AN: Really late here, but I went camping again, and ended up getting a little sick afterwards. Next chapter should be posted next week on schedule.
Chapter 23 The Avatar Rises.
In the forest far to the south of Pine Timbers, Jin followed closely behind her guide, Sa Mu. After the two had sat down and negotiated, it was agreed upon that Sa Mu would lead Jin to all his former close contacts, people that resistance members looked to, and she could convince them to organize under Hei's command.
It was well before day break when they'd begun moving through the woods, Sa Mu lighting the path with an orange flame held in his hand as they traveled through the dense woods. An old comrade of Sa Mu's lived in the forest, far away from where the Fire Nation could find him. He would be the fourth officer Jin spoke to about coordinating with Ba Sing Se.
It wasn't long before orange light began to peek through the trees, casting rays down to the forest floor. Confused, and feeling his inner fire swelling, Sa Mu looked up to the sky. "That's strange…" He extinguished his fire before it got too large in his hand.
Jin turned her attention through the thick wood towards the horizon where the light shone from. "The Sun isn't to rise for another hour."
"Yes, as I said… Strange…" Sa Mu said. "Perhaps there is a star falling through the sky."
The two continued to walk along in silence, before in the distance the sound of a roaring flame began to enter their range of detection, and all around them, birds could be heard, frantically calling out, taking to the air, and flying off in every direction but west. "What's going on?" Jin asked, as Sa Mu looked around, finding a suitably tall pine tree. Instead of using his bending to jet up to it's highest point, though he felt as if he could, Sa Mu climbed up the branches, until he could clearly see the western horizon. A chill ran through him, and his jaw popped open. "Puta Merda!" He said, before dropping out of the tree, stopping his fall by creating two fire jets from either hand.
"What is it?" Jin asked, before Sa Mu landed.
He grabbed her hand, then ran further south, Jin trailing behind. "A fire, a big fire! Bigger than any I have ever seen."
The roar was approaching faster now, and smoke began to fill the air above them, through the trees in the distance flames could be seen, approaching far faster than seemed natural. "We should get down hill." Jin said.
"Believe me, there's not much a hill is going to do for us." Sa Mu said, before spotting what he had been searching for amid their run. "There." He pointed to a cave in the mouth of a short cliff, and pulled Jin along inside. Lighting a fire in his hand to illuminate the way, Sa Mu guided Jin around a bend in the cave, and down a small slope.
Outside, the roar of an oppressive flame, like dragon's fire, could be heard echoing through the tunnel, causing the walls nearby to glow as light danced across them, before the roar was reduced to a steady crackle. Jin turned to Sa Mu, pulling her hand free. "Well, it's a good thing you found this cave."
"A good thing I knew of it." Sa Mu said, as he sat on a rock. "Once the fire burns itself out we can leave, but for now, this is the safest place in these woods. Lucky you, I'm here to keep you company."
Jin, seeing no place better, sat on the cold ground. "Has anyone ever told you that you're strange?"
"I've only ever heard that my whole life." Sa Mu grinned.
Jin rolled her eyes. "So what's your story then?" Sa Mu raised an eyebrow. "If we're stuck in a cave for a few hours, we might as well pass the time somehow. You already know my story, so I want to know yours."
Sa Mu chuckled. "We'll aside from knowing you're a whore from Ba Sing Se, working with the resistance, I can't say I know much of anything about you either. What is it like in the big city?"
Jin puffed a short breath between her lips. "Before we really knew of the war? I was a store clerk. The lower ring was a hovel, but it was a lively one. Things were simple. My mother and I made a decent living… Before the war came to us, and she got sick that is… Stores started closing, and not much but whoring makes money for a young girl when the economy collapses." Jin looked down at the cave floor for a second. "And you? A firebender in the Earth Army. How'd that happen?"
Sa Mu chuckled, before the seemingly perpetual cheese grin he wore, faded away. "I was not always a fire bender." Sa Mu said, before holding out his palm, and creating a ball of fire that he'd intended to be no more than a whisper of flames. "And my name was not always Sa Mu. My pai and Mae were not always my father and my mother… My father, my real father and I were fishermen, nearly two decades ago now, so this was when I was about seven… Really he was the fisher, and I was just his deck hand in training. We left from Fortaleza, and sailed east… Or was it north? Either way, a storm came, and our ship's mast had broken. We drifted for two weeks, and the next thing I knew we were castaway on Song Island, the furthest east landmass in the Earth Kingdom. My father died of thirst, and I was found a few days later. I was taken in by my adoptive parents, and before the Fire Nation had a foothold in this province, we moved out here seeking work in the logging industry. Then the Fire Nation came, and I joined the army when I turned sixteen. It was only a few months later I found that I could bend fire."
"Bet that was a surprise to your leaders." Jin snickered.
"Yes, I was arrested almost immediately on suspicion of being a spy, but I prevailed nonetheless." Sa Mu shrugged, before clenching his fist, extinguishing the ball of fire in his hands.
"And your name?" Jin asked, raising an eyebrow. "You said that Sa Mu was not always your name."
Sa Mu chuckled. "My real name, the one not even I call myself anymore, is Samuel… Samuel Inacio Espada." Jin raised an eyebrow at the strange pronunciation of Sa Mu's true name, and he smirked. "And if you knew what my family names meant, you would probably call my signature technique ironic."
Ozai's massive blast of fire washed over the earth, creating a wall of flames. Having seen a similar attack thwarted before by a former enemy, Aang put up his hands, palms out to shield his face, then extended his arms, and rotated his palms outwards, though kept his fingernails touching. Admiral Zhao's "curtain parting" technique deflecting the flames away with minimal amounts of force.
When the attack ended, Ozai looked confused for only a second, before for the first time in their battle, Aang had dared to make the first move. As the Phoenix King prepared to unleash another blast of fire, Aang swiftly threw his right fist into an uppercut, before stepping forward, and throwing another with his left fist, causing two stone fissures to break the ground in either direction beneath Ozai. Having reacted to the attack by way of backflipping out of the stone's range with a fire jet propelling him, Ozai threw his next attack forward, blowing apart one of the two stones, sending a chunk of rock at Aang.
The Avatar took a half step back with his right, then threw his weight into a sweeping high kick, knocking the stone away with his shin, and at the same time, pulling a clump of dirt out from under a fallen log, throwing the sediment at Ozai, who was still in mid air. The light attack had hit him in the side, and Ozai had to drop back to the ground to stabilize himself.
Wiping away what dirt had gotten on his face, Ozai chuckled. "All of that, for a little bit of dirt in my eye?" He asked, before propelling himself up onto the stone fissure still standing between them. "I expected more from you Avatar." Slower than before, Ozai began to draw lightning to his finger tips, and Aang prepared to catch and redirect the incoming bolt. "Now allow me to return the favor!" Ozai unleashed the lightning, but Aang was not the target. The ground in front of him exploded in a shower of dirt, ash, soot, and stone, kicking up all manner of grit at Aang, and some with more force than others.
A single smooth stone, no bigger than Aang's own thumb, had been launched at just the right height to strike the boy directly in the center of his chest, and what would have otherwise been a mildly inconvenient pain, had felt like the hot piercing sting of a nail driven through his heart.
Aang's vision flashed as he fell to his back, and for merely a moment, he could feel the sudden shift in his own internal being. Energy flowed once more through his air chakra, the block he'd formed upon his brush with death having been broken up by the stone's impact. Closing his eyes for a second though still on the ashen ground, Aang took in a deep breath.
Ozai stepped down from the rock he'd perched on, and chuckled, seeing Aang's unmoving body. Perhaps The Avatar had caught some of the lightning's travel through the surface of the earth? Taking a few steps towards Aang, Ozai spoke, mostly to himself. "Finally… After one hundred years, the last air bender falls…" Ozai raised his fist, and lit a small jet of fire over his knuckles. "But, better to be safe than sorry."
As Ozai extended his fist towards Aang, The Avatar opened his eyes, and with a blinding flash of blue, they, along with the blue tattoos running across his body, began to glow. When Ozai let a blast of fire off at Aang, The Avatar projected jets from both his feet and fists, shooting him out from under Ozai's attack. Rolling over backwards, Aang landed in a sprinter's pose, before he looked up at Ozai.
Aang, burst forward faster than the gale of wind he had created behind him, on a wave of raised stone, with two jets of fire trailing from behind each fist. Faster than Ozai could recover from the shock of seeing the return of The Avatar's true power, Aang had crossed the gap between them, and just before reaching Ozai, launched himself into a front flip, accompanied by a double leg earth bending kick. The stone Aang had glided across the ground with was launched into Ozai's gut at nearly point blank range. The attack sent The Phoenix King flying through the air, before he came to a sudden stop, slamming into a burned up husk of a tree.
Looking up, Ozai saw Aang standing tall, before The Avatar took to the air on four fire jets, rocketing straight up into the sky, before making a loop to keep up his momentum, and circle back towards Ozai, slamming into the ground fist first near the man's feet. The impact had forcefully thrown Ozai off his feet again, creating a crater wide enough that several tanks could fit in its footprint.
Flailing through the air once more, Ozai had to use his jet propulsion to orient himself, and once he had, the man fell onto a backfoot atop one of the shorter stone spires just at the edge of the forest. With an advantage upon high ground, Ozai cast down two roaring streams of fire, only for The Avatar to jump up out of the way of the attack with the help of an earth spire, and his air bending. Once in the air above the flames, Aang saw how he would need to advance back into the field of stone to face Ozai, and felt the idea was tedious at best.
Landing safely on the ground once again, feeling slightly warmer after Ozai ceased his attack, Aang stood squarely to the forest of stone, and held out his hands, his fingers splayed. Raising them slowly, adopting a move his earth bending master had once used, Aang felt the ground beneath him begin to shake, before he forcefully dropped his hands. With his power amplified by the combined might and skill of the eighty one Avatars that came before, and the near ten thousand years of knowledge they possessed, the field of stone crumbled, quite literally leveling the battlefield.
Ozai felt himself drop for a moment, before taking off with a jet blast backwards into the air, but soon found that it was filled with dust and dirt that had been kicked up by the nearly explosive destruction of the volcanic stones surrounding him. Backing further away, he had to land on the now gravel covered ground to catch his breath. Coughing violently, Ozai waved away the cloud of sand, having inhaled plenty of dust from The Avatar's attack. Even then he was given little respite, as the force of a typhoon's wind struck him, blowing the cloud of dust and dirt out over the sea to the west. Ozai had shielded his face from the sandstorm, and once he'd opened them again, Aang was standing before him, some forty paces away, eyes glowing menacingly.
What underbrush in the field of stones lay barren and burned. The remains of several airships surrounded them, though the external fires had been snuffed out by the wind. The orange glow of Sozin's comet above illuminated the still dark skies, as the celestial body drifted further towards the western skyline. With something so simple as a raised hand from The Avatar, Ozai was shoved back onto his rear, a blast of wind knocking him down. Upon landing, Ozai's hands then sank into the gravel, which formed around his wrists, locking him in place.
It was now that Aang spoke, his voice echoing with the fury of his past incarnations in unison. "FIRE LORD OZAI, YOU AND YOUR FOREFATHERS HAVE DEVASTATED THE BALANCE OF THIS WORLD! FOR THIS, YOU SHALL PAY THE ULTIMATE PRICE! MAY YOUR SPIRIT SUFFER IN ITS NEXT LIFE!"
Terrified out of his mind, Ozai could only watch, as The Avatar drew static at his fingertips, his hands swirling in the air, as overhead from the dark clouds, thunder sounded and lightning was cast down, striking the metal frames of the airships around the two. Ozai closed his eyes, accepting his fate, before the sound of a final lightning bolt rang out, deafening in it's boom. Peeking with only his left eye at first, Ozai found Aang had cast his lightning attack far to the left, creating a small smoldering pit. The boy's glowing tattoos dimmed, before The Avatar closed his eyes, the light fading away. Ozai's hands were freed and slowly he got to his feet.
Aang opened his eyes, and Ozai saw disappointment in them. He chuckled. "All that power, and still you can't bring yourself to strike me down. You're practically harmless."
Aang clenched his fist. "A good friend told me that the difference between being harmless and being peaceful is that being peaceful is a choice." Aang raised his arms. "So I'm not going to kill you, but that doesn't mean I won't hurt you if I have to."
"Then you've conceded defeat already." Ozai said, before blasting fire at Aang, once, then twice more as The Avatar deflected the initial attack with a gust of wind, and then dodged the next two by jumping behind a large rock. "If you won't kill me, there is nothing you can do to stop me, Avatar. NOTHING!"
Aang used his earth bending to shove the boulder towards Ozai, but the Phoenix King jetted over the attack, and gave chase once more, as Aang took to the west, leaping into the tangled mess of steel that was the remains of an airship. Fire broke upon the metal, as Aang landed on the floor within the darker interior of the airship. Light peeked through the jagged openings in the structure, and from the same hole Aang had entered Ozai slipped through as well, chasing Aang down the empty and blown out hallway. Fire shot down the corridor after Aang, but the Avatar climbed up into the guts of the ship, finding himself in half of an engine room, covered in smoke from coals still burning inside. As Ozai flew up into the destroyed room with his fire jets, Aang took hold of the nearby lumps of coal, and threw a spread of them at the fire lord with his earthbending like a scattergun blast. Unable to avoid the attack in the confined space, Ozai was hit by the smaller rocks, and stumbled, his vision and breathing obstructed by the coal dust and smoke.
Aang made a break for a nearby ladder, and began to climb, making his way to the top of the airship. A hatch sat above him, and before he could reach it, Aang jumped up, spinning to unwind the latch with his airbending. Shooting out of the airship, Aang landed on the slanted roof of the crashed craft, and took off towards the nose of the airship, which was sticking out over the landscape like a jagged mountain. Fire erupted from the hatch he'd just exited, and not long after, Ozai came through the opening, flying on his jets. Ozai roared as he flew towards Aang, and just as the two reached the end of the airship, The Avatar threw himself over the side, narrowly missing a plume of fire raining down along the spine of the ship. Ozai came to land on the very end of the airship, and watched as Aang dropped safely to the ground below, heading towards another wreck. "FEAR THE WRATH OF THE PHOENIX!" Ozai shouted, jumping down after Aang, kicking towards the ground with one foot, creating a massive blast of fire and slowing his fall.
Inside the twisted metal husk that was once Ozai's personal airship, the structure rattled as two titans clashed outside. Dust was shaken free from every surface, and small fires within the remains of the craft still burned, smoke filling the interior. Slowly waking from the nap he was forced to take, Connor found his vision was blurry, and the airship interior was dark. He was sprawled out on the controls of the ship, the corpse of the imperial guard that had knocked him into the controls still laying on top of him. To his immediate right was a drop through the bridge's broken window into a tangle of sharp metal that used to be the underside of the airship's nose, no doubt buried in the ground. He groaned, before shoving the body off of him and into the pit, where it was skewered by a steel strut.
"Oh Jesus." Connor said to himself in English, before the control surface he had fallen on groaned, and a rivet popped free. The panel caved inwards, and Connor fell, but not before he was able to grab hold of the floor. The metal was squeezed into his grip, bit the jagged edge of the control panel's remains cut open his arm. "GAH! FUCK!" He screamed, before finding purchase with his free hand elsewhere.
Pulling himself up, Connor eventually got his feet up to the floor which acted as a wall, and took a moment to catch his breath. Looking up through the dark tunnel above, Connor could see daylight peeking through in places. "This is the last time I fly in one of these things." Connor muttered to himself, before he started climbing.
Making it into the hallway, Connor sat on the doorframe, ripped a strip of his tunic's tail off, and hastily wrapped his arm to stem the bleeding as best he could. The airship continued to groan around him, and more sounds of battle could be heard outside, flames roaring closer with every passing second. "Sounds like Aang's still at it." Doing a quick check of his equipment and overall health, Connor then pulled his silver watch free from his pocket, checking the time. "And he needs help."
Aang created a shield of air to blow out the flaming kick Ozai had dropped onto him, and when The Phoenix King landed, shifted the earth at his feet, causing the older man to slip, as if a rug was pulled from under him. Aang was going to kick up a stone fissure into Ozai's waist, but just before the attack could connect the madman rolled sideways with the assistance of a fire jet, and sprung to his feet in a spin, kicking a wave of fire at Aang in the process. Aang sunk into the ground in a corkscrew, ducking the attack, before popping out in a backflip. Landing in a tripod, Aang cocked his right fist back, and then drove it into the ground, the impact creating a seismic shock that rocked the earth of the rubble field. Ozai lost his footing for a second, before jetting into the air for the duration of the rumbling, then came back to the ground once it had stopped.
"So what now, Avatar?" Ozai asked, breathing slightly harder than he had been. "You won't kill me, and I can't seem to pin you down. Are we to be two gods forever locked in mortal combat?"
"You could just surrender." Aang said, preparing for another bout of fighting, unsure of how much longer he could keep up with Ozai.
"Never!" Before Ozai could take his next step in preparation to attack Aang, the sound of metal groaning could be heard. At first the two thought the airship wreck they were nearest was about to fall onto them as a result of Aang's earthquake, the giant's shadow looming over the gravel pit, but instead where the steel plating met the stony ground, a single panel was being bent out of the way, before it fell flat into the dirt, kicking up a small cloud of dust.
Looking far worse for wear, with dry blood on his head, and a cut across his left arm, covered in an improvised wrap, Connor Campbell stepped out into the light. Seeing Ozai and Aang standing opposed to each other, Connor cracked his neck, prepared to join in the fight once again. "Need some help, Aang? Or would you rather just sit this one out?"
Ozai burst out into laughter at the prospect. Meanwhile, Aang gazed firmly at Connor, who's attention remained on Ozai. There was something there that the young Avatar had seen before, the same look he'd seen Connor dawn below Ba Sing Se. A look that conveyed complete conviction. Aang had already proved he could defeat Ozai, but he did not have the heart to take his life. On the other hand, Connor was fully willing to end men's lives for less than what Ozai had done, and Aang suspected that the redhead who'd managed to kill him could face the Fire Lord, and maybe even win, the pistol on the older boy's hip being a statement of intent on it's own. But Aang was unsure if allowing Connor to fight for him was the right thing to do. This was supposed to be Aang's battle, it was supposed to be his responsibility, his burden.
The Phoenix King had finally curbed his hysterical laughter, and wiped away a tear that wasn't there. "That's got to be the funniest thing I've heard all week… You…" Ozai pointed loosely at Connor. "Against me? You're hardly worthy of being my opponent."
Connor put his left foot on the piece of steel in front of him. "I fought for you well enough, and I think I've earned the right to say I could fight against you just as easily."
"With my power magnified one hundred fold? Do you have wolf-bats in your belfry?" Ozai asked.
Connor looked to the western sky for a moment, before a smirk tugged at the edge of his lip. "I think you've forgotten the time, Ozai. Take a look." He held his hands out to either side, east and west. Ozai glanced to the horizon where the sun had begun to rise, and then spun to see the tail of the comet dip past the waters edge far in the distance, and with it, so too did his inner fire fade to what felt like a struck match in comparison to its boosted maximum potential of a bonfire. "Your hour's over." Ozai's attention was brought back to Connor. "Now, you can give up and come quietly if you're a coward, or you can make this fun if you think your brave enough."
Ozai grit his teeth. "Or... Perhaps I simply end your existence for taking my daughter away from me, if not for the simple fact that a parasite like you should have been removed from this earth the moment you arrived."
"I took nothing that wasn't freely given." Connor said, clenching his fists, the gravel beside him shifting. "No, more than that. I had to earn Azula's love, the same as I earned my place in this world." Not looking at the boy, Connor spoke to Aang. "Do I have your blessing to fight him?"
Aang glanced between the two, feeling almost forgotten, as Ozai and Connor stared each other down. He could sense the tension between them. A lingering unspoken personal hate they had for each other. Suddenly, Aang felt that perhaps, if only for a moment, Connor deserved his shot at Ozai. Aang took two steps back, and Connor grinned.
Ozai had attacked first, punching a blast of fire at Connor, only for the young man to stomp on the edge of the metal plate, flicking it up into the air with his bending, blocking the blast. He kicked the steel again, striking high to send the plate flying at Ozai like a wall of metal. The Phoenix King was able to make a short jet burst to leap out of the way, as Connor raised his fists, and started to slowly shuffle forward. "Aw, that's it?!" Connor asked loudly. "I know your weaker without the comet, but that was just sad."
"You little insect!" Ozai shouted. Connor threw a punch as Ozai shouted, and the ground beside him came with it, a blast of gravel being launched through the air like grape shot. Ozai was able to dodge the attack, by jetting back to where he'd originally stood, before having to again duck away in the same direction to avoid another spread of gravel projectiles.
From his place of observation, Aang had to deflect a few stray rocks, and licks of flame, but otherwise was enthralled by Connor's strategy. "He's just getting in Ozai's head." Aang thought, remembering how Connor had goaded him into the Avatar State before killing him.
On the offensive now, Ozai burst forward with his fire bending in an attempt to unleash a blast at nearly point blank range, but as The Phoenix King went for the hook, fire trailing his fist, Connor bobbed his entire torso away, and half-stepped into a spin, landing a left uppercut on Ozai's side.
Coming to a stop in a stumble, Ozai held his ribs, and willed away the black edge his vision had started to develop, turning and trailing a kick of fire at Connor, which was promptly avoided as Connor rolled back and to his right, before springing to his feet. "I mean seriously, Zuko's beaten me faster than you."
"You dare compare my mastery over fire to his, you earth worm?!" Ozai screamed, throwing a simple, but massive fire blast at Connor, which he avoided by quickly dashing to his right.
Connor reached out, and tugged towards him, Ozai checked over his shoulder as he heard metal creaking from the airship the was now behind him, as an entire section of exterior plating and interior framework fell to the ground. Ozai jetted out of the small debris field, as Connor caught a piece of metal roughly the size of a wagon wheel, which was then thrown at Ozai like a flying dinner plate, the jagged edges threatening to tear him in half at the waist. Ozai Leaned back, feeling the air the disk displaced as it passed his face, before he leaned back further and threw his body into a hand stand. Kicking a crescent of fire upwards at Connor, Ozai followed through by flipping to his feet, and blasting fire at Connor with both fists and his uplifted foot.
Connor's response to the attack was the creation of an A framed tent of earth that deflected the fire away to either side of his body. Clenching his left fist, before thrusting his right fist forward, the two slabs of stone crumbled into smaller pieces, and were then sent flying at Ozai, who had no recourse but to duck out of the way, and regain his footing. Connor smirked. "What's the matter Lord Of The Ass Lickers, never been in a real fight before?"
Ozai snarled, realizing the game Connor was trying to play, already growing sick of it. Ozai concentrated, and quickly gathered lighting in his fingertips. Connor saw the beginning motions of the attack, and went to pull his sword and pistol free, not realizing that Ozai's technique was far more refined than Azula's, and he didn't have anywhere near as much time to shoot the man while he created his electricity.
The Phoenix king was faster on the draw and a bolt of lightning ripped across the air between them, striking Connor's sword, the current traveling through him to exit into the ground. Aang jumped in place, then watched Connor wobble on his feet for a second, before collapsing flat on his back, the sword and gun in his hands falling to his sides. His right arm had an ugly red burn from where the lightning had struck, radiating out in a pattern from the back of his hand up to his shoulder, mimicking lightning itself.
Ozai began to laugh again, as he looked away from Connor's limp form, and over to Aang, who he started to approach. "You should have killed me when you had the chance. See what your cowardice has cost you?" Ozai asked, as Aang once more prepared to fight him. "And now, Avatar, you too will-" Ozai's monologue was suddenly interrupted by a coughing fit from behind him, taking both Ozai and Aang's attention. Rolling onto his side, Connor reached out and grabbed his pistol with his left hand.
In Caldera, Kozato was being fitted for the ceremonial robes befitting a Fire Lord's coronation, the royal tailor taking his final measurements. As Kozato stood with his arms held aloft, the curtain to the chamber was parted, and the twins, Lo and Li, advisors to the family since Azulon's reign, entered, as requested.
"You summoned us?" They both asked.
Kozato didn't bother turning to face them. "Nearly 15 years I've been waiting for this, and finally it's my time to rule. My nation will soon embrace me, but there remains the issue of both the Avatar, and my distant cousins inevitably returning to dethrone me."
"You seek advice from us then?" Lo asked.
"Wisdom from your elders." Li commented.
Kozato hummed. "Elders with no allegiances." He finally turned, as the tailor finished with his measurements.
"Our oath is to the Royal Family." Li said.
Lo continued. "We have advised two Fire Lords, and been the instructor and mentor for many who aspire to sit upon the throne."
"Who rules within the family is of no concern to us." Li finished.
Kozato threw his uniform jacket on, and began to button it up. "Then you'd have no issue instructing me in the one fire bending form that only the Fire Lord and his bloodline have been allowed to know."
"You desire to learn the secret passed down by the gods?" Lo asked.
"Few know of it." Li said.
"Fewer still have mastered it." Lo continued.
"We have only witnessed five within our lifetime who had Indra's spark." Li said, lifting her chin.
"Only five who have been able to create lightning." Lo finished.
Kozato crossed his arms. "You will witness me be the sixth... If I'm to face either the Avatar, or my cousins, I desire every advantage I can leverage."
Lo and Li both grinned. "Destiny ordains it." Lo said.
"The time draws near..." Li continued.
"... Where the blood of the dragon..." Lo said.
"... And the spirit of the tiger shall clash." Li nodded.
"We will teach you what we know." Lo held out a hand.
"But you must master this power in only a day." Li made a fist.
Kozato scoffed. "Then in a day I shall."
"How are you alive?!" Ozai and Aang asked, both shocked, though Ozai was more so irritated that Connor wasn't dead, and now held the one thing that could match his lightning bending.
Connor spat blood onto the ground beside him, as he cocked the left hammer of his pistol back. "I've been asking myself that question for almost a year." He said, slowly getting to his feet. "And wow, that was painful…" He took a few shaky steps closer to Ozai, pulling back the right side hammer, priming both barrels to go off. "Like… Holding hot iron to your skin, only everywhere." Connor tried to sink The Phoenix King up to his waist in the ground with a stomp, only for the gravel to not shift under his command. "The Hell?" Connor asked himself in English, before he tried again.
"What's wrong?" Aang asked, as Connor tried a third time to sink Ozai into the loose earth.
"I think I just had my chi blocked." Connor said, still keeping his gun trained on Ozai as their standoff had suddenly become more dangerous.
"Oh, now that's fitting." Ozai chuckled, before Connor's eyebrow twitched, and he pulled the triggers on his gun, only for the primers atop both barrels to pathetically pop, and the main charges to not fire. The two went wide eyed, and as Ozai went to grab Connor's face, his hand covered in fire, Connor also lunged forward with his right fist cocked, dropping the gun in his left. This time Connor was the faster of the two, and his scarred knuckles made their mark, slamming into Ozai's jaw, knocking the older man onto his backside, the flames around his hand snuffed out.
Pressing his advantage, Connor kicked Ozai at the apex of his legs while the man was down. Aang winced, and unconsciously held his hands over his own family jewels, while Connor continued to unload on Ozai with his fists alone, throwing a rapid barrage of punches into the man's navel, solar plexus, sternum, throat, and forehead, before finally bringing a hammer fist down on Ozai's crown.
Ozai fell flat against the ground, and rolled onto his side, dry heaving against the gravel. Connor shook away the pain he was feeling in his right hand, as The Phoenix king tried to throw a fireball at Connor halfheartedly, only for no flames to leave his hands. Connor gave a short "heh," as Ozai tried again to blast Connor. "Looks like I'm not the only one losing his bending today." Connor taunted, stepping away, prepared to get his sword and finish the job.
"Losing his bending?" Aang asked himself in thought. Aang's eyebrows shot up, having finally realized what had just happened to Ozai. "That's it!" He shouted.
"What's it?" Connor asked, turning to look at his friend.
"This is what the lion turtle was trying to tell me about." Aang said, holding his arms out.
"Lion what?" Connor said, scratching his head.
"This whole time, ever since I became an air bending master, the answer's been with me." Aang said, looking down at the back of his hands, where his blue arrow tattoos ended, following the flow of chi throughout his body. "Ozai disturbed your chi paths with lightning, and you just blocked all of his chi by directly attacking his chakras." Aang said, holding a hand over his own heart. "Chi blocking is how I can stop him once and for all, without having to take his life."
"Chi blocking isn't permanent though." Connor said skeptical of Aang's plan.
Aang shook his head. "When it's blocked externally that's true, but the cosmic energy that flows in all of us, the power to bend, we control that energy. If it can be controlled within us, it can be controlled in another body, and it can be taken away." He said, as Ozai weakly pushed himself up onto his knees, only half paying attention to the two.
Aang closed the distance between him and Ozai, and once there, closed his eyes, not seeing, but feeling the flow of energy, first within his own body. Aang placed his thumb against Ozai's forehead, and then two fingers from his other hand to Ozai's chest. He could feel the swirling pools laying beyond the Phoenix King's physical form. They were clogged, and murky from Connor's beating, but still, energy did flow slowly. With an exhale and a faint glow of his tattoos, Aang pulled on Ozai's chi, bringing his fingers over the man's chest down to point at the ground below, and the pools from the crown flowing down, began to drain until only the debris that congested them remained. To Ozai, it felt as if his inner fire had flicked, then died.
Aang opened his eyes, and stepped away. Connor scratched his neck. "Did it work?" The redhead asked.
Aang nodded, before speaking to Ozai directly. "I took away your bending."
"What?!" Ozai asked, looking up at Aang.
"You can't use it to hurt anyone anymore." Aang said, as Connor picked up his gun once more, and put it away.
Ozai grit his teeth before trying to punch flames at Aang, only for nothing to happen. "You… YOU!"
"Oh, shut your trap, and count yourself lucky." Connor said, as he picked up his sword, and held it threateningly towards Ozai.
Utterly defeated, and even feeling physically weaker than before, Ozai fell onto his back. "I've lost my fire bending?" He asked no one. "Then my right to rule… How can a phoenix not have fire?"
Connor scoffed, putting his blade away. The former fire lord even looked more pathetic than before. "At this point, killing him might be a mercy."
"That's enough Connor." Aang said, holding a hand out to stop his taunting, then faced Ozai. "You'll come with us back to the Fire Nation, and answer for your crimes."
"AANG!" Looking up to Katara's shouting, the three saw the rest of the gang on Appa, descending from the sky, before landing in the gravel beside them. Momo flew circles around them all, as he returned to Aang's side.
Azula nearly jumped out of the saddle when she saw Connor and the state he was in. "Agni above, Connor!" She said, clambering off of the bison, before jumping up into Connor's arms. He winced in pain, but all the same hugged his love. "I knew you'd survive." She pulled away just enough to not agitate the obvious burn on his arm.
Connor chucked. "Well I'm glad one of us thought so." He said, before quickly kissing the top of Azula's head. "And… I never got an answer to that question." Azula released her hold on Connor, and in turn he set her down, before dropping to a knee, half in fatigue, and half for the special occasion. "Ceremony and all?"
"I figured, you already knew." Azula said, before taking either side of Connor's still somewhat blood head, and planting a kiss on his lips.
Ozai groaned in disgust, before his daughter broke apart from her and Connor's kiss. "You left him alive?" She asked.
Connor shrugged, as he got back to his feet. "It was Aang's call not mine."
All eyes turned to Aang. "I took away his bending." The Avatar said, holding a hand out to Ozai.
Toph raised an eyebrow, and crossed her arms as she stayed in Appa's saddle. "Who taught you how to do that?"
Aang shrugged. "I figured it out on my own, buuuuut I guess you could say that Connor gave me some clues."
"Ay, all I did was kick the little angry shite while he was down." Connor said while holding a hand up, and modestly refusing credit for facing Ozai.
Aang nodded. "He can't hurt anyone with fire bending anymore, and without his power no one will follow him. We've won the war."
At this Ozai chuckled, slowly at first, before the cadence picked up, and so too the volume. He controlled himself, then coughed once. "You think that this really changes anything? You might have robbed me of my place in this world, but do you think you've won the war? That you can stop the rest of the Fire Nation? The world is a mess, it has always been a mess, and only the strongest can bring it to heel. Mark my words Avatar, if you do not take my place now that you've taken my power, someone else will…" Ozai smirked, as he sat up, propping his torso up with his arms. "Like the man who I charged with finding all of you…"
"Where is Kozato?" Azula asked, narrowing her eyes at her father.
"I wasn't speaking to you, you traitorous whore." Ozai said, attempting to stand up, only for Smellerbee to point her pistol at the man from Appa's saddle. He paused, and stayed seated, as Toph came down from Appa, and put the dethroned man's hands into a pair of rock cuffs behind his back. "That's Fire Lord Kozato to you now anyways… If I'm correct the coronation should be happening right about now back in the capitol."
Aang looked around at everyone. "We have to get back to the Fire Nation." He said, before jumping up onto Appa's neck, as Zuko crawled onto the bison's saddle.
"What about the rest of the airships?" Zuko asked, pointing out towards the eastern horizon, where the fleet disappeared from view a few minutes ago.
"The comet's already passed, and the worst has been done." Aang said, as Toph pushed Ozai to his feet. "Right now our best chance of ending the war is in Caldera, and the sooner we get there, the better."
"What about him?" Toph asked, pushing Ozai forward.
"Bring him with us." Aang shrugged. "It's not like he can hurt anyone without his bending."
Connor shrugged, before grabbing Ozai around the waist, and throwing him over his shoulder. The older man shouted in surprise, before uttering a string of demands and curses, as Connor climbed up onto Appa and tossed the former Fire Lord into the saddle, followed by Toph taking a seat.
Katara turned to look over Connor, and grimaced. "What happened to you?" She asked, as Azula climbed up onto Appa again, before Aang whipped the bison's reins, and the gang took to the sky.
"Got struck by lightning." Connor shrugged.
"You tried to fight my father." Azula corrected, a disapproving eyebrow raised.
"You look like it." Suki commented.
"Feel like it too. Heart's been pounding since he hit me…" Connor then looked to the ground beside Appa, and clenched his left fist, pulling upwards, the earth shifting under his command. "Least my bending's back." He said, before looking down at Sokka who was still laying on his side, the protrusion in his back striking Connor as odd, and for a moment he thought the Water Tribe boy was dead.
Sokka turned his head with a wince to look at Connor. "Oh, yeah, Connor, quick question, could you help fix my back?"
Katara saw Connor's curiosity written on his face, and put a hand on his shoulder. "He fell and knocked something out of place." She said.
"I'll say. It looks like you've got a vertebrae dislocation." Connor said, kneeling beside Sokka. "Can you feel this?" He asked, tapping Sokka's boot.
"It hurts a little, but yeah." Sokka said.
"Well that's good. What about moving?" Connor asked.
"I'd rather not, but yeah." Sokka said, as he wiggled his foot up and down.
"Even better." Connor clapped his hands together, before gently touching the bulge in Sokka's back. "You have a dislocation at least, but don't seem to have any injury to your nerves. Possibly a fracture of the bone itself, but that you can live with. How much does this hurt?"
"Not much since Katara tried healing it." Sokka said, before his sister spoke up.
"I didn't do anything more than try to relieve his pain." Katara said. "Bones always heal weird with just water bending."
"Well you made the right call. I can't imagine I'd be able to do much to correct a spine that's been fused together." Connor said before he leaned back and pondered on the injury.
"Well what can we really do about it?" Katara asked.
Connor tapped his finger to his lips in thought, before Azula spoke up. "Why can't you just shove his bones back where they belong if nothing else is wrong?"
Connor hummed. "Returning them to alignment through the same plane they were pulled out of might damage his nerves. Thank god he wasn't paralyzed or he'd be dead in a month." Connor muttered his last two words in English, before furrowing his brow. "We could try traction?"
"What does traction have to do with fixing my back?" Sokka asked.
"Spinal traction." Connor said. "It's been used along with braces since antiquity to help correct scoliosis... Ah, crooked spines." He shifted his position in Appa's saddle to sit at Sokka's head. "Zuko, if you'd kindly grab Sokka's ankles." Not sure of what was really going on, Zuko did as instructed, while Connor rolled Sokka onto his stomach, and grabbed the water tribe boy by his armpits. "Oh, and Katara, you might want to do something for his pain before we start."
"Uh, why?" Sokka asked, as Katara put her hands over the bulge, coating her brother's back in water, which glowed under her healing touch.
Connor began to slowly pull Sokka towards him, as Zuko kept his hold on the tribesman's ankles. Sokka began to yelp shortly in pain several times, before there was an audible pop. Sokka sighed, both in pain, and relief, as the vertebra sunk back into place.
"That's why." Connor said, letting go of his arms. "My further recommendations would be rest, a brace, and whatever magic Katara can work." He said before he crawled over to the edge of the saddle, and sat down, as Sokka's sighing was reduced to just heavy breathing. "Feel free to keep healing him all you like." Connor said, crossing his arms, and leaning back, trying to stave off the nausea of flying on bison-back. "We've got another day of flying ahead of us."
"Shouldn't you get looked at too?" Zuko asked, pointing to Connor's cut forearm, swollen forehead, and burned right hand.
"She can get me in a moment." Connor shrugged. "I'm up and walking, so as far as I'm concerned, I'm not injured enough to be taken out of the fight."
"Hey, with Aang back in action we might not have to fight anymore." Sokka said, with an unseen grin.
"Oh, I doubt that. Our fightin's only just started." Connor said, looking out to the western horizon, as the sun rose behind them.
In Ba Sing Se, the comet had long since passed, and the day was nearly won. It was almost noon in the city's center, and the combined White Lotus forces and rebel army, both from within the walls and beyond them had taken the lower and middle rings back from Fire Nation control, squeezing their army through the still under reconstruction hole in the middle ring wall, left over from the previous rebellion.
At first the fire army held out, the command splitting their forces between warding off the city's siege, and executing their orders of genocide. Among the rank and file of the Fire Nation soldiers there was great disorder as a result. More cowardly men did as they were told, but a far greater number refused to begin executions of the city's civilian population, preferring to face the rebel army when the opportunity presented itself. Fewer soldiers, including those holding officer ranks, led mutinies and even civilian evacuations when told to begin the extermination, ultimately aiding the rebels in taking the city back, and saving an untold amount of lives.
The main army had retired past Ba Sing Se's inner wall, what good it did them, as the defensive structure, like it's middle ring counterpart, had a hole in the southern side of the loop from the city's former uprising. Without the comet's power, being outnumbered nearly two to one, at the very end of a continent spanning logistics train, cut off from any resupply, and without hope of relief, Ba Sing Se's remaining occupational force of over fifty thousand men surrendered en masse to Grand Lotus Iroh, and the rebel forces by his side.
Across the Earth Kingdom countryside, Jin and Sa Mu had left their cave, stepping out into an ash filled barren wasteland where a lush forest once stood, the destruction was visible from horizon to horizon. "This was done by the Fire Nation wasn't it?" Jin asked. Sa Mu remained silent. "What now?" Jin asked.
Sa Mu did a quick spin to survey the surrounding blackened hills, before looking at Jin. "Now? Now, I want to see the Fire Lord's head on a silver plate." Sa Mu said.
"Does that mean you'll be taking command of a unit again?" Jin asked.
Sa Mu rolled his shoulders. "I will." He said, before turning north, and beginning his trek back towards Pine Timbers. "My friend who lives in these woods is probably dead now, but if he's not he'll come to me in town… The fortress that's been holding out to the east might even have been hit… Destiny is a funny thing Jin. Every man who witnessed this attack will be willing to take up arms now. Word will spread that the Fire Nation lit up an entire province, and soon Hei will have his organized army."
Far above the land, the eight airships that had survived their encounter with The Avatar's friends were spreading out, their separate missions after burning down three entire provinces revolving around strategically bombing rebelling villages and forts to the north, south, and east of the Great Salt Lakes.
Across the occupied provinces and states, command and control within the fire army broke down. While the more loyal forces had already begun rapid depopulation of the earth people, those in opposition to the order, those with the most exposure to people of Earth Kingdom blood, had outright refused. The rejection of the genocide had been strongest in the colonies ironically enough, as the two nations and two cultures had integrated since Sozin's time.
In more secluded sections of the Earth Kingdom, the death camps had expedited their work… And so too did those seeking to liberate the condemned souls within. Hakoda and his "ferrymen" as they called themselves, had taken three more prisons since the tribal chief had sworn to destroy them, and each time they gave transport to the poor men, women, and children within, carrying them to safe haven of rebellion and resistance in the Earth Kingdom.
Though the kingdom was revolting and victims of a cruel pointless conflict were being saved, battle's were still fought, bombs still fell, and bodies still burned to ash.
The war still raged on, if only for another day or two.
AN: Spinal traction for vertebra injuries or spinal deformities is something that was in a state of flux since the era of ancient Greece. It was known about, and when it worked it was great, but when it didn't... Well... Be glad it worked for Sokka.
Real shit. If you ever have someone fall and hurt their back, keep them laying flat, face up, stuff a shirt or something soft under their lumbar to pad the void between their back and the ground, and do NOT move them, or try correcting anything yourself.