By Agent Slash | Genre | Rating | Reviews | Updates |
More from Agent Slash | Action/Adventure, Drama | PG-13 | Positive | N/A |
The Light Clan had arrived. Republic City was in ruins as a result of Hong Shu's vicious attack and now the Light Clan was here to finish the job. They rode in on the ships they had stolen from the very United Forces soldiers who had been sent to track them down. Bai Lung's ship was in the front.
"Tonight the prophecy will be fulfilled!" his voice echoed across the bay. "The Great Enlightenment is upon you all! Your Avatar is not here to save you and you cannot save yourselves!"
Having heard the call to action, Aang stopped running away and clenched his fists. He picked up his staff and twirled it open, flying through the destroyed metropolis that he had worked so many years to build.
He reached the bay, or what was left of it anyway, and faced Bai Lung's entire armada. "I am here, Bai Lung!" he announced. "And I'm not backing down!"
At first thinking his eyes and ears deceived him, Bai Lung saw the Air Nomad standing up to face him and clenched his teeth in anger. "The plan failed," he said to himself. "No matter!" he declared. "If the Avatar wishes to die along with his city, then we shall grant him his wish!"
The entire Light Clan Army cheered in a united victory cry. Finally their ships had reached the shore.
"However," Bai Lung started. "We must first offer him the chance to surrender. So, how about it, Avatar? Surrender yourself along with all of your friends and we won't harm the United Forces soldier we have captive."
Two lightbenders trotted out from inside the lead ship, bringing a prisoner along with them. They placed General Kong his knees, his wrists handcuffed.
"What's it going to be, Avatar?" asked Bai Lung.
"Don't give in, Avatar!" Kong cried out. "Defend the city!"
Aang was faced with an ultimatum, a situation he always hated finding himself in, especially when it was a choice between life and death. "Bai Lung, this is the last time I'm ever going to ask this of you," Aang said. "Turn around and never come back. It doesn't have to come to this."
Everyone stopped for a moment and everything was silent as Aang spoke. The citizens, the soldiers, the captives, and Bai Lung all listened to him speak.
"I'm sorry for what the four nations did to your people in the past," Aang said. "I know how you feel. When I found out the Fire Nation destroyed my people, I was filled with unbelievable pain and rage. And in my moment of rage, nothing could have consoled me except for one thing: the idea of starting anew with new people and pursuing a new future. This can't be what the world has come to. We can't be at a stage now where it's acceptable to slaughter millions and not even care. That's not who we are as people. It can't be."
There was a pause for a moment. A pause where Aang knew that everyone had thought about what he said, even if it was only for a second. Then without another moment's hesitation, Bai Lung formed a light blade and cut Kong's throat.
Now there was no way to avoid conflict. Bai Lung had made his choice. Both Aang and Bai Lung knew this was likely to be their last battle.
"Leave no survivors!" Bai Lung ordered. "Strike!"
The light warriors rushed out of the boats, blasting everything in sight. Anyone who was still out on the streets was blasting into nothingness by the savage men and women in white.
The scattered members of Team Avatar tried to stop them.
Zuko bent a plume of fire in the direction of a large group of them, eradicating them all. He breathed a stream of fire at a few more, taking them out as well.
The lightbenders fought back and they had greater numbers. Two of them lashed out at him with light whips, prompting the Fire Lord to leap out of the way.
He shot a fire stream at the two of them, killing them both while just barely avoiding a light beam shot from behind him. He sidestepped the beam and hurled a fire slash at the lightbender who had attacked him.
Meanwhile, in a different part of the city, Katara was holding her own against a group of lightbenders. She shot a barrage of ice bullets at a group of nearby lightbenders, killing them on impact. She covered her body in a water cloak and lashed out with her tentacle-like water arms at every Light Clan soldier than came her way.
Bo dropped in right next to her and water whipped three lightbenders, then shot a water stream directly at another and hardened it into ice, freezing his opponent solid.
"This is insane!" said Katara.
"I know!" said Bo. "I don't think we're gonna make it out of this one!"
"We've got to!" said Katara. "We've come this far. We're not about to lose now! Just keep fighting!"
A while away, Ling and Rong were teaming up on a large faction of the warriors in white as they stormed the city.
Ling raised a series of earth pillars out of the ground, sending his foes skyrocketing into the air. He chucked a couple of boulders at another battalion that was running down the street, taking many of them out.
Behind him, Rong launched a series of fire rings at even more of them, nailing each target with masterful precision. She stopped once an entire squad tried to rush her all at once. She stepped back and unleashed a fire arc on them, wiping them all out.
"I don't know if we're gonna make it out of this!" Rong said.
"If we don't make it out of this, I want you to know I love you!" Ling replied. "I love you with all my heart."
"I love you, too!" Rong declared. "I'd kiss you right now if we weren't fighting off all these guys."
Back at the bay, Sokka was dashing madly trying to find his wife. "Suki!" he called out. "Suki, where are you?!"
It was impossible for him to make it three feet without some lightbender crossing his path. He cut one down with his sword and kept sprinting towards the bay. "Suki, where are-"
Then he saw her. His eyes widened and tears came pouring out of them as he bolted towards his wife lying on the walkway alongside the river. "Oh, my spirits!" he said. "Suki, Suki, wake up!" he pleaded.
She did no such thing. She was completely unresponsive. Sokka pressed his arms into her stomach, attempting CPR.
"Suki, wake up!" he begged, desperate for her to come to her senses. He continued pushing against her stomach in hopes of reviving her. It then dawned on him that couldn't be good for the baby, so he instead tried mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
Still no response.
Even still, Sokka kept trying.
All the while, Aang and Bai Lung stood face to face, ready for their showdown. "This isn't how I pictured this moment," said the Light Clan leader. "But in a way, this is even better. Now I can kill the world's last hope for peace right before I extinguish any last trace of it forever."
Aang's eyes and tattoos lit up, signaling the Avatar State, and in a roar of anger, he spoke in the voices of all of the past Avatars. "You invade my city, you slaughter these people without a care, and you talk about extinguishing peace. Now you will pay the price for it. The only thing that is going to be extinguished tonight is this accursed prophecy!"
The last airbender felt someone's hand touch his shoulder and he was somewhat comforted to see Yukio stand beside him.
"I am here with you," she said. "Let us finish this bastard so that I can rest in peace."
Bai Lung dealt the first blow. He extended his palm and combusted the light particles in the air in front of Aang and Yukio, sending them flying backwards.
The two of them speedily got back on their feet, ready to retaliate.
Yukio repeatedly swung her arms around, bending light slashes at her foe, who dodged every blast. "I told you never to attack this city again!" she said.
"I am not afraid of you anymore, Woman in White!" Bai Lung declared. "This day cannot be avoided! This is my destiny!" He covered himself in light armor and launched separate parts of it off at the two heroes, which Aang countered with a light shield.
The Avatar extended his fist and shot a ball of light at Bai Lung, who stopped it with the palm of his hand. Aang continued firing light balls, but Bai Lung nullified every blast.
But Bai Lung could not prepare for what came next as he had never seen it before: lightbending at the Avatar State level.
Aang outstretched both of his fists and shot a rapid flurry of light bullets, which Bai Lung countered with a light shield of his own. The shield wouldn't last long, though. Aang's attack was too powerful.
Without even moving, Bai Lung sent a beam of light straight into Aang's foot, causing him to stumble backwards.
Bai Lung took advantage of this moment and struck with an intense ray of light, but Yukio stepped up to defend her comrade and deflected the blast with her hands.
Aang got back on his feet and flung a gigantic light disk straight at Bai Lung. The man managed to narrowly avoid the blast by ducking underneath it. The disk flew over him, missing him by mere inches and destroying one of his ships.
The Light Leader swung his feet in a full circle, whisking a light slash at the Avatar, who avoided it by protecting himself with a light bubble.
Bai Lung got back on his feet and lashed out with a light whip at Yukio, which she avoided by doing a backflip.
She produced two chains of light and wrapped them around Bai Lung's wrists. The Woman in White's chains were too strong for Bai Lung to break out of and he could do nothing, but watch as the Avatar approached him.
Aang pressed his hands into Bai Lung's forehead. "I'm taking away your bending forever," he said.
Without lifting a finger, Bai Lung shot a light beam right into Aang's center, pushing him backwards.
Yukio did not loosen her grip and kept the chains tightly wrapped around her foe's wrists.
She was soon knocked backwards herself, however, by another light beam that struck her in the stomach.
Bai Lung stood up and walked over to Aang, looming over the Avatar. "I win," he said. He brought his fists downward, but Aang acted faster.
Aang encased Bai Lung in a light sphere, trapping him inside. Before he could do anything, Yukio combusted it, sending Bai Lung shooting into the sky and into the bay, plunging beneath the ruthless waves of the Mo Ce Sea.
Aang stood up and his eyes stopped glowing. "That wasn't necessary," he said.
"Yes, it was," she replied.
Aang decided not to say anything more. He had finally defeated the leader of the Light Clan. He had finally stopped the prophecy from coming true.
With the power of airbending, he projected his voice across the entire city. "People of the Light Clan, your leader is dead!" he announced. "Leave this city now and never return!"
The remaining Light Clan soldiers were at a loss for words. They had not anticipated this at all. How could their leader possibly have been defeated? He was the strongest man in the world!
With nothing left to do but retreat, they all marched back to their ships and retreated.
Team Avatar gathered at the shore to see them all leave, without a leader for the first time in their lives.
What they didn't see, however, was Bai Lung resurface and get picked up by the ships as they left.
The sun had risen. Light shined down on Republic City as Team Avatar addressed the people atop the steps of City Hall. "From this day forward, we are rid of the Light Clan!"
This was followed by a massive applause from the citizens who had managed to keep their lives.
"From now on, whenever light touches this city, it will never harm us again. At long last we are free. It won't be easy rebuilding this city, but together, as one people, we can make it happen."
The other members of Team Avatar, sans Suki who was in the intensive care unit of the hospital, looked up at him with smiles. They knew it was true, too. Peace would finally have it's day.
"We lost!" Chong yelled. "It's over! We don't have an army anymore! We barely have anything!"
"Fear not, Chong," said Bai Lung. "We are here for a reason."
"And what reason is that?" Chong queried.
"Do you know where we are?" asked Bai Lung, referring to the mountainous Fire Nation landscape around them.
"No," said Chong. "It looks familiar, but I can't place it."
"These are the Yinghua Mountains," Bai Lung explained.
"You mean this is where-" Chong started.
"Yes," Bai Lung said. "This is where Yoake, our ancient leader, was killed."
"Wasn't he betrayed by his own soldiers?" asked Chong.
"Chong, I would expect a man with your intellect would know about the history of our people," Bai Lung said. "After the Dark Society took everything from him, he fled to this mountain range. He ordered his soldiers to lightbend him out of existence so that one day, someone might revive him."
"Revive him?" asked Chong. "How?"
"It is possible to lightbend a person out of existence, but it is also possible to do it in reverse. You can lightbend them back.
"And now we're going to revive Yoake," Chong deduced.
"Precisely," Bai Lung said. He stopped walking and raised his arms. "This is the spot." With a few motions of his arms and an intense amount of concentration, Bai Lung started lightbending his ancestor back into existence. "It's working," he said, excitedly. The shape of a person was now visible. In just seconds more, the ancient man materialized before the few remaining lightbenders, just as Bai Lung had planned.
But it wasn't who they expected. By some freak coincidence, it just so happened someone else had died here as well and the result of their extremely unlikely mistake would have cataclysmic results. Bai Lung whispered his name in horror as he looked down on them. "Jun."
Author's Note[]
- The real book 4 finale will be released next week.
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