Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or The Last Airbender.
Bodyguard of Azula
Chapter 13: Breaking and Entering
"Talking"
"Thinking"
"Bijū/spirit talking"
"Bijū/spirit thinking"
(Location: Ba Sing Se)
The drill made its way towards the Outer Wall, the sides protected by Fire Nation tanks. The sections collapsed and elongated, like a caterpillar or a snake moving. As it moved, it was stabilized by metal poles jutting out into the ground.
As the drill got closer to the wall, the command tower rose, allowing those inside a better view. Inside the tower sat the princess of the Fire Nation as well as her two friends. After returning the tank-train to War Minister Qin in Yu Dao, he asked them to follow him to a Fire Nation base near Ba Sing Se. When they arrived, he revealed the drill to them. And now, they were here. "This drill is a feat of scientific ingenuity and raw destructive power," War Minister Qing stated. "Once it tunnels through the wall, our troops will storm their city. The Earth Kingdom will finally fall, and you can claim Ba Sing Se in the name of your father."
"No, I won't," Azula said. "I will claim it in the name of the Fire Nation." It was one of the things Naruto had beaten into her (almost literally). Never honor someone who has never fought a battle.
"…As you wish, princess. But still, nothing can stop us."
"Hmm, what about those muscular guys down there?" asked Ty Lee as she looked through the scope. Earthbenders were hopping into trenches, getting ready for a fight.
"Please," the War Minister said, sounding quite offended. "The drill's metal shell is impervious to any Earthbending attack." He tapped the scope to emphasize his point, surprising the acrobat.
"Oh, I'm sure it is War Minister Qin," Azula told him. "But just to be on the safe side, Mai, and Ty Lee, take the Earthbenders out!"
Mai stopped twirling her knife. "Finally, something to do," she said as she got out of the chair. She had been bored ever since they got the drill. Both she and Ty Lee left the tower without saying a word.
KAtara and the rest made their way towards to Ba Sing Se. They had gotten closer when Aang and Momo flew back to them. "Aang, what are you doing here?" Katara asked him, surprised. "I thought you were looking for Appa."
"I was," he replied. "But something stopped me, something big." They were confused by his words, so he just motioned them all to follow him.
They quickly made their way to the Outer Wall. Both Toph and Aang bent the rock underneath them to start sliding up the wall, almost like an elevator. "So, what's so big that Appa has to wait?" Sokka asked him.
They had almost reached the top of the wall when they saw the drill. "That," the Air Nomad stated.
Shikamaru just looked at it. "Well, it certainly is big," he said.
"I think that's an understatement, Shikamaru," Asuma said. The damn thing was huge!
They reached the top of the wall and climbed over to the battlement. "We made it to Ba Sing Se and we're still not safe," Ying said as she held her baby. "No one is."
Aang had a brief look of thought before a voice spoke out. "What are you people doing here?" a nearby soldier asked, getting their attention. "Civilians aren't allowed on the wall."
Aang stepped forward. "I'm the Avatar," He announced to them. "Take me to whoever's in charge."
"Well, what do ya know?" Shù Yè said. "Our little monk is actually trying to grow a pair. You should be so proud," she told Katara with a grin.
"Shù Yè, you shouldn't say stuff like that," Katara told her while blushing. It would imply things that weren't true (at least, not yet).
"I can say what I want. Speaking of which…" She looked at the guards. "Hey! If you don't want civilians up here, then you might want to consider getting these people off of it and into the city." She pointed to Tahn and his family. "We've got a couple here who just became parents."
The guards got the point immediately. They escorted the family away from the wall while everyone else went to the person in charge, who was soon revealed to be a general named Sung. "It is an honor to welcome you to the Outer Wall, young Avatar," he said. "But your help is not needed."
"Not needed?" Aang asked, surprised by the man's attitude. He had never been so blatantly refused before.
"Not needed," the general replied, enunciating both words. "I have the situation under control. I assure you;the Fire Nation cannot penetrate this wall." He got up from his desk and led them out to look at the drill. "Many have tried to break through it, but none have succeeded."
"I know one way to break through," Shikamaru whispered to Ino. "All we'd have to is to get Chōji angry."
"That's not funny, Shikamaru," she replied. It was always in their best interests to never let Chōji get angry. Once he did, there was no stopping him (not without some injuries).
"What about the Dragon of the West?" Toph asked the general. "He got in." That had been the only kind of talk in her home when it happened.
The general faltered slightly, recognizing the truth of her words. "We-well…technically yes," he admitted. "But he was quickly expunged. Nevertheless, that's why the city's named Ba Sing Se. It's the 'impenetrable city'. They don't call it Na Sing Se." He laughed at his own joke. "That means 'penetrable city,"" he explained when he realized that no one was laughing with him.
"Probably should've called the penetrable city," Asuma stated.
"Excuse me?" he asked, unsure of what the foreigner meant.
"Nothing's impenetrable," Shikamaru clarified. A shinobi knew that lesson quite well. All they had to do was find one way in. That was it.
"This city is," the general told them, certain of what he said. "And so, you are not needed."
"Thanks for the tour," Toph said. "But we still got the drill problem."
"Not for long," he told her. "To stop it, I've sent an elite platoon of Earthbenders called the Terra Team." They were some of the best troops the Outer Wall had to offer.
"That's a good group name, very catchy," Sokka commented. "You know, we really need a good group name," he thought.
They watched as the Terra Team moved to attack. They bent the earth to send one of the tanks skywards so they could get through. "Ready? Attack!" ordered the team leader. They split off into groups and bent the earth to jut out columns to stop the drill from moving. It didn't work as the sections moved forward, destroying the columns.
It showered the team with rocks. After being momentarily distracted, the team bent up shields of stone to avoid a barrage of knives. The knives had been thrown by Mai, who was sliding the side of the drill with Ty Lee.
The acrobat leapt off the drill and then leapt into the air in a high front flip to avoid a rock line. She landed behind one of the soldiers. After dodging a few of his attacks, she hit points on his body, making him collapse. She flipped over to land in the middle of the rest of the team and taking them effortlessly. Soon enough, she was surrounded by the fallen Terra Team.
"We're doomed!" General Sung wailed after watching the events through a telescope.
"Thanks for stating the obvious," Shikamaru drawled.
Sokka smacked the general on the cheek. "Get a hold of yourself, man!" he ordered. Now was not the time to panic.
"You're right, I'm sorry," he apologized while rubbing his cheek.
"Maybe you'd like the Avatar's help now?" Toph asked pointedly.
He stood in front of the Airbender. "Yes please," he said, sounding like a chastised child.
"Then I suggest you leave and let the actual professionals do their jobs," Asuma told him. Nearby soldiers knew what he meant. They escorted General Sung away. "He must've been one of those people who bought his rank instead of earning it," the Konoha shinobi thought in disgust.
"Good riddance to a useless rock-head," Shù Yè said. "How much do you want to bet he slept with someone to get his position?"
"Oh, thanks for that, Shù Yè!" Ino told her, restraining the urge to gag. "Now I've got an image of that general in bed!" And that was an image that she didn't want or need!
"You're welcome."
They all looked at the oncoming drill, watching it steadily approach. "So the question is, how are we going to stop that thing?" Aang asked. Then he and Katara looked at Sokka, making everyone else look at him.
He noticed the looks. "Why are you looking at me?"
"You're the idea guy," the Air Nomad told him. Every time they needed a plan, he was the one who came up with it.
He scowled at the implications. "So I'm the only one who can ever come up with a plan? That's a lot of pressure."
"And also the complaining guy," Katara added.
"That part I don't mind," he admitted. It was a good way to get rid of some stress. And they had certainly gotten some stress over the past few months.
"Ladies, could we focus back on the problem here?" Shù Yè asked.
"Hey, I'm not a lady!" Aang protested. He was a man, not a lady!
"The problem, little Ms. Arrowhead," she said pointedly, looking at the drill coming towards the Outer Wall. "We need to focus on the problem."
"So, Mr. Lee and Mr. …um…Mushy is it?" a ticket lady asked the two of them as she looked at their passports. The two of them had gotten off the ferry without any problems. Now, they were trying to get into the city itself.
"It's pronounced Mushi," Iroh corrected her.
"You telling me how to do my job?" she asked with a frown that was on its way to annoyed.
"Ah, no, no," he assured her as he walked up to her booth. "But may I just say you're like a flower in bloom. Your beauty is intoxicating."
He was laying it on thick. The lady was by no means beautiful, but she ate up every word he said. "Hm, you're pretty easy on the eyes yourself handsome." She made a meowing sound. "Welcome to Ba Sing Se." She stamped the passports.
Iroh took the passports and turned back to Zuko, who had a hand over his face. "I'm going to forget I saw that," he told his uncle, swiping his passport from his hands. The last thing he wanted to see was his uncle flirting. It just didn't sit right with him.
They walked beyond the ticket lady and into the station. Unbeknownst to them, they were being watched. "I think Lee would make a good Freedom Fighter," Jet said as he watched from the line. "He's just trying to find his way in the world. Like us."
"You don't know anything about him, Jet," Smellerbee warned him.
"I know he didn't get that scar from a Waterbender," he told her with ease.
"Besides, I thought we were going straight now."
"We are, and the new Freedom Fighters could use a guy like Lee. What do you think Longshot?" he asked the ever-silent archer, who just looked at Jet and blinked once. "I can respect that," he said.
The Terra Team had been moved back onto the wall and into a nearby infirmary. Before they decided to go up against the drill, Katara decided to see if she could help heal them. "What's wrong with him?" General Sung asked her, he had followed the group to the infirmary and was now looking at the wounded soldiers. "He doesn't look injured."
"His chi is blocked," Katara told him as she tried to heal the soldier. "Who did this to you?" She asked him.
"Two girls ambushed us," he told her. "One of them hit with a couple of quick jabs and suddenly I couldn't Earthbend and I could barely move. And then she cartwheeled away."
It was that last part that got Katara's attention, which in turn made her realize who the attacker was. "Ty Lee," she said, remembering the acrobat. "She doesn't look dangerous, but she knows the human body and its weak points. It's like she takes you down from the inside."
"But where she is, the Fire Nation princess is," Shikamaru said.
"And where the Fire Nation princess is, Naruto is," Chōji finished up, realizing where his friend was going.
"So, we have an opportunity here," Ino said. If they followed the acrobat back to Azula, they would find Naruto.
"Indeed we do," Asuma agreed.
"Huh? What are you guys talking about? I'm really confused here," Shù Yè said with a puzzled expression.
"Same here," Toph said, raising her hand and waving it slightly. She knew who Naruto was (like she was ever going to forget what happened at Tu Zin), but she failed to follow the logic of the shinobi.
"They're saying that neither Azula nor Naruto know we're here," Sokka explained. "And because of that, they have an opportunity. Should they be able to get aboard the drill, they'd have an opportunity to take Naruto. But I see a second opportunity."
"What's that?" Shù Yè asked. She had no idea what they were all talking about.
"If they can get aboard, Team Asuma could track down Azula and capture her. If they could do that, Ino can get into Azula's mind and extract information on what the Fire Nation is planning," he explained. Then he frowned. "The only reason I can think of for them not to explain this one is because they want to focus on Naruto and hope to use us stopping the drill so they can find him."
Team Asuma just looked at him. "…He is good," Ino finally said, impressed by what she heard him say.
"Yeah," Shikamaru agreed. "It's troublesome but I can see why Naruto thinks he is the most dangerous person in the group." The Tribesman had a mind that could match any of the Nara clan, but he wasn't even lazy.
Sokka's ego puffed up a little bit while Aang's, Katara's, and Toph's egos deflated. Shù Yè saw their looks. "Really, you guys thought you were the most dangerous?" she asked them all.
"Well, kinda," Aang replied. "I mean, I am the Avatar." That usually made people either run in fear or bow their heads in respect (there was also attacking on sight, but that was mostly the Fire Nation. So, it didn't really count).
She scoffed. "You know, the first time I saw your group, I didn't see the Avatar, his Bending teachers and Sokka. I saw Bender," she pointed to Aang, "Bender," she pointed to Katara, "Bender," she pointed at Toph, "And Nonbender," She pointed to Sokka. "In other words: predictable, predictable, predictable, and unpredictable." She pointed again, in the same order.
"How are we predictable?" asked Katara, a little offended. She had worked hard to get to where she was with her Bending and this girl was just waving it off like it was nothing.
"You guys rely on your Bending and weapons that can be used in tandem with Bending. He doesn't," she explained, again pointing at Sokka. "The Fire Nation shouldn't fear the Avatar, the master of the four elements. They should fear Sokka, the master strategist and weapons expert."
"You know, when she says like that, she's got a point," Asuma said. If the Fire Nation was smart, they would try to capture Sokka, not Aang. If they managed to capture the Tribesman and convert him to their cause, he had no doubt that the war would end quickly in the Fire Nation's favor.
"So Mr. Man with the Plan," Toph said to Sokka, acting like the past conversation didn't even happen. "What are we going to do?"
"We're going to do the same thing Ty Lee did," he replied. "We'll take it out from the inside by hitting its pressure points."
"Alright, then let's get going," Shù Yè said.
"You're staying here," he told her, turning his eyes onto her. "I don't trust you."
"…Wow. You give a guy a compliment and he responds by telling you that you're not trusted." She didn't sound offended, everyone else probably thought she was.
"I'm sorry, Shù Yè. But the truth is we don't know you." She was practically a newcomer.
"But this would be a perfect chance to prove my abilities to the group!" she argued. If she did that, they would be able to accept her more easily.
"Sokka, you're being paranoid again," Katara told him. By the Spirits, couldn't he keep it in check for once in his life?
"Yeah, she's already part of the group," Aang said in support. "There's no need for you to be paranoid."
"The two of you seem to forget that the last time you told me to stop being paranoid, we practically turned a potential massacre inside a Fire Nation colony into a battle that ended in a Earth Kingdom massacre," he said, silencing them. He turned back to Shù Yè and looked her in the eyes. "But maybe I am being too paranoid, so I'll rein it in."
"Does that mean I'm joining you in the drill?" she asked, hopeful for the chance to help them.
"Yes."
She grinned, happy that she was accepted. "You gotta learn how to trust people, ice-chewer."
He frowned. "I'm going to ignore that insult." He turned to the rest. "We need to get down to the ground."
"Leave that to me and Aang," Toph said. They were brought down the same way they had come up (the soldiers on the Outer Wall kept large slabs of rock for just that purpose).
Once they made it to the ground, they got into a trench so that the drill couldn't see them. "Toph, can you give us some cover?" Asuma asked the blind Earthbender.
"Yes, I can. But once I whipped some up, you're not going to be able to see. So, stay close to me." She leapt out of the trench and bent a huge dust screen towards the drill. "Run!" she ordered as they charged into the dust.
Ty Lee looked through the scope. "Hey, look at that dust cloud. It's so…poofy," she said. "Poof," she also said, trying to be cute.
"Don't worry, Princess," War Minister Qin assured her. "I'm sure it's nothing."
"Maybe, but you never took lessons from Naruto," she replied.
"So, you think it's something else?" Mai asked her.
She shrugged. "We'll have to wait and see."
They made their way towards the drill. When they got close, Toph bent a hole in the ground. "Everyone into the hole," she ordered. They all jumped in and she bent the hole closed, leaving them in complete darkness.
"Wow, it is really dark down here," Chōji commented.
"You can't see a thing," Ino agreed with her teammate.
"Oh no, what a nightmare," Toph said in mocking horror.
"Sorry," the two shinobi apologized. They had forgotten that she was blind.
Toph bent the hole to form into a tunnel and moved forward. When they came out of the tunnel, they were directly under the drill. "There!" Sokka said, pointing to an opening in the drill. Aang up onto a bar and hung from his legs. That way his hands were free, for which he helped the others jumped into the drill, leaving Toph and Chōji outside.
"Toph, Chōji, what are you doing?" Sokka asked.
"There is no way I am going into that metal monster," Toph told him. "I can't bend in there. I'll try to slow it down out here."
"I'm going to help her out," Chōji said. Two hands were better than one, after al.
"Okay, good luck," the Tribesman told them. "Akela, stay here and protect them. Make sure they don't get caught," he ordered the wolf. Akela nodded once.
Sokka and Aang disappeared into the machine. Toph bent a large rock column to jut out and hit the drill. It didn't stop the drill as the column was being pushed forward with the drill, making Toph's job harder. Chōji helped her out by using his Bubun Baika no Jutsu (Partial Multi-Size Technique) to enlarge his arms and hold the column as well.
They walked into a room full of pipes and values. "I need a plan of this machine," Sokka said. "Some schematics of what the inside looks like, then we can find its weak points."
"Where are we going to get something like that?" Aang asked.
"It's troublesome, but it's obvious," Shikamaru said in reply. Sokka drew his machete and swung at a value. He knocked it off, causing steam to bellow out.
"What are you doing!?" Aang demanded. "Someone's going to hear us!" They were trying to destroy the drill, not get caught!
"That's the point," the Tribesman told him, sheathing the weapon. "I figure a machine this big needs engineers to run it. And when something breaks…?"
"They come to fix it," Katara finished, realizing what her brother was thinking. They hid themselves and laid in wait. Sure enough, an engineer came to see what the problem was. When he noticed that someone was behind him, it was too late. Katara bent the surrounding steam to freeze the engineer. "Hi," she said.
"Was that really necessary?" Shù Yè asked. She did not need to greet the engineer before freezing him. Really, what was the point?
Sokka ran up to the frozen engineer. "This will do. Thanks!" he said after grabbing the engineer's copy of the schematics.
They made sure that there was a good amount of distance between them and the frozen engineer as they left him. After climbing up a staircase, he opened the schematics on a nearby pipe. "It looks like the drill is made up of two main structures," he noted. "There's the inner mechanism where we are now and the outer shell. The inner part and the outer part are connected by these braces." He drew his hand around said braces to emphasize his point. "If we cut through them, the entire thing will collapse."
"Lead the way, you crafty ice-chewier you," Shù Yè said.
"Will you stop calling me that?" That was getting really old really fast.
"Nope, this is what you get for not trusting me," she replied with an easy grin.
His sigh was equal parts annoyed and defeated. "Let's just get moving." He rolled up the schematics and led them away.
Zuko and Iroh were waiting for the monorail to come in through the station. Jet came over and sat down next to Zuko. "So," he began, "you guys got plans once you're inside the city?"
"Get your hot tea here! Finest tea in Ba Sing Se," a tea merchant called as he pushed his cart through the station.
"Oh!" Iroh waved the merchant down. "Jasmine please." The merchant poured him a cup and left to find another customer. Iroh took one sip of the tea and spat it out in disgust. "Coldest tea in Ba Sing Se is more like it! What a disgrace!"
"Hey," Jet said to Zuko, getting his attention, "can I talk to you for a second?" He got up from his seat and walked away. Zuko just sighed and followed him. "You and I have a much chance of making it in the city if we stick together," he told Zuko. "You want to join the Freedom Fighters?"
"Thanks, but I don't think you want me in your gang," Zuko answered. He knew that if Jet found they were Firebenders, good things would not come of it.
"Come on, we made a great team looting that captain's food. Think of all the good we could do for these refugees."
"I said no," he said firmly before walking back to where his uncle was sitting.
"Have it your way," Jet said. Then he noticed that Iroh was happily drinking steaming tea. His eyes went wide when he realized what that meant.
Zuko had reached his uncle when he turned back to look at Jet glaring at them before walking away. He then noticed the same thing Jet did. "Agni help us!" he silently swore. They did not need this right now!
"Hey!" Iroh protested as his nephew slapped the tea out of his hands.
"What are you doing Firebending your tea!?" he demanded in a hushed whisper. "For a wise, old man, that was a pretty stupid move."
"I know you're not supposed to cry over spilt tea," Iroh said before sniffing at the tea. "But's that so sad!"
When they walked out to the outer shell, the first thing they saw was one of the braces. "Wow," Sokka said. "It looks a lot bigger in person then it does in the plans. We're going to have to work pretty hard to cut through that."
"What's this 'we' stuff?" Katara asked him. "Aang and I are going to do all the work."
"Hey, you said that I'm the plan guy, which means you're the cut stuff up with Waterbending guys," he told her, using his arms to emphasize his point. "It's the team we. We're Team Avatar."
"Catchy," Shù Yè commented. She liked it.
"…Could be a little better," Shikamaru argued. It sounded like they belonged to a shinobi team.
"Is it any worse than Team Youth?" Ino asked her teammate, reminding him of what Guy wanted to originally call his team (they had been told the story by Asuma back in their Genin days).
Katara uncorked her pouch and bent the water inside towards Aang, making a cut in the brace. Aang caught the water and bent back to Katara, deepening the cut. They repeated this action, making the cut deeper and deeper. But it was also tiring work, when they were half-way through the brace, they stopped to take a breath.
"This is taking too long," Ino noted. And this was only the first brace.
"You got any way of making this faster?" Shù Yè asked.
"She doesn't. But I do," Asuma said. "Katara, Aang, step back." He pulled out his Chakra Blades, trench knives with knuckle-duster handles, and began to channel his Fūton chakra through them. "Hien (Flying Swallow)," he said, slicing through the rest of the brace, the blade cutting through the metal almost like butter. The top part of the cut brace slid down a little bit, making a squealing sound as it did.
They waited, but nothing happened. The drill was the same. "At this rate, we won't do enough damage before the drill reaches the wall," Katara said as she panted.
"I don't know how many more of those I have in me," Aang said from the other side of the brace, sitting on his rear.
"Funny, it didn't seem that hard," Shù Yè said.
"You're not the one who's bending the water to cut through the brace."
"You didn't even finish cutting said brace, arrowhead. Asuma did that," she retorted.
Before Aang could reply, they all heard a groaning sound echoing through the drill. The drill also vibrated as the sound continued. "Did you hear that?" Sokka asked them. "We took it down! We better get out of here fast."
They all ran to the doorway they came through and stopped when they heard a voice over the intercom. "Congratulation, crew," War Minister Qin's voice spoke out. "The drill has made contact with the wall of Ba Sing Se. Start the countdown to victory!" They heard cheers coming from the intercom as they looked at each other.
"What a drag," Shikamaru said.
"Is that all you can say at this point, Shikamaru?" Asuma asked his student.
"It's too troublesome to say anything else."
Sokka marched right back to the brace and began to push against it. "Come on brace! Budge!" he ordered the thing, but it wouldn't move, despite all his efforts.
"Yeah, that's going to work," Shù Yè said sarcastically. "Keep it up, ice-chewier. Keep it up."
"Hey, help me push or shut up!"
"This is bad, really bad," Katara said. It had taken them this long to cut one brace. If they tried to cut all of them, the drill would probably get through the wall by the time they were done.
Her brother finally stopped pushing the brace and stood against it. "We're putting everything we've got into busting these braces, but it's taking too long!" he complained.
"…Maybe we don't need to cut all the way through," Aang said, realizing something. "Toph has been teaching me that you shouldn't give 100% of your energy into any one strike. Shù Yè, take a fighting stance." She did so. "You've gotta be quick and accurate," He hooked a foot behind her own, throwing her off balance. "Hit a series of points and break your opponent's stance." He did so, making Shù Yè swing her arms wildly, to maintain her balance. "And when he's reeling back, deliver the final blow." He hand-chopped her head, making her collapse and fall. "His own weight becomes his downfall, literally."
"Was that for the arrowhead comments earlier?" Shù Yè asked from where she fell. "If it was, I'm not apologizing for it."
"So, we just need to weaken the braces instead of cutting all the way through," Katara said in realization.
"Then I'll go to the top of this thing and deliver the final blow," the Air Nomad replied, pointing upwards.
"And then it all comes crashing down," Sokka said, getting the picture.
Aang was about to say something but Shù Yè cut him off. "I know you're probably going say that the entire world is relying on us to stop this thing or something like that, so just save it and get to work," she told him from where she lay. "Better yet, save it and help me get up."
"Need a hand?" Shikamaru asked her, holding out said hand. She took it and stood up.
"Anyway, I can help you with the braces," Asuma held up a Chakra Blade to show what he meant. "It should save us some time."
Both Toph and Chōji were still trying to slow the drill down but it was tough work. "Come on…Twinkle Toes…hurry up!" Toph grated out as she held the column.
"Don't worry, Toph. They'll come through," Chōji reassured her. Akela just made sure that they were alone beneath the drill, keep a constant eye.
They went to work. Aang and Katara worked on one side of the drill while Asuma worked on the other side. Even though the two Benders were working together, they took the same amount of time Asuma took cutting through a brace. However, thanks to his efforts, it didn't take long for them to cut through all the braces.
"Seriously, boulders?" asked one of the soldiers in the command tower as he looked out the window at the Outer Wall. Earth Kingdom soldiers were hurling boulders via Bending down at the drill. "How stupid are these rock-heads!?" he demanded
"That's enough, soldier!" War Minister Qin ordered. "Focus on your job."
"Yes sir."
"War Minister!" a voice over the intercom called out, "an engineer was ambushed. His schematics were stolen!"
"War Minister!" another voice over the intercom said, "a brace on the starboard side has been cut clean through! It's sabotage sir!"
Although he didn't turn to see it, the War Minister knew that Azula was glaring at him. "And you thought it was nothing," she said, irritated.
"My apologies, Princess," He had nothing else to say.
"Let's go ladies!" she told Ty Lee and Mai. They left the tower before anyone could say anything.
The last brace was being worked on by Aang and Katara. Asuma had already finished his portion of the braces, so he stood nearby. "Good work, Team Avatar. Now Aang just needs to DUCCCKK!" shouted Sokka as he avoided a blue fireball flying over his head.
Azula stood on a higher brace opposite of them. She bent another fireball at Aang who ducked out of the way of it. "Wow Azula, you were right," Ty Lee said, standing next to her. "It is the Avatar." She gave Sokka a look. "And friends."
"Thanks, but no thanks. I'm good," he told her. He had Suki and he was happy with that.
"Oh, you're no fun," she replied before looking at Shù Yè and freezing in place. "On the other hand, what do you eat!? Those things are huge!" she demanded, pointing at her breasts.
"Don't stare at them!" Shù Yè cried as she tried to cover her breasts with her hands. "You're going to make fun of them!" She just knew that was coming.
"Leave her alone!" Ino said, standing in front of Shù Yè, blocking their view of her. "You're making her uncomfortable!"
"Can we just get on with this?" Mai asked in a bored voice. Aang's group ran back to the entrance closest to them. Azula and Mai did so as well while Ty Lee jumped down to the bottom of the brace and swung herself at the group. Aang pushed her back with an Airbending slice, but she was able to find solid footing where she landed.
Aang and his group ran down a corridor. They soon hit a crossroads where the corridor split into two directions, left and right. "Guys, get out of here!" Aang told everyone else as they went left and he went right. "I know what I need to do!"
"I'm coming with you!" Shù Yè said, joining him. "You're going to need help up there."
"Alright, let's get moving."
"Wait!" Katara called out, making the two of them stop. "You need this water more than I do." She unhooked her water pouch and tossed it to him as Momo settled on his shoulder. He caught it and the two groups went their separate ways.
Azula, Mai and Ty Lee soon hit the crossroad. "Follow them," Azula told her two friends. "The Avatar is mine." She would get him this time.
Katara, Sokka, Asuma, Ino and Shikamaru ran down the corridor. They finally made it to the end of said corridor which held a valve leading into a pipe with writing above it. "Slurry pipeline," Katara read the sign. "What does that mean?"
Sokka opened the valve and looked down into the pipe. "It's rock and water mixed together. It means our way out."
"Then we might as well get to it," Ino said, jumping into the pipe.
"And not even a single comment about what the stuff could do to her hair," Asuma said with a hint of wonder.
"I guess even Ino knows when to shut up and move," Shikamaru said, even though he was just as surprised.
By the time Mai and Ty Lee had shown up, Shikamaru and Asuma were already in the slurry. Katara and Sokka hopped in just as Mai threw a couple of knives at them. They bounced off the valve harmlessly. "Ergh, disgusting," Mai stated as she investigated the slurry pipe.
"Come on, you heard Azula," Ty Lee told her. "We have to follow them."
"She can shoot all the lightning she wants at me. I am not going in that wall sludge juice." She shuddered at the thought. It was just disgusting. Ty Lee shrugged and jumped in after them. Mai simply closed the valve.
Aang ran through the drill at top speed with Momo hanging on for dear life around his neck. He blew past the engineers who were working the drill. What surprised him was that Shù Yè could keep up with him. "How are you able to do that?" he asked her as they ran up a case of stairs.
"I was the fastest girl in my village. I got faster after using weights," she replied. It had been painful, but it had worked out in the end.
As the drill made its way through the Outer Wall, the slurry poured out of a drain in the back. Sokka, Katara, Ino, Shikamaru and Asuma rode the slurry like it was a ride. When they finally contacted the ground, they were almost completely covered in slurry. "Oh man! My hair!" cried out Ino, her long hair covered completely in the muck. "Do you know how long it's going to take to get this stuff out!?"
"And there's the hair comment," both Shikamaru and Asuma said in perfect unison. They weren't surprised that she had said something like that.
"Shut it, you two!" she snapped at them.
As they stood up from where they had landed, they saw that Ty Lee was coming out of the drain as well. Katara reacted quickly by bending the slurry back into the hole from where it was coming from, taking Ty Lee with it and trapping her in the current. "Why don't you try blocking my chi now, circus freak?" Katara told the acrobat. When the acrobat heard those words, she became enraged and tried to fight against the slurry, but to no avail.
"Katara, keep that up," Sokka told his sister, realizing something. "The pressure will build up in the drill. Then when Aang delivers the final blow, it'll be ready to pop!" She just gritted her teeth and continued to keep the slurry contained.
Aang, Momo, and Shù Yè had finally made it to the top of the drill. They across the length of it until they reached a spot close to the wall. "This looks like a good spot, you two," Aang told them.
"Then you might want to get to work," Shù Yè told him pointedly. It was then a barrage of boulders fell down upon them. They all frantically dodged the boulders so that they wouldn't be crushed. "HEY! WATCH WHERE YOU'RE THROWING THOSE THINGS! YOU ALMOST KILLED ME WITH THAT LAST ONE!" Shù Yè yelled up to the wall.
"General Sung! Tell your men to stop shooting rocks down here!" Aang shouted.
"Soldiers, whatever you do," General Sung said to them. "Don't stop shooting rocks down there!" The Earthbenders followed the general's ordered.
"They are a bunch of rock-headed idiots!" Shù Yè swore as she dodged another round of boulders. Aang said nothing. He just went to work, cutting through the metal with the water.
"Look at this, will you just look at this?" Ino demanded of her teammates, showing her hair. "It's going to be a mess once it's all cleaned out. Do you know how it took me to get my hair like this?"
"Yes, we do," Shikamaru replied. "You dragged us along on your hair care shopping sprees." He looked over at the Waterbender. "Hey, Katara, if I asked nicely enough, would you spray Ino with more slurry?"
"Don't make me hurt you, Shikamaru," Ino warned him.
"You guys need some help?" Toph asked as she, Chōji, and Akela arrived. The Earthbender had felt their arrival and abandoned the column to join them, the other two joining her.
"Toph, help me plug up this drain!" Katara told her. The two Benders worked together to send the slurry back further the drain, taking Ty Lee with it. It also made the pipes in the drill bulge almost to the point they were about to burst.
Slurry had begun to leak from the wall on to the top of the drill. Aang took no notice of that as he was still cutting through the metal hull with the water. The result was an X-shaped cut in the hull. Aang stopped bending the water and panted. "What I give to be a Metalbender." He said to himself as he bent the water back into the pouch.
"Aang, we've got company!" Shù Yè called out before dodging a blue fireball, which sailed right past her and towards Aang, who deflected it with Airbending.
"Momo, get out of here!" he ordered the winged lemur, doing so. The attacker was none other than Azula. Shù Yè took a fighting stance and watched the princess of the Fire Nation.
The tension was thick between the three people. Shù Yè made the first move by charging directly at Azula. She caught the punch and flipped her over onto her back. Shù Yè didn't just lay on the surface of the drill in a daze. She swung her legs into a kick, trying to knock Azula off her feet. She avoided this by flipping over the downed girl and charging at Aang.
She hesitated when another barrage of boulders began to rain down. Aang took advantage of her hesitation by grabbing one of the boulders via Airbending and throwing it at her. She dodged the thing by doing the splits. Snapping out of the splits, she sent another blue fireball at Aang, who protected himself by bending the rock rubble around him to form a shield.
Once the fireball hit the shield harmlessly, he retaliated by bending chunks of rock at Azula, who kicked them away. Shù Yè got back on her feet and attacked Azula again. She got in close and traded blows with the princess. "You're good," she complimented her. "I didn't expect a charcoal-sucker would be good in hand-to-hand. You always fight your enemies at a distance."
"You haven't learned from my teacher," Azula replied. Naruto had always attacked her up close, making her learn how to fight hand-to-hand.
Aang tried to help his friend by bending a slice of air at them. But Azula flipped over it, which sent Shù Yè flying down the length of the drill. While still flipping in midair, Azula pointed her feet and bent a large blue fireball at Aang's shield, blasting it apart and sending him straight into the wall and knocking him unconscious.
Azula looked at her prize but her balance was shaken when the section she was standing on moved forward. The action made the drill break through the Outer Wall of Ba Sing Se. Aang's unconscious body was moved halfway under the wall. Azula walked forward and grabbed him, holding him against the wall itself. She heard movement behind her and turned to see Shù Yè coming at her in a flying kick. She caught the kick effortlessly with one hand and threw Shù Yè back down the length of the drill.
Aang regain consciousness as Azula held fire in her hand. Realizing what she was about to do, he bent the Outer Wall to cover his right arm into a rock gauntlet. As Azula was about to strike him, he caught her arm and pushed it away. He then grabbed her midsection and pushed her back, sending her skidding across the drill. He took an Earthbending stance, and she charged him, blue fire blazing in her hands, giving her additional speed. As they were about to clash, the backed-up slurry burst out of the hole in the wall, surprising Aang and sending him to his knees. It caused Azula to stumble and slide on the slurry.
Aang tried to stand up again but slipped and fell back onto his knee. Looking up, he saw Azula run into him. It sent them slamming into the wall and then sliding down opposite sides of the drill. Azula slid down on her stomach and tried to stop her sliding by planting her feet on the side. Eventually she stopped sliding but also got a little stuck due to the slurry she had on herself.
Aang slid backwards down the drill, his rock gauntlet breaking away in the process. He tried to stop himself, but due to him being on his back, he couldn't get a grip. Momo came to his rescue by flying down to him, grabbing the back of his shirt, and lifting him back onto his feet. Swinging his arms wildly, Aang ran back to the side of the drill using Airbending. He landed safely on the top of the drill. "Thanks Momo, I owe you one," he told the lemur.
Shù Yè joined him. "You know, you might want to take care of the drill before the charcoal-sucker gets back up here," she pointed out.
Aang nodded in agreement. He made his way back to the cut in the metal. "Now all I need is a—" he began to say before a boulder slammed down next to him. "Actually, that is what I needed for once."
"Nice timing," Shù Yè commented as she looked up at the Outer Wall. She could've sworn she saw one of the soldiers waving down at them.
Momo flew off Aang's shoulder as he moved the boulder onto the cut with Airbending. He then turned the boulder into a rough shape of nail. "Shù Yè, stand behind it," he told the girl. As she did so, he back up a little and took a runner starting position. He took off. After taking a few steps, he bent an Air Scooter to stand on. He ran up the wall, as far as the Air Scooter could take him. Once the air scooter faded away, he continued running up the wall. When he felt gravity taking hold of him, he turned and with a yell of effort, ran back down the wall, using Airbending to full effect.
Azula had managed to climb back to the top of the drill in time to see Aang running down the wall. He leapt for the rock nail and she tried to stop him with a fireball, but she missed. Aang landed on the nail hard, like he intended. He also bent a wide stream of air in front of him, making Azula fly away.
The nail had the intended effect. The braces that had been cut through broke apart, allowing the slurry to flood in. The drill sections had slurry explode into the air and leaked down the sides.
"Here it comes!" Toph cried out. She bent the area of earth they were standing on up into a big pillar. Without Katara or Toph stopping the slurry, it flowed freely out of the drain, bringing Ty Lee along with it. Unable to stop herself, she slammed into the pillar.
The drill finally stopped moving as the sections broke down, allowing steam to hiss out in large quantities
Aang just stood on top of the nail, once again covered in slurry. As he wiped his face clean, Momo landed on his shoulder and began licking the slurry.
"You know, you should be glad that I am not a high maintenance girl," Shù Yè said. She too was covered in slurry. "Otherwise, I would be complaining right now."
"Sorry about that," he apologized.
She shrugged. "Well, at least the rock-head got some of it." She pointed to the top of the wall. The slurry had spread up to the battlements. Although he was small, they could see General Sung had also been covered in slurry. "I'm just bummed they didn't get some." She pointed to the command tower. Even though slurry covered the tower, the windows were still intact so those inside were safe.
"We should meet up with the others," Aang said.
"Might as well." They quickly left the top of the drill to get back with the others.
Ty Lee sat up and spat out the slurry that was in her mouth and wiped the slurry from her eyes. Looking around, she saw that the pillar she had run into had disappeared and the Avatar's friends (including the cute guy from the Water Tribe) had left already.
Hearing a noise, she saw that Azula was sliding down the rear ramp above the slurry drain. She leapt off and landed in front of Ty Lee, splashing more slurry on her. A valve opened to reveal Mai. "We lost," she stated.
As Ty Lee cleared her face again, she saw Azula was smirking. "No, we didn't," she told them. "Mai, go tell War Minister Qin that the primary goal has been accomplished."
"What do you mean? The drill was destroyed," Ty Lee said.
"Lesson number 6: The best way to get in silently is to make a loud distraction," she recited.
"What does Naruto's lessons have this?" Mai asked.
"Lesson number 7: If you can't go through, you have three other options: over, under, or around."
Realization dawned on her friends. "So that's what the message was about," Ty Lee said. A clone of Naruto had shown up just before the drill had begun its crawl to the wall. It passed a message to Azula that had sounded cryptic to them, until now.
The princess of the Fire Nation nodded. "They played right into our hands."
"Last call for Ba Sing Se!" called out the announcer of the monorail. People began to board the cars, wanting to get into the city and away from the war.
Jet walked through the station with his Freedom Fighters behind him. "Jet, relax," Smellerbee told him. "So, the old guy is into hot tea, big deal." She didn't see what the problem was.
"He heated it himself!" Jet declared, remembering what he saw with a crustal-like clarity. "Those guys are Firebenders!" Watching Zuko and Iroh board the monorail, they made sure to board as well, just a few cars behind.
Meanwhile, Zuko and Iroh boarded the monorail car. They sat down next to a couple who were parents, judging by the infant in the mother's arms. "What a handsome baby," Iroh complimented her, scratching the cloth the sleeping baby was swaddled in.
"Thank you," The mother replied, happy to see someone thought so of her newborn. The Earthbenders on the end of the monorail began to push on the tracks. The monorail moved out of the station and through the farmland.
They stood on the wall, watching the sun set. After getting back into the wall, they managed to get all the slurry muck washed off (a process they were all glad to go through). "Good effort out there, Team Avatar," Sokka said to them all.
"Enough with the 'Team Avatar' stuff," Katara replied. "No matter how many times you say it, it's not going to catch on." She was certain of that.
"You're wrong about that, Princess," Shù Yè told her. "I already see us as Team Avatar."
"Hold on, 'us?'" Sokka asked her, frowning at her. "You're not a member of this team, Shù Yè. I still don't trust you." She was still a stranger in his eyes.
"Sokka, she tried to stop Azula from taking me," Aang told him, trying to help her out. "I say she can be trusted."
"And because you're the Avatar, we should just obey your wishes," the Tribesman said with obvious sarcasm. But before Katara could get on his case, he continued. "But I already said I'll try to rein in my paranoia. However, if you show so much of hint of betraying us, you're gone," he warned her, looking straight into her eyes.
"Then I'll just have to make sure I don't betray you guys," she told him, holding his gaze.
As that point, a man stumbled out of a nearby command post. He was wearing nothing but his undergarments. "Hey! You've gotta help me." he yelled at the group when he saw Aang and recognized him as the Avatar. "You have to stop him!" He moved forward to them, stumbling as he went.
"Easy there," Asuma told him, catching him before he fell. "What happened to you?"
"Someone knocked me unconscious. When I came to, he was putting on my uniform and was about to head for the stairs when he saw that I was awake. He knocked me unconscious again, this time I came to in a closet. I had just gotten out of there," he explained.
"How long do you think you were unconscious the second time?" Ino asked him.
"I'm not sure, maybe ten, fifteen minutes."
"Can you describe the person who took your uniform?" Shikamaru asked. They needed all the details.
"Yeah, he had blond hair, blue eyes, and I think he had whiskers on his face," he said promptly.
Everyone in the group (minus Shù Yè) looked at each other, they knew who that was. "Where did he go?" Asuma demanded.
The guard pointed to where he came from. "He was heading to the stairs, I swear!" he told them all.
They all charged in the direction that was pointed and headed for the stairs. They ran down all the flights of stairs and reached the bottom in almost record time. "We've got to look for him. Spread out!" Asuma ordered them. They did so, moving away from the staircase entrance to look nearby for the blonde.
Unfortunately, their search did not take them long. "Um…if we're going to look for a guy in a stolen uniform, that's going to be a little difficult," Shù Yè called out, getting their attention.
"Why's that?" Katara asked.
"Because I'm looking at said stolen uniform," she answered. They all grouped around her. The stolen uniform was indeed laying there on the ground in front of the wall. It was all cast haphazardly to the ground, like someone had been in a hurry to take it all off. But the implication was clear.
"The drill was bait," Shikamaru said, realizing what had happened. "It was bait for us so Naruto to get into Ba Sing Se. We fell for it and now, we don't know where he is or what he's planning to do." It was a chilling thought, to realize that he had been duped.
They looked out the farmlands that stretched for miles. "Then we need to get moving," Sokka announced. "The sooner we can deliver the information form Wan Shi Tong's Library, the sooner we can plan an invasion on the Fire Nation and also potentially stop whatever Naruto is planning." Everyone agreed with what he said.
As they made their way to the monorail station that they had passed on the way down, Sokka and Shikamaru shared the same thought. "Let the game begin."
End
Author's note: Thanks for all the reviews you've sent me.
If you think about it, what Shù Yè said does make sense. After a while, Benders get a little predictable. Since Sokka's is not a Bender, he is unpredictable and thus, dangerous.
Now, I've gotten a few reviews that said I've been focusing on Sokka more than Naruto or Azula. I'm doing that now for a reason, which you will soon find out.
Next up is Team Avatar and Team Asuma entering Ba Sing Se, only to meet people they did not expect to see in the city.
I'll see you all next chapter!