didn't even bother to show up, while a section of the Southern Water Tribe came but left for what was now the Foggy Swamp.
Omashu owed its prominence to a very efficient delivery system of virtually anything within the city as well as without. Its citizens always reminded those in Ba Sing Se that the Monorail was invented by an Omashu architect, and that Omashu was indeed the elder city. While Ba Sing Se had a few lines connecting through the city, Omashu had hundreds, some mere mine shafts. Mitsu walked through laundry lines and seemingly abandoned schoolyards.
"Nothing," he noted, "where is anyone?" he flicked at a paper windmill on the wall. "Did they kill everyone?"
The ground suddenly shook and gave way, closing up in front of him with almost no sign. Mitsu tried flying out, but a rock pushed him down into a deep, lightless hole harder than he could push back, while he flailed helplessly for his rod, which tumbled alongside him. He felt pulled harder than gravity normally would, with dust cutting his skin as he fell. His voice seemed to echo in the tunnels, an ever deepening chasm that darkened the further he fell. He hit the floor hard, but felt it melt away slowly to soften the impact. A single shaft of light was all he had for light, though he couldn't get past pain in his knee to get up and fly. He fumbled around for his rod and found it lodged in a crevice. The sound of insects and rumbling of earth was all around him, but he was virtually blind otherwise.
"What the hell was that?" Mitsu propped himself on his staff. He barely saw a rock flying at him, batting it away but falling down in the process. Footfalls could be heard, but they were hardly different from that of subterranean animals. Rocks fell on his side and between his knees, pinning him down. The footfalls got louder, now accompanied by a war chant. Metal rings clashed as armored men marched down the hall, one other person in green robes holding his hand out and obviously pinning Mitsu down with Earthbending. The first voice he heard wasn't of the young robed man but of an older man behind the army.
"Who is that now, Master Jing?" the voice seemed to grumble.
"Looks like an outsider, my lord," the robed man's voice rasped like a snake as he held Mitsu down.
"Now, now … he doesn't look like a Fire Nation man, plus he came with another person who also didn't look like a Fire Nation person… too skinny."
"They came in one of those traitor vehicles," an older man wielding a giant halberd hissed. "They must be those collaborators from the colonies," he noticed Mitsu's outfit.
"I don't think so, Colonel," the old voice coughed. "He's not an Earthbender, believe me I can tell. I'm surprised Master Jin can't."
"Then what?" Jing lifted the rocks off Mitsu. "You're not that weird professor from Ba Sing Se, are you?"
"Ba Sing Se has fallen," Mitsu said to gasps and whispers. "None of you know who I am, except perhaps that old man back there. You used to visit us a lot, King Bumi of Omashu."
"I know your eyes, but not the feet that touched the earth the other day. Have you the Earthbending teacher the Avatar was searching for?" the sound of wheels cranking became evident. "For the King's sake, we're not Light Benders, someone light some crystals please!"
Mitsu rubbed his eyes as yellow and white crystals appeared, bathing the entire hallway in white light, almost like sunlight. He saw a monolith of a man in front of him, the unmistakable face of Bumi seemingly plastered in front of a metal coffin that had earth around him.
"What happened to you, your majesty?" Mitsu still propped himself up. "How are you Earthbending?"
"I'm well over one hundred years into bending; I guess it came with the certificate!" Bumi laughed alone, with his army looking side to side.
"About your question, I'm afraid that I don't have Toph Bei Fong with me. I have my brother and his bear," Mitsu tapped the metal coffin.
"What's a bear?" Jing and Colonel Long looked at each other and shrugged.
"I should get you out of here," Mitsu felt the cold coffin with his fingers.
"We've tried," Jing exhaled, "No amount of rock will break this, nor will fire or crystal." He floated a rock and it merely clanged on the metal box.
Mitsu pulled back his left fist and swung it at the coffin, punching a huge dent in it to the amazement of the men and the Master.
"Careful, this body still works!" Bumi said, but with a smile. Mitsu swung again with his right and made another dent. He stepped back and made a motion of pulling a door apart, the metal creaking as it was stressed sideways. An earthen column came up and helped with the pounding, but Mitsu waved the King's effort away and chopped the air, ripping a line right down the center of the coffin below Bumi' s beard and repeating the sliding door opening motion. The metal was incredibly resistant, but Mitsu knew metal like no other and soon Bumi's muscular chest was in view, with the king laughing to himself. A rock column popped up beneath his legs and pushed the coffin apart, revealing the colossus that was the King of Omashu. He flexed his biceps but coughed immediately after. His former prison was now a warped, cloven version of itself, torn apart on the floor.
"That…is amazing! Are you some kind of metal bender?" Jing dusted off his king.
"Force Bender," Mitsu leaned on the wall as a medic attended to his knee.
"Never heard of it," the Colonel crossed his arms.
"Whatever it is, I knew waiting for this moment was the right choice," Bumi hunched beside his military commander. "We will finally take this city back, now that the Fire Nation has sent two of its garrisons here. They won't see us coming and we can decapitate them now. Had we fought earlier those armies would only be standing on our corpses. Now they are in a false sense of security and we are joined by Prince Mitsu Ishihara of Ba Sing Se…and a bear!"
"Prince…?" The Master and the men looked at each other, and then suddenly bent down on one knee. No one knew what a bear was, but a prince of Ba Sing Se would command their respect at least.
They left the tunnel immediately afterwards, Bumi stretching his old legs as he stalked beside Mitsu and his generals while the army shuffled behind them in file.
"I was beginning to lose the feeling in these old things," the aged Earthbender shook his legs. "No one's been able to free me before, even though I've been able to bend through it."
"Toph would be amazed, though I suspect not by much."
"Tell me about this Toph Bei Fong; is she some sort of Earthbending prodigy? I wasn't even aware the Bei Fong family even had children," the Master caught up to them as they marched through a well-lit tunnel filled with bowing men and women, as well as Pentapuses squirming all over the walls. Some had purple patches on the skin; this was but a harmless, temporary side effect of the Pentapus attaching itself to the skin and what ultimately allowed the people to leave the city in broad daylight.
"She is not a prodigy, she is a master. You haven't heard of her, but have you heard of the Blind Bandit? One and the same."
The Master froze and his cheeks went red, while he scratched his head.
"You know the Blind Bandit?" The colonel wondered what happened to his friend.
"She … knocked me out in ten seconds. Flat on my back before I could even do a stance," the master nervously covered his face. The Green Mamba only managed to mambo for one season before being fired.
"She hears the earth, being blind. Aang picked a good teacher," Bumi nodded. "But your brother Kuei was the one I made contact with last night?" Bumi touched the earth above his head. "I didn't even know he was an Earthbender, let alone one that could hear the earth."
"He's self taught…or at least not taught by people, like Toph. His bear taught him, it seems. Plus he's used the Dream Chair."
Bumi halted with the rest of his army almost crashing into him. "I am amazed today than I've been in a while! I feel like a new old man! Get it, new old man?" Bumi tugged at Mitsu's sleeve and cackled. No one laughed again; Mitsu had a feeling that Sokka would, but no one else.
"He's standing in the yard of my palace, I can feel him," Bumi looked up at the ceiling. "I hope he can take care of himself. Now that you're here, we are poised to take Omashu back and remove the Fire Nation from the South of the country. Everything is in place, I'm assured, Colonel?"
The colonel ran up to his king and bowed, "Yes, my king. The Badger Mole messengers have brought news from Chin, Kyoshi, the southern garrison, the islanders and the Pasha of the Great Sand Tribes. We stand ready now."
Mitsu's heart leapt at the mention of the Pasha's name, although he knew it was a title shared by many people in the desert.
"Mehmet barely escaped Ba Sing Se himself," Bumi led them into a torch-lit chamber where he Earthbended a chair for himself. "He's eager for revenge, just like most of these people. They're expecting big things from me and are impatient, Prince Mitsu. We strike soon now that the true Earth King walks among us."
Mitsu looked up at the lighted ceiling. Kuei! He was still up there, facing review with Bosco!
The captain was loud, but his sergeant was louder in salute as the governor came out through the passage that connected his residence and the training yard. Kuei felt like a nail in a box of pegs as he stood in his stolen Chan's Commando uniform alongside fire nation regulars. The captain looked the men over, pulling at low belts and streamlining creases like a cross nanny. The Governor, a man in his fifties from the looks of it, pulled at his beard as he gamely followed the captain, pretending to look over the troops but in fact having no idea of the difference between a grunt and a grunting civilian.
"Damn politicians," the man next to Kuei grumbled. "He thinks he's in charge of the joint, but he can't push anything but paper."
"How did he get here?" Kuei whispered back. "This is like, in the middle of nowhere."
The man eyed Kuei quickly but looked forwards quickly. "Kissed ass, brown nosed, kept his kids quiet… you know how."
"Oh yes, I do…" Kuei knew Earth Kingdom bureaucrats were no different. Long Feng usually appointed the governors to please himself and his big ego, only in the name of the king. Politicians were no different, he guessed, no matter where they worked.
"You," the governor of New Ozai looked the green-scarfed Kuei over. "You're not from here, are you?"
"Yes sir, I'm with the commandoes."
"You're in luck, your commander is coming," the captain looked him over. "I see they lowered the eyesight requirement, Earthbender." He tapped Kuei's glasses. "You were supposed to be a party of three- where are the other two?"
"Um… my co-driver and the other guy are in town. We have orders to fetch some local items for the commander when he arrives…" Kuei looked around for the escape he knew he couldn't pull off with so many Fire Nation troops around him. The governor looked him over again, noticing his odd, scrawny figure.
"I haven't seen you before," the old man stroked his beard, "are you really one of Chan's men?"
"Yes I am, sir."
"Are you a loyal Earthbender?"
"Yes," Kuei found irony in the answer. He lifted a rock and dropped it beside the governor's feet, smiling as the politician leapt back in horror.
"Loyal to the end," he almost laughed out loud.
"I don't trust traitors, even the ones that work for us!" the governor looked the Earth King square in the eye before going off to see the rest of the men. "Keep that one and his kind out of my sight, Captain."
"Yes sir… admiral butthole!" The captain whispered the second part, with a knowing wink to Kuei. It seemed like no one really liked him, although he hadn't really done much to or for them. Someone coming from Ozai himself should have more bearing in the city, but a lot of these troops had been in campaign for nearly five years and hadn't even seen the Fire Nation. Their commanders were their kings and their captains their lords. Their banner was also slightly different, in that the flame logo of the Fire Nation was accompanied by a hammer and a sword. Thus was the banner of the men of New Ozai, red and white in the wind where the green of Bumi once fluttered.
"Alright men, the governor has an announcement to make!" the captain spoke through a horn so that everyone could hear. The red robed man climbed a small platform and coughed slightly before opening a parchment that had the unmistakable seal of the Fire Lord himself.
"Men and women of New Ozai, I bring news from home. The Fire Sages have determined that the Day of the Black Sun is nearly upon us and that we must be extra vigilant for that day, as Firebending will be negated and we will be vulnerable. There is also news of an attack planned by the remnants of that Southern Water rabble as well as those of the Earth Kingdom on that day. Therefore his high majesty the Fire Lord Ozai son of Azulon declares that half the troops in this city are to mobilize for home in the airships as soon as the winds permit."
"Half the garrison? But we'll be defenseless as well!" a captain leapt forward.
"No we will not, Captain," the Governor crossed his arms. "We will have half the garrison still here, plus we are being reinforced by local platoons, Rhino teams and the Commandoes, if Admiral Chan is willing."
"That's still not enough!" the captain shook his fist. "The whole army of Omashu is missing; we could be killed in eight minutes!"
"The army of the Fire Nation is not merely trained to firebend, Captain," the governor's tone became harder. "I'm sure you can find a way to delay them from reaching my residence and repel them." The old man lifted his chin and walked off the stage with his retinue, leaving the captain tightening his fist.
"You heard the man, platoons one through five, get ready to move out!" he launched a fireball into the sky. "As for you, Mr. Commando, back to quarters, and fetch those other two, I want to see them ASAP, understand?" he pointed his ironclad hand towards Kuei.
"Yes sir!" Kuei tried to hide his sweat of fear. He tapped his foot on the ground and felt the contours of the ground until he noticed Bosco's faint outline in the bathroom of their quarters. If Mitsu was to swoop in and rescue them again, it had to be soon. A horn sounded at the city's western gate with the clanking of machinery apparent.
"There's no time, the commandoes are here!" he ran towards the barracks and charged through the door past other men carrying boxes and other provisions for their sudden redeployment. Kuei spotted a few commandoes step out of their ATVs through a window, carrying water skins and notched swords.
"Mitsu…you better get here…!" he tip toed into his room.
The Swamp Benders were probably the oddest group of people one would invite to an invasion force, especially given the heavily armed and armored troops from the Water and Earth tribes. Sokka was the one who recommended them, as the Northern Waterbenders had gone to the poles for rebuilding and were unavailable. They also reminded him of Yue, someone he did not want to think about at this time despite the Moon being high up in the morning sky. The Duke and Pipsqueak trotted around the makeshift docks , looking over the strange swamp folk in their leaf hats and grass shorts.
"Say To! What's that, a Water Tribe bug cooker?" Due, the skinner of the two pointed to what was obviously an Earth Kingdom rowboat.
"I think that's a boat, Due."
"Look at that one, Pip! He's got no shirt on and he smells like a set of used pants!"
"Shirts are an illusion and so is death," Huu, chief of he Swamp Tribe bowed as seaweed trailed down his back, lazily slipping onto the dock.
"Is this all the people you need?" Hakoda scratched his head at his strange cousins from the Foggy Swamp.
"No, but they'll have to do," Sokka looked over the horizon as Aang glided in on his new, blue, bat-like glider.
"No word from Mitsu or Kuei?" Aang landed next to the two Water Tribe warriors.
"None, last time his Messenger Hawk came it said he had crossed the Serpent's Pass and was headed to the Great Rock, wherever that is."
Aang looked towards the rising sun. "He's keeping the Earth King safe, at least. That's given the men here a morale boost. We sunk that place so far underground, no one will get to the King."
"Speak of the devil, here comes his hawk," Hakoda held out his arm as the messenger bird clasped it with his claws, a message tied behind its back. Hakoda opened it and looked over the flowing characters, tipped with an unfamiliar seal.
"Who wrote this?" he handed it over to his son and the Avatar.
Friends of air, water and earth, Aang began to read. News is that you are planning an invasion on the day when the Moon blocks the Sun. I am no going to warn you against it, but I advise caution as our friend has not yet mastered the element of fire! Be careful of treachery and foul play, as that's how Ozai works!
"Bumi! I thought I'd recognize his writing!" Aang beamed with joy, but read on.
I'm fine here in MY (say that loudly) city, watching those red rats from the Fire Nation walk on MY streets. Your friend with the heavy staff and his brother are here, and hopefully we'll be celebrating the liberation of everyone pretty soon, eh? I'm looking forward to see you and your Sifu do some Earthbending moves! I hope I live long enough to see you again!
The characters changed in form slightly, and Sokka took over reading the scroll.
My friends, as the King has told you I am now in the place we called The Other City when we were children. We are also planning our liberation soon, although I fear for Kuei, who is stuck in the garrison in disguise. I cannot join you as we are too close to liberating the city, but I will hasten to your side as soon as all is said and done. Give Sokka, Toph and Katara my love and best wishes, we will meet again soon, I swear. –Mitsu Ishihara, Prince of Ba Sing Se and Warden of the Great Rock.
P.S: Do not return this bird, consider it yours now, Sokka. We are being watched even though you are not.
"I really wanted him to be here," Sokka took the Hawk from his father. "But we've got enough Earthbenders to compensate, I hope."
"Those men are remnant troops, I heard there were other fortresses holding out elsewhere," Hakoda looked over a small map of the Earth Kingdom.
"We'll have to make do," Aang put his hand on Hakoda's shoulder. "Right now we have to gather everyone for tomorrow's strategy meeting. The invasion is in one week."
"Right now you need some sleep, Aang," Sokka pointed to the bags underneath his eyes.
"I can't! I keep getting these nightmares about the Fire Lord!" he pulled his eyelid open.
Toph came down some self-made stairs and punched Aang in the arm. "Come on, twinkle toes, get some rest, we're going to have action soon!"
"He's not coming," Sokka looked at her. Toph's expression changed into a frown and she sighed.
"I kinda thought he wouldn't," she twiddled her thumbs. "Who could blame him?"
"Hey, cousin!" To waved to Sokka. "We brought ya some grub you might like," he pulled out a creeper bug, still alive and still wiggling.
"Um…can you lead the invasion for a while?" Sokka ran up Toph's stairs as fast as possible.
"Hey, wait for me!" she reached for him but felt his footsteps fade into the cliff up top. Two pairs of heavier footsteps walked up to her, one a massive pair of legs that caused their own ripples in her vision. She recognized them immediately.
"The Boulder and the Hippo greet you, Blind Bandit!" the narcissist flexed his muscles underneath his grey cloak as the Hippo raised Toph to his shoulder height, blinding her but at the same time delighting her.
"Up for a rematch?"
"The Boulder and the Hippo no longer fight for people's fun and games. Now we fight for the Kingdom and the People!" the wrestler drawled and soaked himself in imaginary applause .
"Cool. Where are the others?" Toph asked as the Hippo put her down.
"The Fire Nation Man and a couple of others decided to fight in their own rings, probably Omashu!" the Boulder crossed his bulky arms. "We don't follow that ringmaster anymore. Not after he double crossed us all and forced us to kidnap you."
Toph let out a little giggle, which turned into her trademark laughter soon afterwards. The wrestlers joined her walking up the stairs, the Hippo hosing both her and the Duke on his massive blubbery shoulders.
Meanwhile, several feet underground in Omashu…
"I don't believe it… Earth Rumble participants? One with a Fire Nation emblem, no less!" Mitsu was rolling on the ground in laughter.
"That's not funny, sir," the so called Fire Nation Man meekly spoke, clutching his cape.
"You're supposed to be tough, rumble tough!" Mitsu puffed his chest and sauntered around. You're Bumi's secret weapons?"
The Fire Nation Man and three others looked at each other and proceeded to slam Mitsu between four moving columns of earth, right in the middle of his mock pirouette.
"Okay, I guess the old man has a point…," he saw stars as the rocks unclamped him.
"We are Earthbenders trained to fight, you know," another wrestler crossed his arms.
"I always wanted to know, were those matches, you know…rigged?"
"Well…"
The Fire Nation Man was interrupted by Master Jing, who pulled at Mitsu's arm.
"We have to proceed now. Our spies say that the Commandoes have checked in- your brother is in great danger, even though word is the Governor has ordered half the garrison to go back to the Fire Nation!"
"Aang, Sokka and the others…they're headed for a trap!" Mitsu got up off the floor. "All of you get ready to go up top! We have to stop those reinforcements!"
"King Bumi stands ready at the hidden gates to the center of the palace. We issue from there in exactly three hours, Prince Mitsu. You must find your brother and head east over the crescent of the world, and save the Avatar. We are capable of ending this occupation ourselves."
Mitsu bowed to Master Jing and ran towards the place where Omashu's army was gathering, the elderly king at the forefront, bending a tunnel upwards with a mere stroke of his finger. Experience of over one hundred years showed as the muscular king tore through the ground with his fists and fingernails with the ease of an old Badger Mole. Mitsu sent out a prayer to his brother and watched more Earthbenders move the Earth in one smooth motion and one stance at a time. The army of Omashu was largely intact, unlike the forces in Ba Sing Se and elsewhere, and was drawn exclusively from locals and natives. Jing led the movements of their arms and legs, cutting through the ground with ease and smoothness, as if he was cutting through it with a fruit knife. This style, which Mitsu came to know as the Omashu style was wholly independent of generally practiced 'soft' and 'hard' styles as used by other people or the Dai Li. Jing and his troops resembled Waterbenders more than anything in their motions, although they also rotated their wrists and remained rooted to the ground. Bumi alone used his powerful earth shattering technique, his shoulders and fists now ripping through the ground in the vanguard of the invasion. His muscles rippled as he tore through the rock with unfathomable ease.
Men up top felt a soft set of tremors, but the Fire Nation troops continued to load up their balloons and war supplies. The fifty or so Commandoes, however being Earthbenders knew something was up, and accompanied the Fire Officials while keeping their ears to the ground and their feet on the ground. Kuei hid behind some water barrels as two of them passed him and Bosco, now squirming behind his master, fear in its eyes.
"It looks like it's just us, buddy," Kuei peeked over the barrels.
The bear moaned and hid underneath his paws, Earthbending a hole for his head.
"Come on, you were brave in the desert! Wait…" Kuei focused his Earthbending down and felt the movements underground. "They're coming! Brace yourself!"
Tunnels of earth popped up all over the city with the Fire Nation Men caught scattered by sudden gaps appearing in the ground, or by flailing rock from the emerging Earthbenders.
"We're under attack!" a captain hollered before a sharpened earth spike penetrated his leg. He collapsed right in front of Kuei, who kicked the man onto his face and formed an earth platform to travel upwards. Bosco wailed and haphazardly launched a platform of his own, hurling him two blocks away over the battlefield. Just as the bear landed on his four paws, he found the ground rising along with him, sending the bear tumbling into an alley. Out came the King of Omashu along with the Prince of Ba Sing Se, backed by hundreds of angry men. Bumi threw his cloak aside and Earthbended a whole building onto an oncoming troop of Fire Nation benders, with Mitsu forcing the entire mass of men and stone into another bigger pile.
A roar of wheels could be heard in the distance as Chan's Commandoes came in to fight their fellow Earthbenders, but they were few compared to the Omashu army and found themselves trapped in their vehicles, unable to bend their way out. Their Fire Nation allies were making a stand on the reinforced public buildings and the royal palace, sounding desperate horns and launching flares in broad daylight. Jing elegantly danced through the streets, cutting down soldier after soldier with his bending, a single piece of sharpened rock his only weapon.
The only true holdout was the north part of the palace, where the Fire Nation had installed new crossbow turrets and stationed their best benders. Kuei was lost in the melee and missed punches or arrows launched in anger as the battle pushed the occupiers to their last stand. He continued to yell his bear's name as projectiles swung overhead, blocked only by his last minute Earthbending. Few of the Omashu army even recognized him, pushing him aside to fight and mistaking him for a stray commoner. Bumi and Mitsu were in the city's southern corridors, leaving the Earth King seemingly trapped between an army he hated and an army he didn't know.
"Bosco!" he cried out as fireballs began to find their way into the growing pit of combatants.
"They've got catapults!" a soldier yelled, diving beneath an archway that collided with the burning rock, leaving a giant cloud of dust.
Kuei remembered his brother's words and closed his eyes, putting his hands and exposed knees (torn from the fighting) on the ground. A blue wave washed over the ground, with many feet slamming onto the earth like it was a pool, with infinite ripples in the ground. Out of all the stepping, jumping people he managed to notice a small pair of rounded feet being surrounded by six pairs of smaller feet.
"Bosco!" he instinctively punched upwards. The six pairs disappeared, with their owners landing on nearby roofs with broken pelvises. "Wow, how did I do that?"
"Look out!" an Earth soldier yelled as Kuei turned left to see a giant fireball falling towards him. Something in him took over and he put the tips of his hands together like a scoop and pushed them upwards. The fireball's earthen core crackled and made a strange hissing sound, before slamming into the Earth King. Fire and Earth troops alike stopped for a moment to see what had happened behind the giant cloud of dust and ash that formed from the impact. What they got was a solid statue of the Earth King in his pose, his face with a twisted mix of fear and satisfaction.
"Kuei!" Mitsu dropped the soldiers he was carrying and went to his seemingly petrified brother. "Kuei!" he cried out as he knocked on the statue.
"What happened here!?" Long overturned an ATV and raised a rock wall to shield the princes. "He's…turned into rock!" Mitsu had his hands on his head. "Is that even possible in Earthbending?" he knocked on the stone.
"I can hear something!" Long put his ear to the statue. It was a small vibration but roughly came from the area of the statue's mouth. He raised his war hammer , but Mitsu grabbed his wrist, eyebrow raised.
"What if he is stone?" Mitsu tapped his brother's head.
"Shut up and get me out of here!" Kuei's stone lips seemed to murmur. The Colonel shrugged off Mitsu's arm and slammed his hammer into the stone. A crack soon appeared, which grew to a river of cracks and then fully shattering to reveal a living, breathing organic Kuei who sighed in relief.
"I'm not doing that again!" he waved to the oncoming Bosco, who was pushing entire platoons of Fire Nation troops aside to tend to his master.
"Shin, that was crazy!" Mitsu shook his brother by the shoulder. "What the hell was that you just did?"
"I think I pulled some of the ash from the fireball and wrapped myself in it, so the fireball would only be flame. Since the ash itself didn't burn, I guessed it'd be the ultimate flame-proof armor. But it's so sticky!" he dusted himself off.
"In the name of the Earth King!" Long vaulted a boulder onto a rampart as he charged forward around his earthen wall.
"In my name? You are all fighting in my name?" Kuei pointed to himself.
"Well, he should be fighting in my name, young man. But I guess I frustrated him too much! That was a great move just now, I never would have thought of that one!" Kuei felt Bumi's large wrinkly arms clasp his shoulder. There was a bandage on the Omashu King's forehead but otherwise he was still battle-ready, the crazy look on his face remaining constant.
"You can have the kingdom, it's not like I did anything good on the throne!" Kuei deflected a giant crossbow bolt with deceptive ease, using the earthen wall.
"Nonsense, I have enough trouble with this city!" Bumi yanked two Firebenders off a prone trooper with an earth wave and flung them over the fortress wall. "You can't redeem your family if you suddenly have nothing to redeem!"
"Let Mitsu redeem us! All I ever wanted to be was to be in peace with Bosco and…I don't know, just to be in peace!"
Bumi raised an even larger earthen wall around himself and Kuei, pointing to the young king's face.
"Listen here, boy. Everyone out here, in every damn kingdom wants to be in peace. Even the Avatar, my best friend wants to be in peace and just ride chutes all day here! But we're the Kings of the land, and by the Earth, we're going to do our job! There is a war going on, and I've waited many moons for this to happen!" Bumi was rarely angry, but Kuei could feel the rage in his eyes as well as the rapid frequency of his Earthbending, which radiated a powerful green. Yet his eyes softened as he put his hand on the Earth King's shoulder. "I waited 100 years for Aang to come back, and he did. Your line needs to come back as well, as rulers this time. I can wait a bit longer for that. But first…" Bumi gave Kuei a knowing look and they both launched the stone hut into the wall. The battle was still raging around them, but a new set of horns sounded that filled the raiders with gloom.
"It's Chan himself! We're saved!" a Fire Nation herald howled over the battlements. Admiral Chan, riding a Rough Rhino tore through the ranks of friend and foe with his green fire blasting anyone who came too close. The governor cheered on him from the innermost tower, at least before his wife pulled him back inside just in time to avoid a stray fire bolt. ATVs and wave-riding commandoes came through the unmanned western gate, a mass of Earth coming right at Bumi's army.
"We meet again, you accursed heretic!" Chan's halberd clashed with Mitsu's heavy staff.
"I'll be sure to kill you for real this time!" Mitsu swung and missed the admiral's head, snapping his saddle and sending his rhino into a mad frenzy. The Omashu army, already exhausted from fighting the Fire Nation, had to contend with more rogue Earthbenders tearing through their ranks. Some bore back into the Earth while others found refuge underneath wrecked buildings. The Commandoes knew how to fight without stopping and were slowly cutting down Jing's flank without so much as a scratch on their armor.
Mitsu and Chan dueled alone in the middle of the packed field, the admiral's halberd proving surprisingly equal to Mitsu' s titanium staff, as well as in skill to the Force Bender.
"Give up! I've sent hawks to the reinforcements, they are turning back to finish you once and for all!"
"I think you're finished, admiral!" Mitsu force bent the larger man into the ground. Chan felt his ankles snap and soon his shoulders were beginning to throb in pain.
"What are you doing, you are cheating!" Chan tried to move his halberd but dropped it in pain, his shoulders beginning to separate from his body. Mitsu's staff was planted in the ground, his hands pointed at the admiral like he was parting a wall.
"Surrender, Admiral. Surrender before I surrender your body parts to the Governor."
"Shut up! The servants of the Fire Lord never surrender! I will never surrender! We will fight on in the name of Ozai! Long live Ozai! Long live….."
"WE SURRENDER!" the Governor was hanging over the balcony, Long and Bosco having raised him on an earthen pillar. "DAMN YOU ALL, WE SURRENDER! EVERYONE SURRENDER!" A glint of tears was in his eyes as the Fire Nation Governor wailed from the dizzy heights.
"Don't surrender!" Chan felt the pain return to his arms. Steam came out of his nose, although he did not have Iroh's skill in breathing fire.
"Bosco's up there?" Kuei waved to his bear companion.
"He's smarter than you think he is," Bumi shielded his eyes. "Mehmet was thinking well ahead when he gifted that bear cub to you."
"You heard the Governor, all of you, SURRENDER!" Mitsu slammed his staff into the ground, sending shockwaves all over the city. "There needs to be no more blood shed today!"
The Fire Nation troops dropped their swords and stances, while the commandoes looked helplessly at their leader and either fled or joined their colleagues with their arms over their heads. Dead birds also started falling out of the sky, unread messages still tied to their backs. Buzzard Wasps and Viper Condors wheeled overhead, cawing and screeching as their masters came through the western gate. At their head was a bandaged Mehmet Pasha with others of the various Sand Tribes behind him, all in full war attire which seemed to have seen much use in recent days.
"What? This is intolerable! I'll report you to the Fire Lord myself!" Chan howled as Bumi encased him entirely in rock, except for his face.
"Let's see how you like being trapped!" Bumi laughed as Chan tried the fire Breath in vain. "Onwards men, we have banners to return, citizens to unfurl…or was it the other way round?" he scratched his head.
The entire city erupted in cheer.