A/N- Hey guys. Here's the new chappy. Expect the next update on Wednesday next week, and know you could skip the wait and read the next two chapters as well as continuous updates on Pa-treon right now. Since I now qualify as an unemployed member of society, all subscribers on my pa-treon are much appreciated. If you enjoy my writing, then please don't hesitate to support it if you can. For Pa Treon, you can remove the hyphen between Pa and Treon and Google it, then search for my username—Oghenevwogaga. Or you could copy the link in my bio and remove the spaces before pasting it in your address bar.

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He stared out from the balcony as he watched his men move in unison and then execute each step of the complex Kata flawlessly. It was the work of days of effort aimed at a single goal — Getting his men ready for what was coming. Against all odds, Kinvara had managed to send one message out before my arrival in this city. The fact that I only found out about it when I ordered his things searched after ordering his execution gnawed at me. Without that order, it was more than likely that I would have never found it out at all and then wasted what was going to turn into a very valuable resource in the end. Sure, having both Lao and Kinvara getting away with their roles in my almost-kidnapping gnawed at me, but it was nothing compared to the benefit I was about to incur.

It turned out Kinvara had guessed at my intentions even before my arrival and written to a General Jinpei with word that I was going to take the city and advance towards Ba Sing Se. He had not received a response in time, and so had decided to make his own plan to surrender and then order my kidnapping. I had wondered what he intended to do about my army even if he succeeded in capturing me, and the answer turned out to be pretty simple-The Earth kingdom military. The full might of the Earth Kingdom was moving down upon Gaoling to crush me and by extension the Fire Nation advance in one fell swoop.

This General Jinpei had written to instruct Kinvara to delay me within the city as long as possible and then engineer my departure to match their arrival. They would be marching day and n ight to secure this. The plan was a simple one, but one with all the potential to become a great victory for him if it worked out. Allow me leave at the perfect moment and then engage me close to the city's walls. The City's defenders would then take us on from behind. A classic hammer and anvil approach. Risky, but oh so rewarding when done well.

Of course, the letter had ended up saving Kinvara's life. I had him write back, acceding to all the General's plans as I began making plans of my own. Knowledge of the Earth Kingdom's military might told me that even without the city's defenders on his side, Jinpei would have me heavily outnumbered. Of course, his people would be tired from being marched day and night, and that was the whole point of the tactic with Kinvara. Without that, the fight would be much more even. At least, it would have been if I opted for a straightforward confrontation. If my only goal was winning, then that would have been fine. But I needed not just to win. I needed to win so thoroughly and completely that I had enough of an army left to challenge and eventually take Ba Sing Se.

Overwhelming victory or evasion were two ways to achieve that goal. Evasion had been the option that most of my council had leaned towards, but Toji had been patently against the idea, and so had Maki. Perhaps for different reasons. Toji disdained the thought of running from earth benders. Maki feared being chased from behind and then being hemmed against the walls of Ba Sing Se. Needless to say, once she spoke of that possibility, most of those recommending evasion were quick to change their tunes to something else. Most of them. Shin had it in his head that we could dodge the pursuing Earth Kingdom army and then somehow take Ba Sing Se before they could catch up to us.

It was a bold plan. The kind of plan I actually was a fan of. If we were fast enough, we'd have the advantage of Ba Sing Se's walls working in our favour, and with that on our side, we'd slaughter the Earth Kingdom Army at our leisure. Still, we didn't have much in the way of concrete plans to take the Walled city and when I pressed Shin on that, he'd shrugged and simply said- "I thought you had something up your sleeve, Taker of Cities". While I'd chuckled at the title and associated implications that I had some sort of plan that would make us take the most protected city in the world in a matter of days.

"I have concepts of a plan, but nothing that would bear fruit in the time period needed for us to get into the city to avoid General Jinpei. We will take them here, and crush the Earth Kingdom" I remembered saying in reply to Shin and as a final word on the debate.

"It's not working" I heard the raged shout from behind me and calmly turned around to see the little girl bent over a piece of metal trying to get it to move.

"What do you mean/ You can't feel anything?" I asked as I walked to stand over her. Metalbending as just one of the things I had Toph working on at present. It was what was going to mark her as the greatest in the world in time and if it was going to happen, then I wanted to be sure it happened under my roof. 'Father of Metalbending' was going to be a useful title to add to the list I was already cultivating for myself.

"Nothing at all. I can tell it used to be stone, but I just can't do anything with it. The earth within doesn't move-it's dead." She said with a frustrated look on her face.

"Oh. Alright then. How about we come back to it later, and instead we go do some practice outside?" I offered with a small smile. A smile that widened into an ear to ear grin as she instantly accepted the offer. I reached out to pull her off and felt my smile widen when she pushed off from the ground on her own and slapped my hand to the side.

XXXXXXX

I rode my ostrich horse with my head held high at the very front of a long line of fire nation soldiers. They marched in unison, one and all. I had put my helmet away and instead of having Toji next to me as usual, I had a standard-bearer. The Fire nation insignia proudly waved in the air above me as we left the gates of Gaoling. The goal here was simple. Draw as much attention as possible to this segment of the army. Under the cover of darkness last night, both Toji and Maki had snuck out of the city with about a couple of hundred men each and would be the lynchpins on which the success of this plan depended.

They had all the most powerful firebenders with them, while I rode with the infantry of non benders and lesser benders. Needless to say, I was the distraction. The bait. We rode with nary a care in the world. I did not bother sending scouts out because I knew exactly what was waiting for us. Gaoling was a city on a hill, and that meant there was only really one way to ambush my army as we left. The hill top was flat land, and that was where the city itself was built. There was quite a lot of excess flatland that we traveled across, and then we approached the crest, the area where the hill began to slope downwards.

The base rank and file were not aware of what was coming. In fact, the only person in this unit who knew what was coming was me. So we walked into the belly of the beast with wide smiles and open eyes.

"NOWWWW" The sound heralded total pandemonium. Arrows flew at us from all directions, even as most of them were stopped in their tracks by the heavy plate favoured by our infantry. Another set off arrows were launched and this time, I actually had to move to avoid two that would have nailed me in the neck and one that came close to killing the horse beneath me.

"Form up. Form up you dirty bastards" I screamed into the air. "Hedgehog. Hedgehog" I shouted the name of the manoeuvre over and over again, and slowly but surely, my men listened.

They turned around, forming a circle of wide shields that ensured we were protected on every side.

"Rush them" I heard the shout from the opposing group, and suddenly had to grit my teeth to avoid wincing from the sound of thousands of men rushing in at us from all directions. On top a horse, I could see above the shields of my soldiers to tell that we were heavily outnumbered.

"Hedgehog" I shouted again, making them implement the last bit of the strategy as each man with a shield now had a man with a spear behind them, poking the spear out from behind the wall of shields.

XXXXXX

It was different, taking part in a battle from this angle. That of the commander. Instead of being at the very front, taking the brunt of the enemy attention and cutting a clean swathe through them, I was instead relegated to the centre of the formation, giving orders for men to swap out over time as I noticed frustration or tiredness begin to build. For both sides, the fight had turned into something of a slog. They pushed on us from all sides and we pushed back. But annoyingly enough, from my vantage point, I could tell that they were yet to fully commit.

This General Jinpei was smart. He had a healthy reserve with him that she kept back from the messy meat-grinder that was our hedgehog formation. His earthbenders were also with him, I knew. This was one thing I was quickly coming to learn about pitched combat in this world. Benders were a minority. In every nation other than the fire Nation, less than 1 in 10 people was lucky to be born a bender. It was why you could have entire villages with only a single bender to speak of. In the Fire Nation, things were different. We were blessed by Agni.

For every 10 men, 3 were blessed with the spark. That meant we had more benders in our army than the others. It was also what probably forced this Jinpei to keep his men in reserve.

"Hedgehog advance" I barked at the top of my voice, and watched in pride as my men executed the manoeuvre flawlessly. Those with the shields suddenly pulled in before pushing out with their shields, while the spears lashed out and impaled the men who had been previously pushing in on the shields in whatever vulnerable areas they could find. Those men fell dead, and the hedgehog suddenly advanced in all directions by one step. Men near the centre with me pushed out to plug whatever holes had opened in the formation smoothly. There was a lot that could be said about fire nation discipline, and from my perspective, all of it was positive.

Sure, the training to become an Infantryman was more grueling than it had any right to be. But it did make it easier than I'd imagined to beat complicated positions like this one into their heads. The synchronicity, the organisation, the sheer tactical awareness. It was almost…._ Roman _

"Advance Again" I ordered, and the next set of earth kingdom soldiers fell to the same fate as their colleagues had just had. I watched Jinpei's position. He had two choices now. Retreat or commit. I watched as he seemed to consider his options, but his choice had already been made for him. His men rushed across the space that separated them and the hedgehog. The earthbenders, with their iron hats, seemed to glide along the ground.

I stared at the sky for a second and took a breath. In another, I had my fingers pointed straight up, and my lightning cleaved the clouds asunder, casting the entire field in the day's harsh light. One foot after the other, I moved from sitting on my ostrich-horse to standing on her back. "Hedgehog hold" I commanded, and then pushed off the horse in a jump that carried me right over much of the space, and landing right on top of one of the layers of my hedgehog.

"As you were, good man", I told the surprised fellow as I used him as a stepping stone to jump over those pressing against him and land well outside the horde of pressing men. Outside the first group, that is. The reserves were running right at me, it seemed. I took a deep breath and took my stance while keeping an eye on the earthbenders towards the back.

The first man who reached me died before he could even lift his weapon. The second managed to swing the Warhammer at me but was confused as my fire dagger cut his weapon at the head and suddenly left him wielding a stick with the metal weight gone. His shocked look would be frozen for eternity as I caved in his chest with a tap of my fingers. The more I experimented with it, the more I found I could channel strength through my body by simply manipulating heat. The heat within me, the heat around me. All of it.

I pulled the heat around me into myself, and it was like the world slowed down all around me, even if it didn't. The next group of four became dozens as I formed my fire whips in my hands and waved through like I was a performer. They were cut to pieces without even feeling a thing.

I lifted my head at a sudden abundance of noise and noted both Maki's and Toji's squads appearing out of nowhere to run down the earth kingdom soldiers. They hadn't come from all directions, only the east and the west. That left the enemy two options to retreat towards. Uphill towards Gaoling, or Downhill and away.

Uphill was going to be another slaughter as I'd left a healthy garrison under Shin's command, and downhill…. Well, I wouldn't want to be one of those who retreated downhill. I looked into the mayhem that had once been a surprisingly organised battle and found myself drawn to the fight that was presently unfolding between Toph and three of the Earthbenders. They exchanged attacks at pace, but it was easy to tell that she was beyond their level. Every move they made, she countered with ease, while taunting them to see more. I turned away from the fight to search out my target.

As expected, he'd somehow managed to gather close to a dozen men, and they were beginning to quickly make it downhill.

"Toji" I shouted to draw my friend's attention even as I began to run them down.

XXXXXXX- GENERAL JINPEI

"You know you're my first. They say everyone remembers their first. I really do hope I remember you, Jinpei. You were interesting for a short period. That's more than I can say for most people, in truth" he tried to ignore the Bastard's words as the boy spoke to him. He silently wondered what the reaction would be. When the Brass found out that the Great Natsu, The Thunderer of the Fire Nation, The undefeatable slayer of King Bumi, was nothing more than a boy. A boy barely old enough to even get his pecker wet. That was the part of his defeat that grated at him the most. He'd been tricked and played by this zygote.

"Not going to say anything? This is usually the point where people start begging for their lives or begging not to be tortured, or even just begging for their troops. Begging for anything really. Silence is new" He said next. Jinpei was not a patient man. Not an even tempered one, either. But he did have one thing going for him. He knew when he was beaten. And this zygote had beaten him, so what was the point in begging. To the victor goes the spare, and just as he would not have shown the boy any meaningful mercy if he had won, he did not expect the boy to show him any. He was not a child, and had not been one for a while.

"Well, if you're really not going to say anything, then I might as well leave. But really, though? No questions. Not even going to ask how I beat you".

"Kinvara turned traitor" His lips moved without thinking. He did not enjoy the insinuation that he was so dimwitted that he had not been able to understand the terms and circumstances of his defeat. That one of his oldest friends had betrayed him was a surprise, but it should not have been one. Kinvara and Lao were always too clever for their own good. When they'd been kids who meant they were always the ones who came up with genius ideas that kept their friendship group fed with Jinpei himself acting more as the muscle of the team, but the fact that that same cleverness had led them to kowtowing to the Fire Nation of all things just made him grit his teeth in rage.

"Yes he did. In his defence, he didn't want to. But once I turned Lao, there was naught he could do in the end but save his own skin at your expense."

"Lao. Of course, it was Lao. So I was right then? The Earthbending girl that made my men look like fools. That was Lao's daughter, was it?" He seemed genuinely curious.

"Yes, it was," He confirmed.

"Could have sworn the girl was blind the last I saw her"

"She still is"

"What?"

The laugher of Natsu the Thunderer echoed through the camp at that.

A/N; First time writing a pitched battle. I probably fucked this up a lot, but I'll get better with time. Like I said earlier, you can either wait till Wednesday next week for the next chapter or skip the waiting and read the next two, as well as continuous updates as I write on pa-treon (same username as up here- link in bio). Both are equally valid actions, so no rush. For Pa Treon, you can remove the hyphen between Pa and Treon and Google it, then search for my username—Oghenevwogaga. Or you could copy the link in my bio and remove the spaces before pasting it in your address bar.