Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or The Last Airbender.
Bodyguard of Azula
Chapter 44: Battlegrounds and Reclaiming
"Talking"
"Thinking"
"Bijū/spirit talking"
"Bijū/spirit thinking"
(Location: Earth Kingdom)
As the Comet went through the atmosphere, everyone aboard Fǎn Yìng was quiet. "Zuko, don't worry," Katara said, seeing how tense he was. "We can take Yāo Jing."
"I'm not worried about her," he replied. "I'm worried about Aang. What if he doesn't have the guts to take out my father? What if he loses?"
"Aang won't lose. He's gonna come back. He has to."
"We just need to have confidence in him," Azula agreed. If there was one thing she could admit about the Airbender, it was that he tried to follow through and often succeeded.
Jiraiya and Akela sat in the saddle while Naruto flew Appa over the land. They could see a small speck in the sky that was steadily approaching the sky. The comet was coming closer.
"Are you nervous?" Jiraiya asked the blonde.
"Should I be?" he asked back. "You're making it sound like this is my first time going into battle." It was the opposite. He had enough battles to give him distaste for it.
"This is your first time fighting against people you know. It's always different, fighting against faces you had been friends with before."
"…Speaking from experience?" he asked, silently conceding the fact.
"Allies have become enemies and vice versa," Jiraiya told him.
"So how did you deal with it?" The odds were that he was going to be fighting against soldiers that had served with or under him. He silently prayed to Kami that wouldn't be the case. But he was aware that there might be other Fire Nation officers who may have started to develop second thoughts about the comment, now that their now-previous Fire Lord had begun to develop a rather horrific sense of grandeur when he took the title of Phoenix King.
"Simple. I kept my mind focused on what I was supposed to do."
"Yeah, well, now what we're supposed to attack people I might possibly know."
"Ironic, isn't it?" Jiraiya asked him, despite already knowing the answer.
"Don't even start."
(Location: Fire Nation)
Yāo Jing sat in a chair as servants groomed her for the upcoming coronation. She took a cherry from a bowl one of the servants held up and popped it into her mouth. She immediately spat it back out when she crunched down a pit. "What am I holding?" she asked the servant holding the bowl.
"A cherry pit, Princess," she answered.
"Correct. And what day is this?"
"It is the day of your coronation."
"Yes, it is. So, please, tell me why on the most important of my life, you've decided to put a pit in my cherry?" she asked, throwing the pit at the servant.
"It wasn't a decision; it was just a small mistake."
"Small? Do you realize what could've happened if I hadn't sensed the pit in time?"
"I suppose you could've…choked?" the servant weakly suggested.
"Yes, then you understand the severity of your crime."
"I understand, Princess, please…forgive me." She bowed her head.
"Oh, very well, since it's a special day, I will show mercy." The servant smiled. "You are banished! Leave this palace immediately." The servant couldn't protest, she knew that would be the death of her. She simply put the bowl down and backed out of the room with her head bowed.
"What are you all looking at?" Yāo Jing asked the other servants. "I have two feet that need scrubbing. And make sure you get in between the toes. I won't have my first day as Fire Lord marred by poor foot hygiene." The servants were scared, but they did as they were ordered.
(Location: Earth Kingdom)
As the eel hound swam through the water, Suki looked backed behind them. The comet had made the sky turn to a dark orange, the kind of color you would see briefly in the embers of a dead fire. "It's weird to say, but the Comet actually looks beautiful," she said.
"Too bad the Fire Lord's about to use it to destroy the world," Toph replied.
They stayed silent as they got closer to the island. When they got to the shore, they climbed off the eel hound and made their way up the slope. They reached the top and saw the fleet was beginning to move. "We're too late!" Sokka cried. "The fleet's already taking off!"
"Then we're taking off too," Toph declared. "Where's the closest airship?"
"It's right—" He didn't finish what he was saying because the Earthbender in the group bent the rock beneath them to shoot upwards and send them flying towards the nearest airship. They hit their peak of flight right next to the airship and managed to angle their descent to land on the bottom of the ship, catching Toph as she landed. They ran inside to start what they were supposed to do.
As they did that, Ozai stood at the front of the flagship, an evil smirk on his face.
(Location: Fire Nation Capital)
Yāo Jing sat on the throne of the Fire Lord. She had sent for the Dai Li that she had brought back with her, but they hadn't shown themselves. "Where are they?" she demanded.
"I-I have just received word that the Yuyan archers have taken them into custody, Princess," a nearby servant told her nervously.
"What? Why?"
"They were arrested on charges of treason."
"Bring the leader of the Yuyan archers here now!" she ordered, the fire surrounding growing in height in response to her anger.
"Yes, Princess," the servant said before scurrying out of the room.
(Location: Earth Kingdom)
Sokka's team made their way quietly up to the bridge, making sure that no one saw them. "Ssshh," Sokka said as he and Suki walked up besides the door. Toph, on the other hand, walked up to the door, knocked on it to get the attention of the people inside, and then kicked it down.
She then rolled forward and bent the metal door to form around her, creating armor. After withstanding a couple of fire blasts, she bent the metal in the room to pin most of the soldiers there to the wall or the ceiling. She then jumped up and crawled along an overhanging pipe and dropping down behind the last soldier. After he tried to punch her (and failed), she sent him flying out of the room with a punch of her own.
"That's how it's done!" she told Sokka and Suki as they walked into room, shedding the armor.
"Good work, Toph," Sokka told her. "Time to take control of the ship, take the wheel," he told Suki.
"That's a great idea! Let the blind girl steer the giant airship!" the Earthbender said sarcastically.
"I was talking to Suki."
"That would make a lot more sense," she admitted.
"What are we going to do about the rest of the crew?" Suki asked Sokka.
"Take us down closer to the water. I've got an idea." He grabbed a red tube that he knew was the announcement horn. "Attention, crew, this is your captain speaking," he said a deep voice. "Everyone, please report to the bomb bay immediately for hot cakes and sweet cream. We have a very special birthday to celebrate." Once he was done, Suki had the airship drop down closer to the water.
Down in the bomb bay, every single crew member was milling around down there. "Hey," one crew member said to another. "I'm Qin Lee, I work up in communications."
"Oh, hi," said the second crew member. "I work down in the engine room. That's probably why we never met before. Big airship, you know?"
"Oh yeah," he agreed. Both of them winced mentally at how awkward their conversation was.
"So, do you know whose birthday it is?"
"I can't believe the captain remembered my birthday!" a third crew member said, walking up to them. "He really does care."
That was when the floor underneath them gave way and they fell into the water. "Happy birthday," the engineer offered as they came back up to the surface.
Sokka stared out the broken window at the flagship. "Fire Lord Ozai, here we come," he declared.
(Location: Fire Nation Capital)
"You sent for me, Princess?" Bao-yu asked as he stood in front of Yāo Jing. His stance showed that he wasn't intimidated or afraid of her.
"Why have you arrested my Dai Li?" she demanded.
"We have reason to believe that they were plotting treason against the Fire Nation," he answered, keeping a neutral voice.
"How is that possible? They were loyal to me and only to me."
"That's probably what they wanted you to think," he said. "It is quite possible that they were ordered to keep an eye on you."
She narrowed her eyes at him. "You mean to tell me that Naruto ordered them to do everything I said so they could spy on me?" That couldn't be possible. She had won them over to her side all by herself. There was no way that blonde bastard had ordered them to watch her.
"I did not say that at all, Princess. If we're finished, I must get back to interrogating the prisoners." He bowed and walked away.
"Is your loyalty to me, Bao-yu, or is it to a traitor?"
"I believe that is an obvious answer, Princess," he answered without turning around.
She snarled as she realized the truth. Naruto had ordered the Dai Li agents to spy on her and report back to him about what she was doing. Since she knew that the Yuyan archers were loyal to the Paragon first, they had the excuse of "arresting" the Dai Li agents so that they could get them away from her.
(Location: Earth Kingdom)
The two men stayed silent as they got closer and closer to their target. Finally, they saw the army. "Well, there they are," Jiraiya said. There were quite a lot of them if he wanted to be frank.
"Way to state the obvious, F.S.-sensei," Naruto replied.
"Would you stop calling me that?"
"Would you prefer to be called Pervy Sage?"
"No, I just want to be called by my name."
"I am calling you by your name." He turned his attention back to the army. "Land in front of them, Appa," he told the sky bison. They landed with a loud crash, getting the attention of the army.
"Lord Naruto?" asked one of the soldiers, surprised to see the Fire Paragon.
He leapt down from Appa's head. "Hello, men. We need to talk."
(Location: Ba Sing Se)
As the forces inside the Inner City prepared, the Order of the White Lotus waited to attack. Though there were only a few members of said order standing in front of the city's gates, that was only enough to take on an entire Fire Nation garrison, thanks to the Grand Master's enhanced abilities gained because of the very same comet.
"Ba Sing Se, the Order of the White Lotus is here," Bumi said. His usual manic attitude was gone, replaced with complete seriousness. It made him seem his actual age, and a lot more deadly.
"Here to set you free," Pakku finished.
"Only once every hundred years can a Firebender experience this kind of power," Iroh said to himself. As he felt the Comet's power, he began to inhale and exhale. A ring of fire began to grow and shrink around the group. It got bigger and bigger every time he exhaled until, with a shout, he bent the fire into a single orb and threw at the Inner Wall.
The part of the Wall it hit was destroyed, creating a giant hole in it. Bumi bent the giant stone table they were on forward, moving towards the hole. The two other tables followed suit. As they got closer, sentries on the wall tried to bend fire-bursts at them, but Iroh brushed them aside with his own Firebending. When they were close enough, Bumi bent the other three into the air before following himself.
Pakku landed on a rooftop. Bending a large amount of water up from nearby, he brought it down in a wave. He froze it just as Piandao joined them, giving them a slide. The sword-master slid through the enemies, cutting their weapons in half, and inflecting minor injuries. As he ran off into an alley, Pakku melted the ice back into water and brought it in front of him to block a blast of fire.
The water was completely evaporated and the Waterbending master would've been killed by another fire blast had it not be for Jeong Jeong blocking it with his own fire. He floated in air, held up by his Firebending. As he floated over a square, more tanks opened fire on him. He bent a wall of flames to block and push back each attack, sending each tank into a pile.
(Location: Fire Nation Capital)
Yāo Jing stood in front of a large mirror. As she had banished all her servants, she was forced to do her own hair. She tried to tie her hair into a top knot, but her fingers kept getting stuck in the ribbon.
"If you will not listen to what you are told to," she said, grabbing a pair of scissors. "You will be removed!" She cut her haphazardly, giving her a somewhat crazed look.
"Why would you do that? Your hair was lovely," Chun's voice told her. When she looked in the mirror, she saw her mother standing behind her.
"Why are you here? You're dead," she demanded. "Your friends at the brothel were decent enough to not invite me to your funeral."
"Just because I am no longer living, doesn't mean I can't be there for my daughter's coronation."
"Why do you keep up this charade? I know you hate me."
"I told before, Měi Lì, I will always love you."
She grabbed a nearby brush. "My name is Yāo Jing!" she screamed as she threw the brush at the mirror, shattering it. As she watched the pieces of glass fall to the ground, she unconsciously began to cry. She wiped the tears away. When she looked at the broken glass again, she stepped back away from them, inside the broken pieces, were the same eyes from her dream.
"Remember," said the voice in her head. "A deal's a deal."
(Location: Earth Kingdom)
The airship fleet was approaching the shore of the Earth Kingdom. The first thing they would destroy was Wulong Forest. Ozai took a deep breath and smirked in triumph at an apparently easy victory.
Meanwhile, the commandeered airship was trying to reach the flagship, but it was faster. "We're not going to catch to him in time," Sokka told the others.
"No…" Suki protested quietly.
On the flagship, Ozai closes his eyes and let the power of the Comet flow through his body. When he opened his eyes, he took his stance and bent forth a fire column that could rival the airship in size. It struck the earth, burning anything that reached.
But while all life was fleeing from this fire, two stayed where they were. Aang was standing on a stone pillar with Momo on his shoulder, watching Ozai destroy the Earth Kingdom.
"Momo, time for you to go," Aang told the lemur. It flew away, leaving him to take a deep breath.
Swinging his legs into various kicks, he bent the pillar underneath to break chunks and fly at the airship. They zipped past Ozai and smashed into the propellers, causing him to lose his balance and causing the ship to start drifting. He bent a large fireball at the rest of the engine, destroying it completely.
As the ship began to fall, Ozai stared down at the Avatar. When he saw him lower his hands, he took it as a challenge. He removed his armor, cloak and shirt, burning them if he couldn't get it off fast enough, leaving him bare-chested. He leapt off the ship and used his Firebending to fly. As the ship crashed into the pillars, he flew at Aang and landed on pillar opposite of him.
"What just happened?" Suki asked as she saw the fire stop and the airship crash.
"It's Aang!" Sokka said as he lowered the telescope. "He's back!"
"What are you doing here, Lord Naruto?" A soldier asked him. "We thought that you were still locked up in the Boiling Rock."
"I'm here to stop you from your orders," Naruto told him, recognizing him as a man who served under him once. "I can't you let destroy the Earth Kingdom."
"But we must follow our orders."
"Even if it meant you have to fight your former commander?"
"'Orders are orders. We must follow them, even if we don't like them.' Those were your words, sir," another soldier told him.
"Yeah, that's true. I probably shouldn't have said that," he admitted. He certainly wouldn't have said it if it was going to be used against him.
"If it's true, you traitorous brat, you should just step aside," A third soldier snarled, unsheathing a jian.
"I guess not all of them like you, huh?" Jiraiya asked the blonde.
"I served with some, some served under me, and the rest didn't." The blonde sighed in disappointment and smiled at the same time. "There is one more lesson that I should have taught you all. While it's true that we all must obey our orders, what happens if those orders start to clash with your conscience? Would you still be able to look at your families back in the Fire Nation, knowing that you've all played a role in this preventable act of mass murder?
"Who cares if it leads to the deaths of millions, if the end result is that the entire world will become Fire Nation?" the angry soldier asked him, spitting on the ground. "You, those traitorous children of the new Phoenix King, and even that turncoat Shinu, you're all weak! Perhaps this new world has no room for the likes of you!"
Naruto watched as the soldier with the jian charged. He rolled his shoulders back, loosening up the muscles. "If we're going to do this, looks like I'm going to have to break my one rule." And he had worked to not break that rule.
Jiraiya eyed him. "And that was…?"
"No jutsu in front of people." He put his hands into an old handseal. "Tajū Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu)!" A vast cloud of smoke appeared behind him. When the smoke cleared, he had his own army, made completely up of clones. The sight of such a thing scared many of the soldiers there (most doubly so. To them, one Naruto was bad enough). "Alright then, let's get to it," he said. "CHARGE!"
And so, a virtual tidal wave of Naruto (plus a sky bison, a wolf, and a super pervert/sadist) slammed into the army.
(Location: Wulong Forest)
The two faced other as the ship behind Ozai burned. "After generations of Fire Lords failed to find you, now the universe delivers you to me as an act of providence," he said, arrogance leaking out through each word he spoke.
"Please listen to me," Aang begged him. "We don't have to fight. You have the power to end it here and stop what you're doing."
"You are right. I do have the power. I have all the power in the WORLD!" He said the last word as he breathed fire and bent two streams of flame from his hands in a show of force. When Aang heard this, he stepped back into a stance.
Once he was done showing off, Ozai attack. He did a little jump and slammed his fist into the pillar, bending a ring of fire around him. Aang jumped over the ring and then landed back on the pillar. Using his Earthbending, he pulled the top chunk of the pillar off and threw it at Ozai.
He jumped off the pillar and stayed in the air using the same method as before. He flew at Aang, who leapt at him in turn. Both of their Firebending smashed into each other, briefly creating a cloud of flame.
"Go Aang!" Sokka cheered as he watched the fight from a long distance away. "Kick his ass!"
"Shouldn't we be helping him?" Suki asked the Tribesman.
"The Fire Lord is Aang's fight. We need to stay focused on stopping that fleet from burning down the Earth Kingdom."
"And how do we do that, Captain Boomerang?" Toph asked with a little sarcasm. "I can't see outside of the floating hunk of metal."
He looked out the window. "I've got something in mind. Let me take the wheel, Suki." She relinquished control of the wheel and he grabbed it. He flew the ship up into the air, higher than the other ships. Then, with a great heave, he spun the wheel to the left. The ship banked to the left and flew backwards.
Meanwhile, the rest of the fleet was approaching the shoreline. The Firebenders who stood on the platform in front of the ship took their stances and did the same thing Ozai did: they bent a large burst of flame. The land began to burn as their fire consumed everything.
"Whoa. That's a lot of fire, isn't it?" Toph asked as she stared out of a broken window, feeling the heat on her face.
As the ship had finally faced the other ships, Sokka let the wheel spin back into place. He pulled the levers around him, putting everything the ship had into max. The exhaust pipes as well as the engine began to sprout fire. "It's gonna be a rough ride!" he told the others as he grabbed Toph by the hand. "We need to get to the top of this thing, fast." He hurried her out of the bridge.
"Then what?" asked Suki.
"Watch each other's back, and if we make it that far, I'll let you know," he answered before quickly kissing her.
The ship reached the others and smashed into their tops, sending them falling to the water. But it was taking its own damage. As the three climbed onto the top, the ship began to break apart. They ran to the front of the ship to escape the damage, but the dragon's head suddenly broke in half, with Suki on one side and Sokka and Toph on the other.
"Suki!" cried Sokka.
She landed on the ship they had crashed into. "I'm okay!" she shouted. "Just finished the mission!"
"No…" he whispered.
"Sokka, I think we gotta…" Toph began. "Jump!" They both shouted as the piece they were on smashed into the next airship. They landed on the ship, and he covered her as debris fell around them.
(Location: Earth Kingdom)
"Oh, and there's goes another clone," the Kyūbi stated as he watched the fight.
"I don't need color commentary right now," Naruto told him as he ducked under a sword swing and rammed his elbow into his enemy's stomach. The fight between the two armies could go either way at this point. The clones, Jiraiya, and Akela did their best not to kill their opponents but were sometimes forced to. Appa just sent his opponent flying with a swing of his tail.
But the soldiers of the Fire Nation were giving it as good as they were taking it. A good number of the clones had disappeared and both the original and Jiraiya were sporting minor wounds. Akela was a little better off, but not by much. Appa tried to stay in the air but was sometimes forced to land. When that happened, the soldiers would always try to rush in and circle him. That in turn would make one of the other three along some of the clones beat them back.
"You hanging in there, gaki?" asked Jiraiya as they fought back-to-back.
"I'm doing fine, how about you?" he asked back as he swept his enemy's legs out from under him.
"I'm doing okay. It's been a while since I was in a fight this big."
"Should we stop it so you can rest your bones?" he asked sarcastically.
"Funny, kid, real funny," He buried his fist in someone's midsection.
"Just asking, that's all."
"Save your questions for later, we have a fight going on here."
"I know that. I started it," the blonde told him.
"Then try to finish it." They leapt away from each other and back into the fray.
(Location: Fire Nation Capital)
The coronation ceremony had begun, but no one was there to see it. Only Yāo Jing and the Fire Sages were there. "By decree of Phoenix King Ozai," the head Fire Sage said as he held the headpiece of the Fire Lord. "I now crown you Fire Lord…" He trailed off as he and the other sages saw what was in the sky.
"What are you waiting for?" Yāo Jing demanded. "Do it already!"
The roar of a dragon was heard as Fǎn Yìng landed in the plaza. "Sorry, but you're going to become Fire Lord today," Zuko declared as he climbed off the dragon. "I am."
She regarded him for a moment before laughing. "How funny of you, little brother," she replied. "I wasn't aware you had a sense of humor."
"What makes you think I'm kidding?"
"The fact that I know little Azula wouldn't allowed you to be Fire Lord, even if she had casted herself out of the Royal Family."
"If it was between you or him, Yāo Jing, I'd picked Zuko every time," Azula told her as she and Katara joined him.
She growled as she stood up. "Fine, if you want to be Fire Lord so badly, Zuko, then come and take it from me. I challenge you to an Agni Kai!"
"You're on," he replied quickly enough.
Katara was surprised by that. "What are you doing?" she asked in a whisper. "She's playing you. She knows she can't take all three of us, so she trying to separate us."
"But this is a legal way of obtaining the title of Fire Lord," Azula told her. "If Zuko defeats her, then by rights, he gets the title." And it would save them a lot of potential problems in the future.
"Plus, I can take her this time," Zuko said.
"But even you admitted to your uncle that you would need help facing her," Katara protested.
"There's something off about her. I can't explain it, but she's slipping even more than before. And this way, nobody else has to get hurt."
"Always the noble one, aren't you?" Azula asked him with sarcasm, making the three of them smile a little bit.
The two combatants moved to opposite sides of the plaza with their backs turned to each other. The Fire Sages had disappeared, leaving only Katara and Azula as witnesses.
When they heard a distant bell, they stood up and turned to face each other. "I'm sorry I have to do this, little brother," Yāo Jing said, spitting out the last two words as she removed the robe she had worn over her armor.
"Don't even try lying now, Yāo Jing," he replied, already in his stance. "You've been looking an excuse to do this since we were children."
"You know what? You're right."
She took a Firebending stance and threw a fireball that was tinged with black at him. He blocked it by bending his own fire into a wall. The two fires hit each other and then dispersed. She leapt into the fray, throwing multiple fireballs and arcs at him.
"I will win this!" she thought to herself. "I will win that bet!"
(Location: Wulong Forest)
Aang gave ground as Ozai chased him through the forest of stone pillars. He landed on one of the pillars just as the Phoenix King kicked a large arc of fire at him. He cut it in half and then used his Earthbending to tear a small rock out and threw at his opponent, which he dodged with ease.
He sent another fire blast at him, making the Airbender jumped over to a nearby waterfall. He fired off another shot, but that was extinguished by the water Aang bent out of the waterfall. He threw the water at Ozai, but he jumped off the rock before getting hit. He kept pushing his advantage, forcing his enemy back further and further.
Aang tried to stop him with a big rock he bent up from the cliff side, but he flew around with ease and bent another blast of fire at him. He bent the air into a tornado, giving him protection as he flew towards a pillar. Ozai landed on another one and bent a big burst of fire at him. He swiftly moved to the back of the pillar to protect himself from the fire.
He then leapt to another pillar and then, using it as a launching point, leapt back at the first pillar using his Airbending to enhance his speed and using his Earthbending to kick a large part of the top at the Phoenix King.
But he already saw it coming and flew off to the side. As Aang was still kicking it, he bent a powerful stream of fire at him. He reacted quickly and blocked the stream with his own. But the force of the two sent him crashing into a nearby pillar. He fell down to a narrow ledge the pillar and collapsed, groaning in pain.
Seeing an opportunity, Ozai landed on the same ledge. But this made Aang get his second wind back and use the pillar to cover himself in rock armor. His opponent pushed him down the ledge with a blast of fire. When he was at the edge, he was forced to jump out of the armor to avoid a short fire arc.
He readjusted himself in the air and bent a large blast of wind at Ozai. He jumped to the side, generating lightning as he did, and when he landed on the next pillar, he fired the lightning. When he saw this, Aang quickly bent another tornado to protect him and to carry him up to the top of the pillar.
Ozai fired another round of lightning at him, making him keep going in the air. The Phoenix King followed and fired another round lightning at him, destroying a large rock shield he bent off a pillar. He dodged the next one, but when he landed on a pillar, another round of lightning came at him.
He took his stance and let the lightning travel down his arm. The pain made him cry out a few times, but he forced himself to aim his other arm at Ozai. But when he saw the expression of shock and terror on his face, he had only one thought in his mind. "I can't do it." He pointed the lightning off to the side and let it discharge into the air. He fell to the ground, exhausted.
Sensing a victory at hand, Ozai sent a jet of flame at him. He stood up and tried to protect himself by bending a shield up from the rock, but the jet smashed through the rock and sent him flying into the air. He closed his eyes to protect them from the dust but when he opened them, he saw he was heading for water. He tilted himself back upright and tried to bend the air to break his fall. When that didn't work, he bent the water to rise up and catch him. As he stood up, letting the water hold him, he saw that Ozai was coming at him and coming fast.
(Location: Fire Nation Capital)
If one was to look at the Royal City, they would see huge blasts of fire briefly illuminating the sky before disappearing. Both were the normal orange color of fire, but one was tinged with black. The Agni Kai between Zuko and Yāo Jing had been enhanced by the Comet, and they were setting buildings afire in their duel.
Both bent a stream of fire at each other, the force was so great between them that they curved to the side. Zuko's feet began to slip as he felt her fire brush past him, but he held his stance. When that ended, Yāo Jing leapt into the air and swung a large arc of fire from her foot at him.
He used his own bending to split the arc apart. As Yāo Jing knelt on one knee, panting, he bent two intertwining fireballs at her. She rolled do the side and began to hover over the ground using her Firebending. She then raced towards him, bending fireball after fireball at him. He blocked the first one by bending a wall of fire underneath him and sending him up into the air. He then swung a kick and bent an arc of fire at the second one. As he began to fall back down, he clapped his hands together and swung them down in a chopping motion, bending his fire to block the stream of fire she sent at him.
She began to circle around him, bending blasts of fire at him, which he blocked effortlessly. He tried to hit her with a stream of fire, but she was too fast and kept moving. Finally, he crouched down and began to spin around on his back, swinging legs and bending fire from them. They came together into a large arc of fire that he threw at her. It successfully hit her, causing her to lose control of her bending and crash into the ground, rolling down the plaza.
As she stood back up, her panting became more rapid, and she began to have a look of madness on her face.
"No lightning today?" Zuko asked her. "What's the matter? Are you afraid I'll redirect it? Or can you not generate it at all?"
"YOU WANT LIGHTIING?!" she screamed. "THEN HAVE SOME!" She began to generate lightning in her fingers. Her stance was off and unbalanced, so it took her longer to generate it. As she did this, Zuko took a deep breath and readied himself to redirect it.
When she fired the lightning, it was only when it was in motion,he realized that she didn't aim it at him, she aimed at Katara and Azula, who weren't expecting it.
"No!" he cried out, leaping in front of the bolt. It hit him square in the chest as he tried to redirect it. He was able to shoot it off into the air, but fell to the ground, twitching as the electricity coursed through his body and groaning in pain from his wound.
"Zuko!" shouted Katara. She tried to run over to him but was blocked by a ball of fire.
"No outside interference," Yāo Jing told her, the crazed grin still stretching her face. "You'll make him forfeit if you break the rules."
"You broke the rules the moment you fired on us, you BITCH!" Azula shouted as she leapt into battle, sending a stream a fire at her half-sister.
She brushed the stream aside with ease and began to generate lightning again. Azula saw what she was doing and began to do the same. They both fired at the same time and the two streams of lightning hit each other. They canceled each other out but caused a shockwave instead. While Yāo Jing only skidded back a few feet, Azula was caught off guard and was sent flying backwards, slamming into a nearby pillar and falling unconscious.
That left only Katara awake against a person who was losing her sanity.
(Location: Wulong Forest)
"Run. Run away!" Aang thought to himself as he saw Ozai flying towards him. It was the only thought that was in his mind. He turned around and tried to get away, using his Waterbending to help. When he reached the shore, he stumbled and fell down. When he saw that Ozai was still coming after him, he bent the surrounding rock to form around him, creating a sphere.
Ozai laughed as he stood over the sphere. "You're weak, just like the rest of your people!" he told the hiding Avatar. "They did not deserve to exist in this world…in my world! Prepare to join them. PREPARE TO DIE!" He struck his hands against the sphere, causing it to heat up. He then leapt back and threw another blast at it.
(Location: Earth Kingdom)
Naruto kept on attacking the soldiers, but it wasn't looking good. The clones were disappearing more rapidly now and the soldiers who were still fighting were the ones who had never served with him. They were attacking with more lethal force and didn't care whether they hit their own fallen or not.
He saw Appa land again and tried to make his way over to the sky bison. But as he tried to get there, someone knocked his feet out from under him, making him fall to the ground. As he rolled over to his back, he saw a large soldier standing over him with a pike ready.
As the soldier brought the pike down, aiming for his stomach, the only thing he could think of was "Well, fuck…"
End
Author's note: Thanks for all the reviews you have sent me.
Okay, so I know this might be a bit of a short chapter. The way I see it, there was a lot of fighting and not a whole lot of conversations. You need to use the two equally to make a decent-length chapter. Too much or too little of either one will make the chapter be too long or too short.
I know that I kept Naruto's fight short. Can you blame me? I've got five different fights to write and make sure I don't mix them up. That can be a little hectic.
If you're going to tell me that Naruto did use jutsus in front of people, allow me to clarify. What he means by that the big flashy ones that would attract attention when he didn't need it. He only uses the small and/or subtle jutsus when he has to be in front of people.
I'll see you all next chapter!