Hello, People!
I knew it's been some time since the last chapter, please, forgive me.
I hope you like this chapter though, it's going to be epic :)
Enjoy.
It's been four days since his sudden departure, that's what the trio thought when they were sitting on the couch waiting for Firelord Zuko to return from his surprise voyage outside of the firenation that he told no one about.
Even Mai who was sitting with them didn't know a thing about Zuko's departure until after the fact, although she had a pretty good idea of where Zuko decided to leave for.
"We need Aang." Those were Zuko's last words to her before he departed the next day, she didn't tell Sokka and Katara of it of course, in case she might be wrong, she would reveal that Zuko knew of Aang's whereabouts all along without telling them, it's something that he has to reveal to them himself.
"I think it might be time we left for the southern watertribe." Sokka said, all of a sudden, making both Katara and Mai snap out of their trains of thought.
"Sokka, I told you we won't return to the southern watertribe until we make sure that Zuko is safe." Katara responded.
"Have you forgotten that we have other matters to attend to, Katara? We have an entire nation that depends on us, The firenation has Zuko and Aang to look after, it's true we don't know whether Aang will show up or not, but I'm sure he'll show up, I might not be on good terms with the guy, and he's known to run away from his duties, but I'm sure he'll show up whenever one of us needs him, that's what he clearly stated in his letter." Sokka said, who immediately realized his mistake and covered his mouth, he knew what mentioning his name in front of Katara means.
Katara stood up fiercely, and she did something unexpected,
"Don't you dare say that Aang runs away from his duties! Ever!" She yelled, which made Sokka cower back in fear at her intense tone.
Mai and Sokka's mouths were agape at this point, they couldn't believe that even after all this time, she was still defending him.
Katara continued, "When he ran away the first time, he was a mere kid that got overloaded with duties that he shouldn't have born at such a young age, and the second time, it was us that drove him away. You know why I can't stand mentioning Aang's name in front of me, Sokka? It's because the only thing I feel whenever I hear his name is guilt! Guilt of being so selfish, guilt of not being understanding when he clearly needed me to…" At this, tears started to fall freely from Katara's eyes that she faced away from Sokka and Mai,
She proceeded to say, "Aang needed me, and I couldn't be there for him." She covered her face as she couldn't control the tears that came out of her eyes.
She felt Sokka's touch on her shoulder and she immediately wrapped her arms around him, finding consolation in her brother's hug.
Sokka wrapped his arms around her as well, and started to pat her on head as she started to sob loudly,
"Shhh, it's okay. I'm here." Sokka said softly in her ears.
She was an emotional wreck whenever it came to Aang, Sokka thought Katara hated Aang, he didn't know that what she felt was guilt, and now that she mentions it, he realized that this is what he'd been feeling for Aang as well, immense guilt.
"He'll come back, and then we can apologize to him, together."
Katara kept sobbing as she stuttered, "I just miss him so much." She said into his chest.
Sokka was having a difficulty containing himself as well as his sister was having a mental breakdown, but he remained strong for her, still holding her tightly.
Suddenly they heard an explosion outside.
Sokka kept holding Katara but this time it was to protect her, they immediately let go of each other and Katara started wiping her tears as she became on the alert, Mai stood up as well, putting her hands on her pockets to make sure that her knives were still there.
"What was that?!" Sokka asked loudly as he made sure that he had his club and boomerang ready.
"Nothing good." Mai said as she started to run outside, with Sokka and Katara not far behind.
Mai was astonished at what she saw, fire consuming the stables, and beside it, a couple of soldiers were fighting the palace guards, with some of the palace guards already fallen by the explosion.
The person who was responsible for the destruction of the stables however revealed herself,
"It's been four days, watertribe filth. did you miss me?" it was Azula who was standing beside Berserker, and she was clearly addressing Katara.
Before any of them could respond, the response came from a very familiar voice,
"I don't know about that, but she sure as hell missed us."
Everyone looked shocked at the voice, it was Toph who was standing right beside the Katara, Sokka and Mai, and behind her was Suki, Ty Lee and a group of six Kyoshi Warriors.
"TOPH! You're here!" "Suki! You're here!" both Katara and Sokka yelled respectively at the same time with happiness in their voices as they saw them.
"Hello, Sugar queen. We hope we are not too late." Toph said, as she walked to the front line, with the girls in toe, taking fighting stances.
"It's so good to see you, guys. Hello, Love." Suki greeted them all at first, and then gave a special greeting to Sokka who responded to it with a wide grin.
"Ty Lee! it can't be a surprise that you're here all of a sudden to fight alongside us." Mai said.
"Of course not, we received letters from Firelord Zuko." Suki responded.
Azula laughed at that, "Oh, so Zuzu is calling for reinforcements. smart guy. What's next? The Avatar is going to be here?" Azula asked.
Toph smirked at this, "Who knows?"
Sokka and Katara were surprised by Toph's tone of confidence, but they decided to brush it aside as they were about to go into an intense battle.
The forces of the new Ozai society gathered behind Azula and Berserker after they took care of the palace guards.
"Mai, this isn't going to be good, you should go call on the army." Sokka said.
"I'm not leaving you guys."
"Sokka is right, Mai. you'd be a lot more helpful to us if you called on the army, you're the only one of us they would listen to, just do it, we'll be fine." Toph chimed in.
Her words nearly convinced Mai, but she was still unsure, until she looked at Katara who nodded, giving her the signal to go, Mai then withdrew her daggers and decided on what to do next.
"Alright, just leave me some of the fun until I get back." Mai said, before immediately departing.
Before the battle started though, Katara decided to throw out a warning.
"Be careful of him, he's way too dangerous." Katara said, pointing at Berserker.
"Don't worry, Katara. We'll make sure he never shows how dangerous he is." Ty Lee responded, looking at Suki who smiled at her as they knew exactly who their target is going to be.
Sokka smiled, "I'm surrounded by the most awesome girls in the world. Let's do this!" He yelled as he drew out his club and charged at the opponent, the girls followed along and the battle started.
Katara and Toph targeted Azula. Sokka and the kyoshi warriors except for Suki targeted the new Ozai society's forces, while Ty Lee and Suki targeted the berserker, it was an all-out battle.
Azula sent a wave of blue fire towards Katara and Toph to scatter them, the two girls although haven't fought together in a long time, they still remember each other's fighting styles, and they worked together fluidly you would think they haven't missed a day, Toph used her earthbending to block Azula's wave of fire, while Katara used the water in her pouch to create a frozen stream that she sent her up the wall of earth that Toph created, she then used the same stream of water to slide down and she landed right in front of the firenation princess,
Katara used the water to attack the fire princess, only for Azula to use her own fire to vaporize the water, Katara feared for her life as she was open in front of Azula who was about to attack, if it wasn't for Toph who used the same shield of earth she created to attack Azula as she punched the wall multiple times to release slaps of earth at Azula, if it were any ordinary earth bender, he wouldn't have dared doing this move as they wouldn't be able to aim perfectly as they don't see what's behind the wall of earth,
Fortunately, Toph Beifong is no ordinary earthbender, she sees with her feet through earthbending, which makes her capable of perfectly locating Azula even though the princess is out of eyesight, which is actually a very useful technique as it allows Toph to hit two birds with one stone, with this technique, she's able to both attack and defend at the same time.
Azula has always found Toph annoying, she kept avoiding having a fight with her.
Even when I was a 100%, I still couldn't risk fighting a strong earthbender like her. Azula thought as she kept dodging Toph's earth attacks.
Now, I have to face both her and that water scum, it's unacceptable. Azula thought, as she was finally done with Toph's attack, she couldn't get a moment to think as she was met with Katara who sent a sharp wave towards her that she barely dodged.
Toph jumped in front of her and used her earthbending to try and melt the earth beneath Azula, the princess jumped up and avoided the catastrophe, she countered with a ball of fire sent towards Toph, who once again created an earth shield to protect herself from Azula's fire, Katara used the distraction to her benefit as she sent a stream of water towards Azula which knocked the princess down.
Katara then encased herself in water as she started to create tentacles to attack the princess from afar, she extended one hand which met the princess's right arm and encased it in water, she did the same for the princess's left leg, all the while Azula struggled to attack her, Katara then found herself at an advantage over Azula, she started to lift the princess up with the fury of a thousand beasts, it's time to end this war once and for all, Princess Azula yelled in fear, trying to grab any of her allies' attention to come and save her.
Before Katara could execute though, the princess was saved by the fire of Berserker who came for the rescue and used firebending to break the tentacles.
Katara was shocked by this, she thought they made a perfect plan to keep Berserker busy with Suki and Ty Lee, how is Berserker here?
Katara slowly moved her head to where she thought Suki and Ty Lee would be, only to find her brother Sokka and Mai, who apparently didn't go to call the army, doing the same, the only difference is they had their eyes filled with terror instead as they looked on.
Katara then realized why her brother and Mai were just staring at the scene in front of him, and her expression mirrored theirs.
She couldn't feel it as she was busy fighting Azula, but now she just realized it.
Berserker didn't avoid Ty Lee and Suki to get to her and Toph…
Berserker got rid of Ty Lee and Suki to get to her and Toph.
Katara immediately identified the burned corpses of her fallen friends, Suki and Ty Lee, Berserker quickly finished off both girls, he burned their faces to crisp that Katara only recognized them from their clothes and hair.
Katara let out a scream of terror upon seeing this, and Azula used the distraction to attack her with firebending.
Katara was brought back to reality by Azula's attack that almost hit her face, Toph again used her earthbending to save both their lives as she created an earth shield in front of Katara.
What Katara didn't know was that Toph was even more angry than she is, her eyes were teary but furious as she used her earthbending to bring down the wall of earth she created and then she rumbled the entire ground beneath her enemies in rage.
It was an immense display of power, to avenge her fallen friends.
Everyone in front of her fell to their knees as they couldn't maintain a stable leg, the kyoshi warriors, Mai and Sokka used the opportunity to attack the new Ozai society members, killing off a bunch of them.
"Berserker, it's now or never!" Azula shouted to the force of nature.
Katara knew exactly what she was talking about, and what made her certain of it was the fact that Berserker stood up firmly and waited for a couple of seconds as if he was about to collect some energy.
Katara couldn't bear losing another friend, she stood up and ran towards Toph,
"TOPH, WATCH OUT!" she shouted as she lunged herself at her friend to get her out of harm's way.
Berserker went all out and with a loud scream, he sent his fiery dragon towards Toph.
Katara was able to save Toph from the blast, although she got her leg burned in the process, but a small burn couldn't have been compared with the damage Berserker did to the palace behind them.
The fire of the dragon technique burned blew up the entire palace as if it were an exploding bomb, completely eradicating the royal palace and everything in its surroundings.
Mai, Sokka and a bunch of Kyoshi warriors were able to save themselves from the blast, but the same cannot be said about the rest of the kyoshi warriors, the palace workers and the palace guards as they were burned to crisp by the immense display of power.
Katara barely saved herself and Toph from the dragon-shaped explosion, although they were knocked away to the far end of the garden away from the battlefield.
Mai was the first to stand up after the explosion, she looked around to find all he friends knocked out or struggling to stand up, but one thing they knew for sure, was that the battle was lost, she didn't have time to mourn Ty Lee's death, and she might not have as she saw the victors coming towards her, Azula with the new Ozai society following close by, she didn't get the chance to call the army as well as she found Azula's army all around the place blocking all entrances, it was a well-crafted plan on Azula's part, she couldn't deny it.
Mai looked at Azula and started talking, "There goes your family's ancestral home, are you feeling good about it?"
Azula smirked at her, "It's okay, I've always thought it needed redecoration anyways."
"Ty Lee is dead… because of you…" Mai said, with teary eyes.
A guilty look passed across Azula's face, but it was for a mere second, although Mai noticed that she was no longer smirking, "She got what she deserved. All traitors deserve the same fate."
Mai readied her knives, she took a fighting stance and stood her ground despite fully knowing that she was standing alone, "You're the traitor here, and you'll get what all traitors deserve." Mai said.
Azula's smirk returned, "What a shame, The Mai I knew wouldn't have said something that stupid." The Princess said, taking a fighting stance of her own.
"I take it you're thinking what I'm thinking." Mai said.
Azula kept her smirk on as she said, "Oh Yeah. Step back, guys. This is gonna be over quick." She said, motioning to her men to stand down as she decided to fight Mai alone.
"Men, arrest whoever is still alive and take over the area." Berserker ordered as he stayed by Azula's side to watch over her.
The men nodded and dispersed to do as they were told, starting the process with arresting Sokka.
They couldn't find Katara and Toph though, as they were knocked very far away from the battlefield, out of the men's reach.
Meanwhile, Azula and Mai squared off, with Berserker on the side, they were about to go at it.
Unbeknown to them, a person who is very fond of Mai was on the side, unable to intervene as he promised Azula not to.
Lord Ukano watched the whole thing, the entire time he was biting his nails and watching nervously as his daughter almost died a couple of times.
But now of all times, she's facing certain death if she indeed fights Azula, Ukano didn't know whether to intervene or not, it was too much for him.
As The fight almost started, it was interrupted by someone who came in to save his daughter at the right moment…
Someone who came from the top, landed on the ground and sent a huge blast of air towards Azula and Berserker.
The princess and Berserker were knocked away from the blast and touched down with the ground.
When the dust cleared, they had a good look at who landed to save Mai.
Azula stood up and scoffed, "I knew you would show up sooner or later." The princess said.
"Aang?" Mai exclaimed.
She saw a very different young man than the one she met two years ago, for starters, he's more muscular now, taller and had the features of a grown man despite being fifteen years old, a grown man who is ready to take on the responsibility of saving the world.
The Avatar looked at Azula with fire in his eyes as he saw the damage they caused, he might have been eager to fight the firenation before, but now he's eager to save it from those vile people who only seek its destruction,
All without taking their lives.
The Avatar sighed as he took a fighting stance in front of Azula and Berserker,
"I just hope I'm not too late." He said, as he readied himself to send the first gust of air towards his opponents.
Thanks for reading.
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