Wandering Firebender
Fifty Nine: Final Push
Ansel's eyes widened as he watched his master fall to the ground.
The two of them were up against Admiral Huang, one of the leaders of this invasion. He thought that he and Cindra had trapped him in ice before, but he'd proven to be very clever and slippery.
The admiral had managed to hit Master Hazo in the arm with a powerful fireball. It crashed into Hazo's arm, burning the sleeve off of his parka and crisping up his skin. He yelled out in pain as he fell to the floor.
"Master!" Ansel exclaimed. He quickly came to his teacher's defense, getting in a fighting stance just in front of him. Now it was just him facing off against the admiral, who was a highly skilled firebender.
"You're just dying for a rematch, aren't you, kid? That girl's not here to save you now." The admiral smirked, seeing the fear in Ansel's eyes. Ansel swallowed hard but remained in his fighting stance.
"Ansel, get to safety! You won't be able to take him by yourself. The comet is still in effect!" Hazo warned him.
"N-No, I'm not going to leave you!" Ansel quickly responded.
"Aww, how touching. Just try to put up a better fight this time." Huang taunted before shooting a strong, continuous blast at him.
Ansel swung his arms out in large circles, creating a circle of water in front of him. He froze the water, making a circular block of ice. He sent it into Huang's fire blast. It sent the fire outwards, away from him. Ansel spun around and created a wall of ice around Hazo to protect him from being hit.
Ansel turned around and started running to the side, drawing fire away. Huang shot several fireballs at him. Ansel created an ice slide for him to skate on. He was able to go around the admiral before losing his balance. He slid on his back, narrowly avoiding being hit by a fireball.
Ansel created another ice wall to stop himself. His feet hit the wall, and he pushed himself back the other way, barely avoiding being hit by another fire blast. Ansel rolled onto his back awkwardly. He turned the ice wall into water then froze it again, creating ice spikes and sending them towards the admiral.
Huang growled as he created a large arc of fire. It melted most of the ice spikes, but one made it through and cut him across the cheek. The admiral growled angrily and glared at Ansel. Ansel got back into his fighting stance, now feeling a little more confident.
"Fine. No more playing around." Huang said seriously.
Huang balled his fists and threw several wild fire punches. Ansel created an ice wall and skated backwards before turning to his left. The fireballs crashed into the ice wall next to him. Ansel jumped and slid on the ice. He turned the ice wall into water and brought it around him, sending the water flying towards the admiral.
The water crashed into another fireball, exploding outwards and creating a bunch of steam. Ansel nervously raised his hands up, stepping to his left to get out of the hissing cloud.
As soon as he stepped out, he realized that Huang was advancing towards him. He quickly shot ice spikes, but the admiral was able to dodge the attack. Huang jumped up into the air, kicking Ansel in the head and making him fall hard to the ground.
"You should've listened to your master, kid. You can't beat me on your own!" The admiral exclaimed as he raised his hand up, ready to kill Ansel with a powerful fire blast.
"Good thing he's not alone!" Elio yelled.
Using his firebending, he launched himself towards the admiral. Using his body as a projectile, he brought his knees up and crashed right into Huang's chest like a cannonball, knocking him back. Elio landed on top of the admiral as they slid back. Elio quickly got up and stood over Huang.
"Elio!" Ansel realized. He scrambled to his feet and ran over.
"Agh! I won't be beaten by children!" Huang growled, shooting two fireballs; one from his hands and another from his foot. It was enough to force both Elio and Ansel to back away and give him room to stand up.
Elio drew his staff, positioned to Huang's left. Ansel got into his fighting stance, standing on the opposite side of the admiral. Huang pointed one fist at each of them. He looked at Elio then Ansel, taking a moment to plan out his strategy...
Huang turned and threw a kick, sending a large blast of fire towards Ansel. While Ansel was avoiding the attack, Huang turned towards Elio. Elio swung his staff, sending an arcing blast towards Huang. Huang created a vertical blast of fire to block the attack.
Huang balled his fist and shot a blast at Elio, who spun his staff to block it. Ansel skated towards Huang. Huang spun around and tried to hit Ansel with a fiery chop. Ansel dropped to the ground, sliding past the admiral on his back. Ansel reached out and used a water whip move.
The water wrapped around Huang's ankle. Ansel got up and yanked the water towards him, causing Huang to fall onto his stomach. Elio ran forward and jumped into the air, spinning the staff before slamming it into the admiral's back. It slammed against his armor.
Huang growled and yanked his foot free. He got up and threw a fiery uppercut towards Elio. Elio sidestepped it, but his foot slid awkwardly. Huang tried to grab him. Ansel immediately ran to help Elio creating a thinner stream of water and freezing it into an ice staff.
"Try this!" Ansel yelled, taking the ice staff in both hands and jabbing it into the side of the admiral's head.
Huang stumbled to the side after getting pelted with solid ice. Elio used his own staff to sweep his legs out from under him. Ansel melted the water around Huang, causing him to sink slightly into the ground. He then froze it again, trapping Huang once more.
"Huff...nice work." Elio said through heavy breaths.
"You too." Ansel said, also taking a moment to catch his breath.
"You kids think you've won. It doesn't matter what happens; if you're too cowardly to finish the job, then you haven't won anything. You just delay the inevitable." Huang said.
"Says the guy who lost to two children." Elio remarked.
"Thank you for your help, Elio. I need to get the master to safety now." Ansel said.
"Okay. It looks like we're starting to push them back." Elio observed, pointing out how less Fire Nation soldiers were fighting from inside the wall now.
"We just need one final push. You should go, Elio, and take advantage of the comet's power while it's still in effect." Ansel said.
"Yeah...alright." Elio nodded, turning towards the wall and making his way over. Ansel could see that he was exhausted.
"Elio! Where is my sister?" Ansel asked.
"On her way." Elio answered before pushing himself to run back towards the fight...
Cindra kept Sol in front of her as they made their way back towards the palace. Sol was strangely quiet and compliant as Cindra instructed him where to go so they could make their way back safely. Once they were close enough, Cindra would reach out to some of the palace guards to help her imprison him.
"So, were you the waterbending girl that was traveling with my son? I sense a connection between you two." Sol asked.
"I am. We look out for each other...why would you fight your only son? That doesn't seem wrong to you?" Cindra asked with a hint of disgust in her voice.
"Of course it does, but some things are more important than family. If someone in your family was on the wrong side, would you just step aside?" Sol reasoned. Cindra shook her head.
"No...but I wouldn't just resort to attacking them. I'd try to reason with them first." Cindra argued.
"Well, I never got that chance." Sol said sadly.
Cindra didn't say anything in response. She knew how strongly Elio felt about his father. Now that she was getting a taste of his perspective, she could understand how things had gotten so complicated between them.
"You seem like a nice girl. Cindra, was it?" Sol asked.
"Y-Yeah." Cindra answered, surprised by this compliment.
"Cindra. Yeah... You are a little naive though." He added.
"Okay," She rolled her eyes. "I think you're confusing being naive with being ri-"
Sol interrupted Cindra by suddenly shooting fire up from the back of his foot. Cindra exclaimed in surprise and jumped back. Since he couldn't use his arms, Sol used his feet to shoot several strong fireballs. Cindra used thick bubbles of water to block them, creating explosions of steam.
Cindra jumped through the steam clouds and found Sol sprinting towards the other side of the tribe. He was trying to escape! Cindra quickly skated after him.
"Hey! Stop! Don't make this worse!" Cindra shouted, using her water whip to reach for him.
Sol jumped into the air, turning around and shooting fire out of his feet. He sent himself flying backwards. Cindra was forced to stop and shield herself, allowing Sol to get away from her. He landed hard on his back and slid before getting to his knees and then back to his feet.
"Oh no!" Cindra exclaimed, rushing back towards the wall to try and find him. It was easy to see where Elio had gotten a lot of his skill from. She'd seen Elio pull that same move a few times; she couldn't tell if Elio had learned that from his father, or vice versa.
Cindra skated back towards to the wall and found Elio shooting fireballs through some of the holes in the wall, knocking Fire Nation soldiers back. She ran up behind him.
"Elio! Elio, I'm sorry!" She shouted to him. Elio turned in surprise.
"Sorry? Sorry?! What? Why? What happened?!" He asked quickly.
"Your father got away from me! He had me when my guard was down. I don't know where he is!" She explained. Elio groaned and looked around.
"Don't worry about it. I'll try to find him." He said...
Sol panted as he made his way towards the side of the wall. He groaned in pain, his shoulders becoming sore from how his arms were dangling limply at his sides. He rushed up the steps, looking to get high enough where he could jump off the other side and land on one of the ships below.
"Stop right there!" Two guards on the wall pointed their spears at Sol.
Sol quickly jumped onto the edge of the wall and jumped away, using his firebending to propel himself forward. He plummeted down, and although he tried to use his fire to slow his descent, he still landed hard on the deck of the ship. He fell onto his side and growled painfully.
"General Sol? General! Are you alright, sir?!" A soldier quickly ran to him and helped him up.
"Ah! Watch the arms, son. I was hit with some kind of bending-blocking technique. I can't move my arms." Sol explained.
"Do you need me to take you down below?" He asked.
"No! No. What's the situation?"
"It isn't good. Sozin's Comet will pass any moment now! We've done a lot of damage, but the Water Tribe is holding strong. Admiral Huang has been captured. Command falls solely on you now, sir." He explained. Sol swallowed and looked up at the wall.
From the other side of the wall, Sol had seen the state of the Northern Water Tribe. Both sides were on their last legs now. The airships were expected to be integral to their winning strategy, but Elio had managed to take that away from them.
Even if they won the battle now, it wouldn't last.
"I'm ordering a retreat. Get the horn! Signal all soldiers to retreat!" Sol ordered. The soldier's eyes widened, but he ran back into the ship to signal the retreat.
Sol stared up at the border wall again. Once again, the Fire Nation had failed to overtake the North Pole. If it was up to Admiral Huang, he would stubbornly continue the fight. However, he could not in good conscience let good men die for no reason.
Still, it pained him to hear the horn sounding the retreat...
"Wait..." Elio stopped. Cindra paused too. They could hear the horn sounding in the distance. Elio's eyes widened when he heard it.
"What is that? That's not us." Cindra said, shaking her head.
"No, that's the Fire Nation. That's gotta be a retreat. Yeah, look, they're falling back!" Elio pointed out the soldiers starting to go back through the holes in the wall.
"Does that mean we won?!" Cindra asked hopefully.
"Tell the others to create a perimeter. When we see those ships going the other direction, we'll know we've won!" Elio said before running towards the other side of the wall.
"Alright!" Cindra nodded and ran the other way.
Elio started to run towards the furthest side of the battlefield to let the other waterbenders know what was happening. However, as he was running over, he noticed a fireball being launched over the wall. He grabbed onto a waterbender in front of him and pulled him out of the way so he wouldn't be crushed by it.
"Whoa! Thanks!"
"You're welcome... I don't understand, they're sounding a retreat. Why are they still launching?" Elio wondered aloud, looking back at the wall.
As if to answer his question, three more holes were drilled in the wall. Fire Nation soldiers started to crawl inside, "We either win or die fighting! For the Fire Nation!" They yelled as they started charging into battle. Elio rolled his eyes.
"Oh, you gotta be kidding me."
Elio charged forward and launched himself through one of the new holes in the wall, tackling one of the soldiers coming in. They both slid back down onto the deck of a Fire Nation ship. Elio pulled his staff out and hit him in the head with it, knocking him out.
"He's on the ship, get him!" Elio heard some of the soldiers yelling. Based on their voices, they all sounded like they were around his age.
The last thing he needed to deal with right now: a bunch of rookies looking to prove themselves.
About six soldiers were running towards him and shooting fireballs. Elio used his staff to deflect them. He moved to the side and retreated into the ship, hoping to separate them...
"What's going on?!" Cindra asked as she ran up to one of the leaders.
"The Fire Nation is retreating, but we have about 5 rogue ships over on that side that aren't obeying orders. We're converging everyone on them. You can choose to join or help with those that need to be healed."
"I'll join. The fight's not done." She decided...
Now inside the ship and sprinting down a hallway, Elio turned a sharp corner, narrowly avoiding a fireball coming at him from behind. He spun his staff to create a wall of fire. He gripped the staff with both hands and sent his fire wall forward, causing it to spiral ahead and crash into one of the soldiers, knocking him onto his back.
Elio took a step back and swung his staff, sending an arcing blast to keep two more soldiers back. He ran around another corner and started sprinting back to the exit. Two soldiers blocked the way up the steps. They both shot fireballs at him.
Elio jumped up and threw a fire kick to slip through the fire. He landed in front of them and rolled forward. He hit one in the head with the staff and kicked the other. He leaned to the side to avoid a fire punch before hitting the second soldier in the side with his staff.
Elio created a widespread blast of fire as he made his way up the stairs. He turned around and tried to make a break for it, but he realized that there were more soldiers on the deck now: about six more of them. Elio sighed and raised his staff up.
The ship was surrounded by thick mist. The heat from the metal Fire Nation ships was causing the temperature of the water to rise. Elio's breathing was becoming labored and heavy. But he was so close to the end now...he just needed one final push.
The soldiers all shot fire at him at the same time. Elio spun his staff around, moving in small circles to deflect the fire and keep it off of him. He rapidly swung the staff in different directions, redirecting their fire and sending out his own arcing blasts.
The soldiers, however, knew how to deflect Elio's attacks too. They created fire blasts to redirect Elio's attacks upwards. They slowly advanced in on Elio, "Don't let up! Keep advancing!" One of them yelled. The heat and pressure of their attacks was growing more and more intense.
Just as Elio was gonna turn and try to fly away, a fire blast suddenly hit him in the shoulder, causing him to drop his staff. He stumbled in surprise and growled in pain. He started throwing rapid, desperate fire punches, hoping to open up a chance for him to get away.
He was beginning to realize that, in his exhaustion, he had made a critical error in biting off more than he could chew...
Another fire blast suddenly hit him in the back, causing him to fall onto his stomach. He cried out in pain as he hit the deck of the ship chest first. The soldiers all swarmed in on him, "This is what you get, traitor!" They yelled as they started kicking and stomping on him.
Elio's vision went hazy. He was dizzy from all the hits he was taking. He was one kick to the head away from being knocked out. And now he was realizing that he had no strength left to get out of this.
"Get him on his back! It's time to end this!" One of them said. They turned Elio onto his back and pinned him down. The soldier standing at his head raised his hand up, charging up a fiery blast...
"Elio!" Cindra screamed, using her waterbending to land on the ship. She immediately reached out and wrapped a water tentacle around the soldier at his head, yanking him away and throwing him into the water. The other soldiers turned towards her.
"Take her out!" They yelled as they started attacking.
Cindra created an ice wall to skate around their blasts. She went in a half-circle and jumped in between all of them, landing in a protective stance over Elio. She unfroze the water of the ice wall and brought it towards her, creating a ring of water and sending it outwards.
The water ring knocked all of the soldiers away. Cindra scooped up Elio and pulled the water back to her with one hand. She pulled herself back into the water and swam back into the city, clutching Elio to her chest with one arm wrapped around him.
"Come on, Elio, hold on. I've got you!"
Cindra and Elio came out of one of the canals far away from the fighting. She laid Elio down on his back and looked him over. He had burns and bruises on his body, and he was bleeding from the left side of his head. Cindra brought water to her hands and started by trying to heal his head wound.
Cindra's breathing became shaky. She was scared for Elio. They were so close to the end. She couldn't lose him now. She had to save him. Cindra swallowed and leaned over, bringing her ear close to Elio's nose and mouth.
He wasn't breathing...
"Oh no...oh no no, Elio, oh god!" Cindra started to panic. She took in a few deep breaths, looking towards the palace. She suddenly got an idea.
"Please let this work." She said before grabbing onto Elio again and pulling them both back into the water.
Cindra took Elio as close to the chief's palace as she could get. She pulled him out and encased his body in water, keeping his face uncovered so he wouldn't be drowned. In this manner, she carried him onto the palace grounds.
"Hmm...? Cindra?" Chief Arnook noticed her coming in quickly. When she saw the chief, she frantically called out to him.
"Chief! Chief! Elio isn't breathing! He needs to be healed!"
"O-Okay, alright, Cindra! Our best healers will get on it right away."
"No, he's not breathing! I need to take him to the spirits! The water there can heal him, can't it?!"
"Cindra...that's..."
"Please, chief! He'll die! This is his only chance!" Cindra begged. The chief swallowed and nodded.
"Go. Hurry. The guards will open the door for you."
Cindra nodded thankfully and started sprinting towards the alcove. She got there first. A guard came up behind her and opened the door, allowing her to take Elio in...
Cindra rushed Elio to the little pool in the center. She set him down and quickly removed her parka, feeling how much warmer it was here. She took a moment to catch her breath and ready herself. She eyed the two koi fish, the ocean and moon spirits, swimming in a circle.
"Please let this work," She said before pulling some of the water out of the pool and using it to heal his head wound. "He needs this. He can't die now. Please, help me heal him." She begged as she did her best to heal Elio. She fought back her urge to cry so she could focus.
To her astonishment, the white koi fish – the moon spirit, swam to the edge of the pool. Cindra's eyes widened and she swallowed nervously. She put her hands on Elio and slowly brought him into the water before the moon spirit.
The moon spirit touched Elio's head, and the white koi fish started to glow...
To Be Continued...