While Shisui, Zuko, and Azula were fighting, so were their friends and family. How could they not? Anyone who didn't fight would probably die in the chaos!
That's what Ty Lee thought at first. She wasn't a fan of fighting; she'd rather read a novel or spend time with her friends. However, she hadn't trained her strength to the point she had now for nothing.
It was for times like this! Besides, she was a war veteran despite her young age. So, when an enemy lunged at her, spewing flames, Ty Lee demonstrated the true concept of "chi blocking."
Her body swiftly approached the enemy, avoiding the jet of flames thrown at her with a kick. With smooth movements, she gently touched certain sensitive spots on her attacker's body at astonishing speeds, leaving residual images.
Then, her ears twitched slightly. She held her incapacitated foe and turned her body, stopping a sneak attack with a sword.
"Cheap tricks," Ty Lee muttered, dropping her meat shield and closing the distance between her and her new foe. She touched her hands to her foe's to prevent her from holding her sword.
Ty Lee changed her movements; her hands no longer resembled surgical needles but were now clenched into two fists. Though she looked small and thin, she had a high level of power beneath her skin.
With chi flowing through her muscles, she struck the chest of the soldier who had attacked her. She pushed him roughly backward, sending him crashing into other enemies trying to get close to her.
Due to her active personality and ability to see auras, we could consider Ty Lee gentle with high emotional intelligence. Shisui sometimes joked that if she had an element, it would be air, not fire.
Unlike many Air Nomads, however, she was not soft on her enemies. She picked up the sword that her opponent had dropped, took several swings at the air to feel its weight, and a slight smile appeared.
"You brought this on yourselves. Please reincarnate in peace," Ty Lee muttered before killing her opponent with the sword.
Despite not being dedicated to this weapon, her knowledge of the human body's weak points made her a terrifying swordsman. Her knowledge of swords was only basic; she preferred to fight with her fists.
In such a chaotic fight, though, she couldn't take things so personally! She would have preferred a dagger, but she used the sword to kill the enemies that got in her way.
Firebenders were incapacitated and then decapitated! Archers trying to sneak attack her? She could see their intentions in their auras, so she decapitated them, too. It was terrifying to see someone who usually had a smile on her face unleash such a massacre.
Growing up with Shisui made her much stronger than any common henchman. Since there was no "master" of high caliber to stand in her way, Ty Lee was like a runaway horse, cutting down everything in sight.
Iroh, who witnessed this, felt he needed to have an enlightening conversation with these young. Had the war left indelible marks on them? He didn't know, but he had already planned the perfect tea to toast with while chatting with Ty Lee.
...
"'Fuck, there really are some dumb people, aren't there?'" said Petra, who had created an earthen wall to protect herself from a blast of fire.
Her fight started at the same time as the others'; as someone with a similar birth situation to Shisui, she also received attacks.
But she was relaxed; the only thing in this place was land that she could use freely. With a few movements of her hands, she created several stone spears, which she threw at her attackers before stomping down hard on the ground.
Though she hadn't studied with Lao Ge and Toph as long as she wanted to at the South Pole, the conversations she had with those Earthbenders were a revelation to her.
Knowing how terrifying the earth element could be, she used her seismic sense to scan the ground. She wasn't looking for metal; that was a skill she was still practicing, and she wouldn't become an expert in such a short time. She was looking for something different:
Quartz. This mineral is usually taken very lightly because it is so common. Except for some spiritual and industrial uses, you could find it on the street, and no one would do anything to take it.
However, Petra knew this material's virtues. While not as scratch-resistant as a diamond, it differs from the latter in that its heat resistance is much better.
She could also be cut. Petra found the minerals she wanted, and with a lifting gesture, the earth in front of her trembled. Soon, multicolored quartz crystals grew in front of her and molded into different shapes under her control.
Spears, shields, walls, ramps, whatever she wanted, the quartz provided. They protected her from fire, wounded her enemies, and helped her maintain an advantage in combat despite being outnumbered.
Maybe it wasn't as impressive as Metal-bending, but quartz was a resource available to her, and she made the most of it. The firebenders who attacked her, as well as her allies, looked at her strangely. Who fights with so many colorful stones?
Well, she was!
...
Mai wasn't attacked at first because she had betrayed her friends or anything like that. It wasn't out of leniency because she was a noble, either. A group that dared to try to harm the royal family simply wouldn't let her go.
The answer was simple: she was good at hiding. She did not stand out in battle for the simple reason that she was like a shadow, instilling terror in Ba Sing Se soldiers.
Now, many of her enemies felt this fear. Whether they were fighting Azula, Ty Lee, Petra, or their allies, Mai would sneak up behind the enemy and plunge a dagger into their back before disappearing.
She moved silently and erratically, barely causing the slightest breeze. With her cold demeanor and poison-smeared weapon, she gave her allies the advantage when she acted.
She even supported Zhao, who had sided with the royal family from the beginning. She might have had her own opinions about the vice admiral, but she could not forget loyalty just because of her ideas.
After all, she was now an assassin. Assassins had no opinions; they only acted under a flag. Although Mai was interested in why Zuko looked like the sun in the air, she did not neglect her duty.
She used the chi strings she had developed to extend her attack range when she realized she could not resolve an encounter with a single move. She always avoided direct combat.
On one occasion, she took the bow and arrows of an enemy that Ty Lee had decapitated. This allowed her to demonstrate her training with the Yuyan archers.
One arrow, one kill. She always chose the best moment to strike, timing her attacks to occur during the gaps between her enemies' attacks and when they were unprotected or unable to react.
Although some people noticed her, Ty Lee and Petra's timely support prevented any direct attacks against her. Her actions were a death sentence for her targets.
No enemy was safe.
...
This was the first time Kiyi had witnessed such a large amount of bloodshed. The fights she witnessed were much more brutal than the ones she was used to seeing at school or with her uncle and cousin.
She glanced nervously at her father, who was still standing with a serious expression on his face as the carnage took place. Ozai didn't seem to care about any of it, but Kiyi noticed his clenched fists.
Even Iroh attacked occasionally while Lu Ten fought a troublesome group of enemies. Only three people were not fighting: Ozai, Ursa, and Kiyi. Now, only two people remained.
Kiyi watched her father take a deep breath before punching forward. It was the first time she had seen her father firebend, and despite his lack of special flames, she felt that he was more powerful than her two older brothers.
Ozai had created a gigantic wave of fire that swept the entire battlefield. His control of the element of fire was so precise that he avoided his allies and only hit his enemies.
The bolts of lightning that the Fire Lord fired from his hands were precise and deadly. He didn't even look twice at an enemy after attacking him because he was certain that it was the only attack he needed.
Because of this, Kiyi wanted to fight. When she tried to break away from her mother, she grabbed her arm, preventing her from pulling away.
"Kiyi, no, you're too young for this," Ursa said, making her daughter feel aggrieved.
"But the others are fighting!" the teenager complained. Ursa simply patted her daughter's head affectionately, a rather distinctive gesture in a situation like this.
"They're doing it to keep you from doing it, Kiyi. A young girl doesn't need to fight to the death. Not you. Not now." Ursa's words made Kiyi clench her fists in remembrance of her father. Though she wanted to be rebellious, she held back.
Although she was a spoiled princess who was loved by her parents, she didn't grow up to be spoiled or conceited, at least not in front of them. She didn't understand many things, but she sensed that her mother genuinely wanted to keep her from fighting for her good.
Still, she wanted to participate. When a badly wounded enemy came too close to the princess and Ursa, Kiyi's golden eyes seemed to glow. But before she could attack, someone beat her to it.
Ursa approached the soldier, trying to attack her and her daughter, anger in her eyes. Perhaps she was a Non-bender, but seeing so many young men stationed in her garden made her train a bit, specifically for situations like this one.
She had no chi control like the others, but her fist struck the enemy's face, sending him backward. Just then, three groups of flames attacked the poor wretch: blue flames, orange flames, and an orange flame with golden tints in the center.
Soon, Ozai, Azula, and Zuko surrounded Ursa and Kiyi. Meanwhile, Shisui approached the unfortunate man, who was more than just charcoal.
"Out of everyone you could have targeted, you picked the worst choices," Shisui said angrily.
Ursa wasn't his mother, but she raised him as if he were her son. Kiyi wasn't his sister, but he caused her to be born. How could he not be angry at someone who tried to hurt them?
Shisui looked at the battlefield, which was gradually falling silent as the remaining enemies died. Then, he felt that something much more drastic and radical had to be done, but it was not his place to decide.
"It seems that the loyalists outnumber the dissidents," said Ozai, noting that many of the generals and officials who supported the royal family were wounded but alive.
Ozai's gaze swept over them all. He knew their names and details of their public and private lives. However, this was the first time in his entire tenure that he had paid them genuine attention.
"Looks like some reforms are in order," Ozai commented before looking at Shisui. Shisui cocked his head to one side, not quite understanding why Ozai had looked at him.
"Do you have any ideas, little monster?" Ozai asked Shisui, causing the Sage's smile to widen.
"Agni must make those born and died for the Fire Nation shine. We must send them with him. Don't you agree, Fire Lord?" Shisui said, making Ozai nod.
"We think so, too. It seems that there will be new talent in the court shortly," Ozai replied with a slight smile.
He hadn't liked Shisui before, but now? Except for the fact that the brat was going to marry his daughter, Ozai felt that Shisui was all right. The best part? He was royalty, too!
'Wouldn't this indirectly fulfill part of my father and grandfather's dream? To rule another nation without war!' Ozai was already devising a plan in which Shisui would become the leader of the Northern Water Tribe.
It shouldn't be that complicated, right?
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AN: The Q&A still! Write on this paragraph a question! Only about this fanfic or another story I have uploaded on this site. You can try a personal question, but maybe I won't answer it.
Jordan_D_4800 asks: Where are we in the now in the timeline now compared to the canon? Answer: If we try to find a timeline to follow, now he fanfic is close to reaching that time when the Avatar team came to the North Pole.
Chapter 69... hehehehehehe.