Well that was a quick year!
Wait, what do you mean only a month...
Also the next chapter is likely going to be short since it is likely to be Neji entering the city and his mini story in the walls as part of team Gai's 'Tales of Ba Sing Se'. In theory this should mean it'll come out sooner... in practice however.
I own nothing in this story. Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto and Avatar the Last Airbender toMichael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko
Machinations of War
The groups journey kicked up dust as they neared the thick dirt walls of Ba Sing Se. Reaching up to the heaven's in defiance of any army that dared to think about trying to scale them. One could almost be comforted by their sight, however the reassuring presence was slightly put out, due to the anxiousness of the avatar leading the group. Anything capable of spooking him, was probably not a good thing. Aang and Toph advanced until everyone was near the wall before raising their arms and stamping their feet. The earth shook as the master earthbender and her apprentice rent it asunder and part of the ground started to steadily rise up the wall under Toph and Aang's guidance.
"Now what's so big that Appa has to wait?" Sokka asked as the wall reached the top and the group clambered off it, Lee and Tenten helping Than and his family as Aang pointed into the distance.
"That" He said indicating the wall of steel advancing towards them, the tanks dwarfed by the massive pillar drill in between them, folding metal plates sliding over each other as steam jettisoned from exhaust pipes.
A cry of despair emanated from behind them and they turned to see Ying, her face a mask of hopelessness.
"We made it to Ba Sing Se, and we're still not safe. No one is." She cried
"What are you people doing here? Civilians aren't allowed on the wall." A man cried as he charged up to them, dressed in the armour of the earth kingdom. He paused in front of the group as Aang made his way to him.
"I'm the Avatar. Take me to whoever's in charge. " He spoke, leaving no room for argument as the guard turned, beckoning them to follow him as he lead them along the wall. The tour of the battlements ended when the group got to a part of the wall with tall arches springing out of it, forming an impromptu room atop the wall which functioned as an office for the general tasked with defending it. The guard saluted before moving to the entrance as the avatar's group moved in, the general standing to meet them.
"It is an honor to welcome you to the outer wall young Avatar, but your help is not needed." He spoke smiling before Aang replied, slightly confused.
"Not needed?"
"Not needed." The general emphasised. "I have the situation under control. I assure you the Fire Nation cannot penetrate this wall. Many have tried to break through it, but none have succeeded." He finished smugly, observing the plains the fire nation were using to advance.
"What about the dragon of the west? He got in?" Toph spoke up starling the general.
"Well...uh...technically yes. But he was quickly expunged!" The general paused, gaining confidence. " Nevertheless, that is why the city is named Ba Sing Se. It's the impenetrable city. They don't call it Na Sing Se. That means penetrable city." The general laughed at his own joke as Tenten rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, thanks for the tour, but we still got the drill problem."
"Not for long. To stop it, I've sent an elite platoon of earth benders called the Terra Team." The general said, indicating his troops on the field below.
"That's a good group name, very catchy." Sokka stated, with a thoughtful visage as Lee nodded his agreement behind him.
The group watched as far below the Terra Team clashed with the drill and its guardians as Ty Lee and Mai emerged to engage the team after the first few tanks were casually flipped out of the way or destroyed with earth. The battle was both swift and one sided as Ty Lee used her chi blocking to drop the Terra Team one by one.
"We're doomed!" General Sung cried, flailing his arms in panic.
"What is it with incredibly breach able giant walls?" Tenten questioned the air, thanking the small mercies that at least there were no giant snakes trying to break in here. Toph sent her an odd look as the general continued to panic.
"Calm down!" Sokka cried back, Slapping the general a couple of times as resounding smacks could be heard along the wall.
"You're right, I'm sorry."
"Maybe you'd like the avatar's help now?" Toph questioned smugly.
"Yes please" came the timid reply as he sidled over to the avatar.
"The question is how are we going to defeat that thing?" Aang asked no one in particular, looking down over the battlements. Everyone's face proceeded in domino fashion to state at Sokka, who stood dumbly for a second before pointing to himself.
"Why are you all looking at me?" He asked.
"You're the idea guy" Aang answered, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
" So I'm the only one who can ever come up with a plan? That's a lot of pressure. " He complained
"You're also the complaining guy" Katara added.
"That part I don't mind" Sokka conceded.
"We're going to help save the Terra team!" Tenten cried as she and Lee looked over the wall. "They might be able to help us and even if they can't it wouldn't be right to leave them to the fire nation." As she spoke Lee jumped over the side as the gang gasped and the general advanced looking worried as Tenten gracefully jumped over as well, sending chakra to her feet she slid down the wall rapidly. The surprised faces of earth kingdom soldiers watching them descend
Too easy.
That was what summed up the fight against these earth benders Ty Lee decided. Sure they might have been more powerful than the regular mooks they'd been fighting, but compared to the avatar's team. Well nothing could match up, in skill or looks. She glanced at Mai as she rolled over the back of one earth bender before flipping over another, dropping both in quick succession. Mai looked as bored as ever as she launched her weapons at the remain soldiers, helping dispatch the ones who weren't felled by Ty Lee's chi blocking. The dust settle and the two girls looked at each other, before Ty Lee noticed Mai's gaze go up towards the wall. Curious Ty Lee turned to see what her friend was looking at.
"Hey what's that dust cloud coming towards us?" She asked, turning to Mai. "Some sort of new poofy earth kingdom weapon?"
Mai squinted her eyes up, using her experience at picking out targets at range to spot two figures, charging down the walls.
"Brace yourself" She stated in a monotone, causing Ty Lee to look back at the wall. "It looks like two of the avatar's new teammates" Ty Lee grinned, happy to see the new, intriguing members as the clanks of metal notified them of the fire nation soldiers trying to secure the earth kingdom troops behind them.
A brief glimmer of light alerted the two to several metal objects, rapidly travelling towards them as kunai slammed into the ground where they had been standing, but a few seconds earlier. Mai grimaced, sending her own weapons to intercept the spinning shuriken that fell like rain in a follow up attack as the green clad assailant launched himself from the wall, streaking towards them and landing in amongst the fire nation guards, who, caught off guard, were quickly dispatched with a cry of "Leaf Hurricane!"
Ty lee quickly checked behind her, noting the green glad teen was picking up the soldiers with ease, as if they weren't full grown men and was preparing to take them over to the wall where an earth platform was rapidly descending, rocks starting to pelt down from it as reinforcements arrived to try and aid their fallen comrades. She quickly dodged around a few of the falling boulders, to advance on the teen, blushing as his outfit really did not leave much to the imagination. She charged, breaking into flips, but forced away when, mid flip a kunai flew under her, something sparking trailing from it as two more flew by her sides.
"Ninja Art! Tri Explosion!" was the warning before all three kunai exploded and white hot flames burst out trying to engulf her. As she shook the ringing from her ears her vision cleared to see the earth kingdom soldiers retreating, having got their comrades onto the earth platform as the team avatar equivalent of Mai fought a fighting retreat, still dancing with Mai in a clash of blades and throwing weapons.
"Guess that leaves you and me!" She cried, resuming her attack on Lee this time, unhindered by flying explodeables. She cartwheeled forward onto her hands and launched a couple of lightning fast kicks through the air as her opponent dropped into a sweep causing Ty Lee to spring off her hands and fly over his out stretched legs. She quickly tried to lash out from the air, sending several quick strikes and jabs at him, but he deflected a few blows by hitting her arms off target below the wrist before diving forwards and rolling, before springing back into a standing position, spinning to face her, one hand out in front of the other as Ty Lee landed and ponytail flying wildly to face him.
"Lee" the girl yelled, pulling back towards the earth kingdom soldiers trying to raise the earth back up the wall. She ducked sharply before a couple of knives whizzed over her head, catching and severing a few strands of hair before she jumped back catching a few other knives sent her way, spinning round on her feet and flinging them back at Mai causing her to dash out of the way.
"I must beat you to return to my friends!" Lee cried, his legs tensing, "So I must ask you to please move out of my way." Ty Lee prepared herself for an attack. What was it going to be? A kick? A punch or elbow strike? A leg raced towards the right hand side of her head causing her to duck, preparing to drive forward into his chest. It was then that Ty Lee realised that his leg was coming back down to slam into the ground in front of her propelling him into the air and over her landing and carrying on to the raising earth platform. Knives embedding themselves in the underside as it rose back up the wall carrying away the earth kingdom's wounded.
"They got away" Mai noted, not really caring. Ty Lee nodded, Azula hadn't told them to take prisoners, but she still pouted slightly at the thought of the new enigma's leaving.
The group quickly rushed the downed men to the enclosed infirmary further down the wall. Lee and the other soldiers lying them down on the futons as general Sung, who had introduced himself formally to the avatar moments before, approached them worriedly.
"What's wrong with him? He doesn't look injured." He asked observing one of his men as Katara rushed in water flowing around her as she tried to use her bending to heal them.
"His chi is blocked" Katara replied, dissolving the energy. "Who did this to you?" She asked looking down at the weary man before her.
Said man coughed and spluttered, before regaining his speech. "Two girls ambushed us, one of them hit me with a bunch of quick jabs, and suddenly I couldn't earthbend, and I could barely move...and then she cart wheeled away." Katara's eyes lit up in recognition as Tenten spoke up.
"It was that girl with Azula, Ty Lee." Tenten approached the bed as everyone's attention turned to her. "She uses a style similar to Neji. By striking the chakra points in a person's body you can shut them down, take out their chakra or bending or incapacitate them."
"It takes you down from the inside" Lee spoke up. "Unable to use chakra you run out of energy and stamina and that is even if you could still move after your body parts are disabled. It takes you out one part at a time."
"That's it!" Sokka suddenly cried causing everyone's attention to swing to him. "That's how we take down the drill! We take it down the same way she took out the Terra Team"
"By hitting it's vital parts from the inside!" Toph spoke up excitedly.
"Yea we'll take it down from the inside." Aang spoke, gazing out over the field.
The group huddled together in one of the abandoned trenches, left by the defeated Terra Team after their failed charge.
"Once I whip up some cover, you're not gonna be able to see, so stay close to me." Toph instructed, gesturing towards the drill before raising her arms in intricate movements and slamming her feet down on the ground causing a thick cloud of dust to kick up.
"RUN!" She cried charging over the top of the trench, the rest of the team following into the billowing cloud. Unfortunately the Fire Nation weren't all idiots and whilst they didn't know what the cloud was for, they weren't complete idiots as fire bullets started pelleting into the cloud from the drill and the tanks readied their own weapons, lowering and manoeuvring them into position.
"Damn!" Tenten cursed "We need a distraction, if they think this attack has failed it will make it easier to breach the drill in the long run."
"Leave it to me, my youthful teammates!" came the cry from Lee as he changed trajectories and sprinted off out of the cloud, dust billowing in his wake as he sprinted out in front of the drill, drawing fire as jets of flame erupted from the closest tank causing Lee to somersault over the jet and throwing a kunai, complete with explosive tag at the turret. A fire nation engineer jumped out the top of the tank as his fellows soon fled from the hatch, before the tank came to a grinding halt as it's turret blow up, billowing smoke.
The rest of the group continued their charge, Lee's distraction taking all the fire as the fire nation thought off the supposed threat, ignoring the chance that there might be more people. As they neared the drill Toph spun, bending a hole in the earth.
"Everyone in the hole!" She cried and followed it up with jumping in herself and sealing it when everyone was in.
"It's so dark down here, I can't see!" Sokka complained causing a snarky response from Toph.
"Oh no! The horror!"
"Sorry"
The group stilled, waiting for the inevitable rumbling as the drill started making its way over their hiding position causing Toph to open up the hole, allowing the other members to look up at the underside of the drill. The area is cast in shadows from the mighty tracks rising on either side of the group as the pull themselves up, scanning for a weakness in the underside of the drill.
"There!" Sokka cried pointing at a pipe hanging off the underside of the drill and Aang quickly leapt up to it with his air bending, Tenten joining him not a moment later with a chakra empowered jump. Aang swung his legs over the pipe, looking on, amazed by Tenten, who merely shrugged, as if standing upside down in a massive 'up yours' to physics was a normal occurance. They extended their hands as Katara and Sokka jumped up and they grabbed them, using the momentum to swing them up and into the drill, Tenten following, flipping round to land gracefully in the belly of the drill. They looked around to see Aang still reaching down for Toph. As Sokka yelled out.
"Toph come on!"
"No way am I going in that metal monster. I can't bend in there. I'll try to slow it down out here." She replied looking resigned and turning around.
"Okay good luck!" Sokka replied as Aang joined them inside the drill.
The group trudged along the inside of the drill, the ringing of metal emanating from the grill beneath them as red lights cast the rooms in a harsh light.
"I need a plan of this machine. Some schematics that show what the inside looks like. Then we can find its weak points." Sokka commented looking at some of the pipes running along the inside of the wall."
"Where are we going to get something like that?" Aang questioned as Tenten ran her hand over some of the pipes, before nodding at Sokka who swung his machete down and through the metal. The pipes snapped about disgorging the steam inside into the corridor.
"Why did you do that?! Someone will find us?" Aang asked, panicked.
"That's the idea" Tenten replied as Aang looked at her confused.
"A machine this big will have engineers on board to keep it in working order" Sokka explained. "So when one comes we knock him out and take the schematics"
The gang smiled as Tenten fiddled with something and true to form, after a few moments an engineer came charging through the steam to try and fix the pipe. Only for a wire to snap sending a rather large chunk of metal into his head, stunning him as it clanged into him. As he span and dropped to the floor dazed Sokka reached down and pried the drawings from his hand.
"This will do nicely" He said, thanking the engineer as he regained consciousness just in time for the steam to solidify into ice, trapping him on the ground. The group raced on, further into the depths of the drill before coming to a rest, lots of metal beams surrounding them as they looked around in awe. Sokka unfurled the schematics, deliberating over them before announcing.
"It looks like the Drill is made up of two main structures. 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. If we cut through them, the entire thing will collapse." He announced, running his fingers over the parchment to better illustrate his points. The team nodded as Sokka directed them further into the drill.
The group raced on to a massive steam beam as Sokka paused to look down at the schematics.
"These are much bigger in reality. We're going to have to work really hard to cut through them!" Sokka commented.
"What's all this we stuff?" Katara question angrily. "It's me and Aang who are going to have to cut through this."
"Hey I'm the ideas guy, you're the cutting things up with water bending guys" Sokka retorted. Waving his arms around like a lunatic on cactus juice. "Together we're Team Avatar!" Aang and Katara shared a look as Tenten spoke up.
"I don't think I'll be much help here" She stated. "I'm going to see if I can break through any beams by myself since I can't water bend." She paused "and if I can't then I'll keep watch to make sure you don't get interrupted by any fire nation forces." Sokka nodded as Tenten jumped up into the raftas, looking around before leaping from beam to beam before landing. Glancing around as she quickly pulled out explosive tags, setting them and jumping back and up to safety. She raised her fingers in a seal and focussed her chakra detonating the explosives and kicking up a cloud of dust. As it settled though it quickly came apparent that the beam still held. Tenten hopped down to examine it, noting that whilst it had survived, it hadn't come out unscathed, the effects of being close to such high temperatures apparent as she inspected the new heat affected zones on the beam, discolouring the metal as it strained. She glanced up as the Aang and Katara returned to sending a blade of water through the beam they were standing on. Getting an idea Tenten jumped into the air, spinning around as blades started appearing around her.
"Ninja Art! Blade Hawk Dance!" She cried spinning around into a circular saw and descending on the weakened metal. It offered resistance for a moment but it was quickly overcome as the metal buckled and gave, the blades sinking in and through the beam as Tenten used her chakra to maintain her angular momentum. Eventually stopping as, with a groan the beam broke in two, splitting apart as Tenten landed and stumbled, exhausted and dizzy from the technique. A second snap was heard soon after and she turned to smile at Sokka, Aang and Katara.
"I'm don't know how many more of those I have in me" Katara panted out before an ominous shudder travelled down the drill, team avatar, reaching out their arms to steady themselves.
"We did it!" Sokka cheered. "We better get out of here fast!"
They started moving towards the door, Tenten unsure that only destroying two beams would have such an effect. Her fears were proven true as a moment later a chilling message rang out through the drill.
"Congratulations crew, the Dill has made contact with the wall of Ba Sing Se."
The shuddering increased in intensity as the earth debris was met with water which carried it away from the drill bit, turning it to slurry which travelled along pipes, which filled the crevices of the drill. Sokka grimaced.
"C'mon brace, budge!" He moaned, struggling futilely against the metal beam, seemingly taunting him. Tenten, Katara and Aang collapsed on a beam behind him.
"This is not good." Katara said, stating the obvious.
"We're putting all our effort into braking these braces, it's taking too long!"
"There must be another way." Tenten spoke up, raising her hand to her chin as she pondered. "If we can't take it down can we stop it? Or at least buy more time whilst we weaken it?" She asked looking around.
"That's it!" Aang yelled, air bending to his feet. "Maybe we don't need to cut all the way through. Toph has been teaching me that you shouldn't give 100% of your energy into any one strike. Sokka, take a fighting stance. You've gotta be quick and accurate." Aang said as Sokka adopted his position and Aang promptly hooked his leg around Sokka's and unbalanced him with a blow to his ankle, followed up by several blows to his upper body. "Hit a series of points, and break your opponent's stance." Aang followed this up with a swift, but light blow to the head. "And when he's reeling you deliver the final blow!" He exclaimed, knocking Sokka onto his arse. "His own weight becomes his downfall. Literally."
"So we just need to weaken all the braces, instead of cutting all the way through!" Katara exclaimed happily.
"Then I'll go to the top of this thing and deliver the final blow!"
"And boom, it all comes crashing down!" Sokka finished happily, getting up and raising his arms, before sweeping them back to better illustrate his point.
"I'll go sabotage the engines or joints!" Tenten joined in. "Without them it won't be able to move and even if it can, it should slow it down long enough for us to disable it before it breaches the wall!" The group nodded at each other.
"Everyone inside that wall, the whole world, is counting on us" Aang said, passion lighting a fire in his eyes.
"The whole world, minus the Fire Nation that is." Sokka corrected as the rest of the group rolled their eyes.
Tenten ran down corridor after corridor planting traps and slicing through the thin pipes helping to keep the drill moving. She turned and slid across the floor, scurrying into an indent in the wall to hide as she heard footsteps and Azula and Ty Lee ran down the corridor towards team avatar. The third member of Azula's trio soon made herself known by flinging knives at Tenten causing her to spring up and kick off the wall to flip over Mai.
"It seems we were being sabotaged, Azula was right to make me hang back to investigate the reason we were slowing down." Tenten shrugged, guessing that when the drill slowed down too much they'd be found, but she had been counting in it not happening so soon since she hadn't even taken out one of the tracks yet. Raising her hand and releasing the tags an ear splitting explosion tore through the side of the drill, making Mai stumble as Tenten used chakra to remain standing. A beam fell between the girls as Mai glared up and Tenten turned to flee back to the avatar's group. A knife whizzed past her head, embedding itself into a pipe as more knives followed, some deflected by falling debris and some hitting metal plates and flying off in random directions, causing peril to both girls. Tenten jumped turning to throw a couple of shuriken in return, cutting through the air as Mai dodged to the side and returned with her own. Tenten sent more to knock back the flying ninja tools as she continued to weave through the collapsing corridor. Aang ran out in front of her, turning to blast Ty Lee away as she swung down from a beam. She recovered and sprang towards Aang again as Tenten jumped, a ninja wire spinning around a beam as she swung round to kick Ty Lee away, sending her sprawling onto a nearby chunk of metal as Tenten landed and turned to face her. Aang sent a blast of air down the corridor to fend of Mai as she pulled back into cover. Azula jumped up from below, sending a wave of fire crashing down to where Aang was standing as he spiralled out of the way and Katara and Sokka appeared at an intersection.
"This way!" They yelled as Aang and Tenten took off after them with Azula and friends giving chase. Blasts of fire and throwing weapons clashed with return blasts of water and air as the group raced down the corridor, reaching a t junction.
"Guys get out of here, I know what I need to do." Aang cried running off one way with Momo hitching a ride on his shoulder.
"Wait! You need this water more than I do!" Katara cried dislodging her water pouch and throwing it to Aang who deftly grabbed it, continuing his run.
"Follow them, the Avatar is mine." Azula ordered as she ran off after the avatar and Ty Lee and Mai pursued Tenten, Katara and Sokka… right into a certain slurry pipe.
Aang slammed the boulder down hard onto the metal X carved in the top of the drill. As the stone impacted into the metal, splitting it and tearing strips of it up. Azula looked on it horror as the drill shuddered and started to grind to a halt. Her visage quickly changed to a smirk as Aang's changed to horror as the plates surrounding the drill started to drop off and a new more streamlined drill sped up, ploughing into the wall. Both people atop the drill were distracted however, when an excitable green blur raced up the wall.
Lee flipped over another jet of fire landing lightly before launching himself backwards as the two sponsons swivelled to aim at him, disgorging their attacks as well. Lee was forced on the retreat as more of the tanks in the column advanced towards him, sweeping round to flank him opening fire to add to the raging firestorm threatening to consume him. The crew from the disabled tank rushed to engage him on foot, trying to avenge their fallen tank. One charged at him from the front, bending the blast from one tank around him as cover before shooting it forward with an attack of his own boosting it, forcing Lee to leap to the side, sending a kunai towards him. A fire blast knocked it out of the air as his comrades rushed at Lee as he landed, barely getting a moments respite before he was ducking and weaving, blasts of fire flung from kicks and jabs. Up, down, left, right, Lee weaved back pedalling away some blasts getting close enough to singe the ends of his air.
He could not stay like this. Lee did a mental checklist of his remaining tools. Unlike Tenten he no longer had much left in his pouches, he was out of tags and his stash of kunai was down to but a few. He knew he'd have to get more in Ba Sing Se, or get Tenten to forge or give him some more. But for the moment he'd have to play with the hand he'd been dealt.
A tank chose this point to rev its engines and charge towards him, sending the engineers on foot scattering out the way, one jumping to the side to avoid it as one blasted up with fire bending sending one last fire jab crashing down at Lee as the tank raced under him. For a moment it looked like Lee was about to be run over by the charging tank, but at the last moment Lee leapt to the side and rammed one of his legs into the side of it. The fire nation soldiers looked on in shock as instead of his leg snapping it dove into the tank cutting a deep gourge into its side as his weights increased the force of his kick, whilst he used chakra to reinforce it to prevent major injury. He was forced to snap his head back as the tank sent one final blast of fire out of the turret on its side before it died away as Lee's leg passed through it, severing it and causing the tank to spin before grinding to a halt smoking. Lee landed and stumbled, his leg not thanking him as a couple of soldiers rushed him again. He was hit square in the chest by an blast of fire before one swung his arms down, sending a blade of fire crashing down into him. Lee was blasted back, sent sprawling by the attacks, however when the first soldier approached to check on him he flipped onto his hands, swinging around and extending his legs to deliver a powerful blow to the side of his head before flipping back onto his feet.
The two remaining engineers on foot backed away slightly as the tanks turned around for another go, lining up alongside Lee and going for a broadside of fire. Lee in return back flipped onto the nearest one as fire gushed out towards him. He quickly smashed one chakra empowered fist through the top and dragged the crew out, throwing them away as the tank stopped with no one left to pilot it. Lee reached down to his leg warmers causing the soldiers to flinch before Lee pulled out a set of numb chucks and whipping them around his body.
The combatants paused however when a screeching sound came from the drill as earth rose up out of the ground, pillars slamming into the main body of the drill, just behind the bit whilst smaller columns rose into the gaps and chinks in the armour, trying to pin it, slowing it's advance. The tanks turned to face the greater threat and the remaining tanks on the other side could be seen swinging to meet the new earth bending menace. Lee picked up Toph in the middle conducting the earth's resistance and knew that if all the tanks attacked her she'd be in trouble. Even as he watched the first one reached her aiming at her. Before it could fire however the earth under one of its tracks rose up flipping it over and disabling it as another tank swerved to avoid it and crashed into an earth column, immobilizing itself. The engineers scrambled to safety before the drills massive tracks crushed it.
The soldier also seeing this began to advance on Lee, wanting to take him out so he couldn't help. The first fire blast was dispelled as the handle of one of the numb chucks flew through it, extinguishing and the fire nation soldier who had fired it engulfed one of his hands in flames, closing in the wake of his blast and sending a straight punch towards Lee. Lee in return used a crescent kick to bat away the fist at the wrist, sending the solider trailing after it. He passed by the side of Lee who knocked him out with a swift blow to the back of his head. Lee charged another soldier trading blows as punches flew at each other, two close for fire bending or kicks. The combatants split however as a boulder hurtled into the space they had previously occupied. They looked up at the wall to see the earth kingdom defenders retaliating at the attacks. The earth bombarding down managing to crack a tank here and there, sending others scattering as Toph continued to fight against the drill. It was a fight she was destined to lose however as the drill kept up its relentless advance as Lee ran towards it, ducking as a blast of fire soared over his head and leaping as he neared Toph and she turned, sending a wave of earth into the fire bender knocking him into the air. She slammed her foot down sending another airborne as Lee leapt up after him, kicking him back to the ground. The penultimate soldiers were dispatched by punches, the force behind them causing them to fly slightly to smash into them as Lee finished the last one by throwing his numb chucks at them and catching them as they bounced off.
"We make a good team!" Toph grinned as Lee sunk chakra empower fists into the drill and tried to help her slow it down as the tank couldn't reach under the chassis of the drill and had to resort to trying to snipe them with long ranged fire blasts whilst dodging the rain of earth descending on them. The earth bent back around Toph and Lee's feet as they were pushed back when suddenly the drill shuddered. They looked up hopefully, before noticing that the drill had reached the wall and was starting the slow process of breaching it.
Boulders smashed into the ground nearby as Toph grimaced, the earth kingdom soldiers weren't doing anything to the drill and were only making it harder to concentrate when a massive amount of earth slammed down, but a few feet away from you. At least the tanks were kept at bay and she was thankful for that small mercy.
"C'mon twinkle toes!" She hissed as the drill kept pushing them back when suddenly a chain of explosions rang out down one side of the drill as the metal buckled and the tracks spun wildly for a moment, before it managed to right itself and move forward again, albeit at a slower pace. The tank continued to grind into the wall despite their best efforts, when they were suddenly surprised when a hatch burst open and slurry poured out, quickly followed by Sokka, Katara and Tenten. Ty Lee tried to follow, but was swiftly held in place when Katara bent the water back up into the drill.
"Toph come and help me!" She cried as she and Toph bent the water and earth back up into the drill with Sokka encouraging, or annoying, them. Tenten stumbled slightly as she made her way over to Lee.
"Aang's gone up top to deliver the final blow" She said as Lee nodded before their heads snapped around, seeing the remaining tanks trying to advance on the group now that they were outside the cover of the drill. Tenten and Lee rushed to engage them, gracefully spinning sideways over the top of a long blast of flame, sending paper bombs and exploding tags back at them in Tenten's case, or disappearing between them with numb chucks in Lee's. Boulders continued their steady rain down from above, smashing into the dry earth and kicking p clouds of dust as the shinobi danced between them and the tanks, never getting hit as the glided away from the incoming strikes. Suddenly a resounding clang echoed along the edge of the drill as it shuddered to a stop. They heard a cheer go up from the wall and Sokka soon joined in. The slurry burst out of the drill as Toph elevated team avatar up and away from it as Lee and Tenten leapt onto the remains of a nearby tank. The victory was cut short however as the metal plates began to move. Shifting slightly before starting to shed as the drill started to move again, increasing in speed as the more streamlined drill let out a few blasts of steam from the back and holes lining it.
"It's almost gone!" Sokka realised, shouting. "Another strike should disable the weakened engines! Good job Tenten!"
"C'mon Twinkle Toes!" Toph cried out. "Finish it off!" Lee had already run off, chakra flowing to his feet as he made contact with it, sprinting up the wall emerging past the top of the drill as metal and earth rained down around him. He saw Aang and Azula's shocked expressions and jumped off the wall, launching himself into a graceful flip, arcing over the drill as Azula sent a scorching blast of blue flames at him, impacting where he had been standing only moments before. He noted the giant X carved into the top of the drill as he turned seeing the boulder descending directly towards him.
Azula smirked as she saw the boulder hurtling towards the airborne green clad menace. He was annoying, but at least he was soon going to be taken care of. She began striding towards the avatar and was just about to start gloating her victory when they both heard a cry from above.
"First Gate – Gate Of Opening! Open!" Came the cry and Azula glanced up, taking a double take and staggering back slightly. The power radiating off him was almost tangible as he thrust forward one arm, the bandage on it unravelling to surround and ensnare the boulder. He pulled it in towards him before it was fully mummified and he started to spin round in the air, becoming a blur. Then he angled down towards the X and Azula could only watch on horrified at what happened. It was almost in slow motion as he impacted on the rock, already wedged in the X, smashing it to pieces as the boulder he was holding drilled its way down.
"Primary Lotus!" She heard before a massive sound wave assaulted her ears, temporarily deafening her as metal buckled and broke, tearing apart as the drill fell apart, slurry and steam escaping from their confines as pipes burst and sent their contents spurting out, covering the wall and ground and anyone unlucky enough to nearby. The drill fell apart, metal sliding over metal as girders broke free and pierced into the sky. Azula was blasted by slurry and knocked down to the ground were Ty Lee was lying now free from the drill as team avatar went to congratulate each other the remaining tanks pulling back to cover their retreat from any overzealous attacks from the earth kingdom or fatigued members of team avatar.
"We lost" Mai muttered, sticking her head out of one of the few remaining parts of the drill still intact.
Team avatar on the other hand walked back into the city victorious" as Sokka tried to come up with a team name.
"The Aang Gang?" He asked expectantly.
"Sokka…"
"The supreme seven?" Sokka replied, earning a light tap round the back of the head from his sister
"The youthful warriors?" Lee asked hopefully. Before Tenten shut the idea down before it could spread.
"What about the GAang?" Asked Toph as the they made their way past the wall to the station, to enter into the city proper.