Throwdown! [Gaang and Ozai's Angels]

[airnomad]

Growing up among the Air Nomads, Aang was well-accustomed to seeing people run and leap with abilities augmented by the flow of air, but rarely did he see people so nimble from the other nations. For a moment after the Fire nation princess had so deftly vaulted over his gust of wind he was almost too impressed to react to the incoming burst of fire.

However, the young Avatar's reflexes kept him alive. Dropping low and back into a slanted stance, he swept one arm down to the ground and the other out high behind him. With his bending he summoned a current of air up along the path his arms formed that guided the incoming flames overhead like a river carrying a canoe. Aang stood up quickly once the flames had passed and brought his open palms up in a ready stance as he stared down his opponent.

She seemed to have paused for the time being, and as the Avatar glanced to the sides at her companions it seemed like they were intent on capturing them. With Appa barely ready for flight and his friends too preoccuppied to retreat to the safety of the skies, it seemed like this conflict was inevitable. Still... his pacifistic upbringing compelled him to take that moment of pause to seek out a possible resolution.

"Who are you?" he shouted to the firebender girl, wanting some measure of who exactly was trying to kill him.

[prodigy]

"You mean you haven’t guessed‌?" Azula spoke with feigned surprise. She watched as he lifted his hands in self defense, his pale skin so youthful. Her golden eyes, framed by dark lashes lifted from the boy's nimble feet to the russet boots the boy wore to his saffron colored robes that tucked in at the knees and that little tawny cape. Her painted lips were pressed together as the corners of her lips curled up.
"You don’t see the family resemblance‌? Here’s a hint." She lifted a hand up to cover her left eye, sharpened fingernails catching the sunlight. Her voice dropped an octave in a blatant imitation of a male voice.
"I must find the Avatar to restore my honor."
Her hand dropped, while the Princess took another step forward. Gold ribbon glittered at her throat, the stiffened collar trimmed in a manner only royal and noble military uniforms displayed. She was small, barely half a foot taller than the Avatar who stood before her.
"It’s okay. You can laugh." She assured him in a friendly, yet cold and stoic voice." She swung her hand against the pleated and pulled carmine fabric that circled her hips, as if dusting it. Her eyes never left the boy, and her other hand remained primed, her fingers relaxing.
"It’s funny."

[meatandsarcasm]

Two more girls arrived at the scene, and immediately began to engage Sokka’s comrades. He had little time to worry about them, though. As soon as this happened, the bubbly martial artist confronting him seemed to take this as a signal to go on the offensive again. Sokka barely avoided the initial strikes, stumbling backwards and to the side as he grasped the handle of his club and flailed it wildly about. As expected, it hit nothing, but gave him a brief respite from the attack. Brief was the key word here, as the girl immediately leapt forward after avoiding his counter attack. She was fast. Too fast. It wouldn’t take her too long to paralyze his entire body at this rate. As he dove out of the way, he tried to quickly brainstorm a way to eliminate her speed. Suddenly, he spotted Katara readying her waterbending in the distance and it hit him. Scrambling to his feet, he dashed towards the water as fast as he could.

His opponent quickly gave chase, leaping around in the trees like a squirrel. She landed in front of him to try and cut him off, and he clumsily spun to the side. He felt her fists brush past him. Too close. He only had a few meters to go now. He felt her come up behind him. He wasn’t going to outrace her. Leaping forward, he turned his body through the air, holding his club in front of himself like a shield as he dove backwards towards the water. Somehow, the maneuver worked, and the girl’s fist hit only the whale bone on his club before he fell into the water with a splash. Soaking, he quickly stood to his feet and slowly backed up until the water was at his waist. The Fire Nation girl followed him in, beeming cheerfully.

“Oh, thank you! Now you can’t run away anymore!” the girl said gleefully.

Sokka smirked, “Yeah, and neither can you!”

The girl looked very confused. She tilted her head to the side and lowered her fists, trying to understand what had just been said. That was when Sokka took action. Swinging the edge of his club into the water, he sent a small wave towards the girl to mask his attack, then swung at her with the club. With the water this deep, she couldn’t run or jump. Maybe now they’d be on equal footing…

[blindgirl]

So far she'd gone unnoticed, of course she could rush into the fight and take some names but she didn't know which of the three fights to get involved in, Katara was fighting one of the girls, she seemed to have some manner of throwing weapons, Katara was doing well, it was a little surprising that the waif of a girl was so adept at fighting, She was having some difficulty dodging but when the blades got too close she did something to stop them.

Toph had to assume it was the water bending, it wasn't on the ground so Toph had a rather difficult time seeing it. Sokka was fighting a very athletic cheery girl, he didn't seem to be doing well so perhaps she could assist but as she was about to move they retreated into the water making it difficult for Toph to see what they were doing, it seemed she'd have to help her earth bending pupil instead.

Pulling herself out from behind Appa, she already knew exactly what to do. The girl was a firebender and she would have to be careful so that she wouldn't be burned. Who knows what other tricks that girl might have hidden up her sleeves, she'd have to be on her toes. Toph moved the few yards towards the pair before shoving a wave of earth towards the girl hoping to do enough to catch her off balance. Under her control the earth buckled and surged forward in something of a dirt wave perhaps thee feet in height. Why was it that people were after Aang? Sure he was the avatar but it was never a bad thing, he was supposed to be the master of all four elements and a barer of peace or something like that. Everyone seemed to want him dead, she'd have to ask about the whole thing later, it was annoying that she felt so left out.

[airnomad]

Aang's eyebrow twitched up slightly at their attacker's response. He didn't hear a name, but the clues were enough for him to put the pieces together. This was Zuko's sister? It seemed like the whole royal family was personally trying to hunt him down... although by the sound of it, this certainly wasn't a joint effort. Zuko wasn't his favorite person in the world, but even Aang thought it was cold to poke fun at his disfiguration.

The young avatar opened his mouth to ask what the princess wanted with them, but was cut off by the rumbling ground as Toph initiated the battle once more. Aang hopped nimbly to the side to get out of the earthbender's line of fire.

It was just as well, he supposed. If this new hunter was anywhere near as zealous as her brother then the ceasefire wouldn't have lasted much longer anyway. Best to deal with them quickly and be on their way.

Aang also took that moment to see how the others were faring. A sweeping glance told him that Sokka was still trading blows with that one girl while Katara was busy keeping the knife-thrower at bay. The deadly nature of that battle made Aang want to go help, but of the three, Zuko's sister seemed like the most deadly. He knew Toph had trouble seeing anything off the ground, and he could only guess how well she could react to firebending. Despite his desire to aid Katara, Aang figured that Toph might need his help more.

[prodigy]

Delighting in the look of realization that crossed the twelve year old's face, Azula's rosy lips curled into even more of a grin; a twisted grin as she turned her shoulders away from him. She lifted both her arms, one hand with two fingers drawn pointed at the child, the other with a fist. Her chin lifted, the sunlight that streamed through the trees catching the golden collar that encircled her neck. "I'll give you a chance to surrender, Avatar. I'll be kind to you and your friends until I relieved you to my Fath-" Azula started to boast her good will, her voice high and mighty as she looked down on the child.

There were three companions of the Avatar though. The young warrior boy, the water bender, and the blind earth bender who until now had remained.. out of the way and unnoticed. A fault on Azula's part.. a fault on Mai and Ty Lee's part as well. The acrobat had become too absorbed in the battle, wading out into waist high water. The water hindered her lightning quick movements, impeded her ability to run and jump but it also made things difficult for the warrior she was facing. Mai found herself drifting away from the group as she chased the water bender away from the source. Mai had Katara on the run with her deadly blades, but the waterbender was good, blocking and even stopping the sharp knives, throwing stars, and pins with ice that she raised.

Azula heard a sudden rumble behind her. Her eyebrows raised curiously but she held her intense stare down with the avatar. That is until she was suddenly uplifted and throw into the air. The seismic wave of earth that rose up under her feet like the wave cresting on the ocean shore caught the fire bender by surprise. Her mouth dropped open as her stomach lurched, her knees bent and her arms began to flail for balance. The shock was so quick that the princess was literally launched as the earth bucked underneath her feet.

She went soaring over the Avatar, rising high into the canopy of leaves. Her hair fractured as it fluttered around her face, the stiffen mantels trying to hold their rigidity and her wrapped-skirt fluttering. She had no time to turn herself in any sort of manner when her stomach met with a thick tree branch. Her body bent around it to absorb the impact, her arms grasping it as the impact left her gasping for her breath.

Meanwhile, oblivious to Azula's plight, Ty Lee starred curiously at the warrior infront of her, her lips pulled into a huge, sugar coated smile. She may have been waist deep in water, her fuchsia colored petal-like skirt floating on the water but she had the young man's escape to shore blocked. Unless he wanted to swim across the ever deepening river. She giggled as she leaned forward, using one finger to trace circles in the water's surface. Like a kitten purring, she tilted her head to the side. "You're kinda cute.. Why don't you come back with me? I don't bite." Her voice was playful, her eyes laughing. Mai and Azula could have their fun and she could have hers.

[meatandsarcasm]

Sokka really shouldn’t have been surprised he missed. Even in the water and with his clever tricks, she was just too fast. Great. He’d run into the Super Girl. Gripping his club in his mobile hand, he slowly started to stalk forward. Carefully he watched his opponent. She was a master martial artist, so he’d need to be careful. A twitch could be his only warning before she struck…

"You're kinda cute. Why don't you come back with me? I don't bite."

Sokka paused. At first he flushed instinctively, but then he remembered she was the enemy, which rather than causing him to regain his resolve only served to take him from flustered to confused. His head tilted to the side, his eyebrows raised and his mouth opened and closed as he searched for a response. What’s more, he lowered his weapon with a small splash as it hit the water.

“I…uh…” he babbled before finding the only word he could use at that time. “Huh?”

The girl answered his query quickly…with punches. He didn’t even begin to react until his arm had been paralyzed and she’d moved on the his chest. By then, it was far too late. He flailed like a jumping fish for a moment, and then fell backwards into the water. He blinked and spat water from his mouth. It was about the only thing he could will his body to do. He felt it all, he just couldn’t move it.

“You stay right there, cutie. I’ll be back~”

And with that, his pink clad assailant was gone, wading into shallower water before leaping out all together to join her friends. Sokka, meanwhile lay stunned, floating on his back. He’d been humiliated a few times (okay maybe more than a few) in his life, but this was near the top of the list…

[mab]

Again and again Mai threw a barrage of arrows at the water tribe girl, only for them to be frozen in streams of water from the benders pouch. The young noblewoman had been able to hold her away from the lake’s edge and as their skirmish continued they moved farther and farther from Azula and the others. The well-tanned girl would feign to the left, Mai would cut her off with two curved stilettos. Then suddenly a sharp whip of liquid would cause her to jump out of the way. From the girls expression Mai could tell she wanted to help the airbender and saw distress plainly written across her broad face with the realization of who they were, namely Azula. Personally Mai was annoyed by the whole endeavor, crinkles forming on her forehead as, yet again, her arrows were simply pushed aside as if they were little more than an annoying insect. But she had to be wearing the waterbender down, for at some points her reaction time was off just enough for one of Mai's stilettos to nick her forearm.

Things continued in this manner, a repetitive exchange of water and metal that became much too predictable. Mai released another set of fletched arrows and was met with yet another stream of fluid, only the bender didn't simply block the attack. Before she could pull away the water wormed its way up and over her arm, freezing solidly. A quick, sharp hit of her rigid hand did nothing to resolve the problem and the limb fell uselessly to her side. Controlling the intense wrath that threatened her collected mind into acting rashly, Mai immediately evaded a similar attack by rolling to the side and trying to stand with one good arm. The waterbender was drawing closer now that her opposition was handicapped, something Mai did not care for. Fending her off with a row of knives the Fire Nation teen glared at the blue robed girl who walked a semi-circle about her.

However, just as she prepared another strike, this one at her other arm no doubt, her attention was diverted and her eyes grew wide. Bending the water into an icy shield to protect her upper torso against a few jabs Mai was pleased to see Ty Lee. Apparently the water tribe boy hadn't been much of a challenge for the acrobat. Like lightning she danced about the waterbender, fluidly ducking and jumping away before twirling back in the blink of an eye. Finally she landed a jab right in the girls armpit and the girl slunk back a few steps in pain and fear. This must've been enough to weaken and deter her concentration though for the ice fell away to a puddle around Mai's boots. Searching out another clutch of arrows from up her sleeve she smirked with satisfaction before throwing her projectiles at the benders good wrist, the one painstakingly maneuvering the water to keep Ty Lee at a more controlled distance.

[airnomad]

After seeing the Fire Nation princess launched off the ground, Aang decided that the momentary distraction might be their chance to escape. "Toph," he called, "Keep her busy. I'm going to help the others." Without bothering to check for confirmation, he made haste in sprinting toward Katara. In the background of his vision he had noticed both of the other Fire Nation girls closing in on her.

With junges aided by a strong current of wind, the young Avatar covered the distance between them in rapid fashion. So fast, it seemed, that the other girls barely had time to react. His first priority was to get Katara out of harm's way. She seemed to have lost the use of one arm, which he feared might have een hit by one of the dreary girl's throwing knives. Thinking fast, Aang took a deep breath and blew out a freezing cloud of air, using his bending to send then icy breeze straight at the girl in pink. Her soaking wet clothes proved to be a major disadvantage as the moisture in them crystalized into a thin film of ice.

Ty Lee seemed quite surprised by the sudden chill and almost immediately abandoned her assault in favor of trying to shiver away the cold. Bits of frost and ice cracked and fell off her clothes as her teeth chattered in a viloent shiver. Chances are she'd be back to full speed in less than a minute, but the shock of the cold was all Katara needed in order to sieze the opening.

The waterbender stepped forward and with her good arm took a hard swipe at the nimble fighter using her bending. The bit of water she had left splashed heavily into her side and lifted Ty Lee right off the ground as he soared several feet to the side before landing ungracefully on the dirt.

"Go help Sokka!" Katara called out to Aang after the blow was struck. The young Avatar was hesitant to leave her alone with a bad arm and a dangerous opponent, but he trusted her judgement. He nodded and then took off as fast as he could for the water's edge, hopefully before the blade-slinger could focus her sights on him.

Aang put on another burst of speed and skidded to a stop on the shore of the lake. He scanned the water's surface for Sokka, but the fact that he was wearing blue made it difficult to spot him in the water. However, after a few moments of squinting and scrunching his nose in concentration he noticed a floating blue body in the water. "Sokka!" he shouted, simultaneously using he bending to pull in a wave of water toward the shore. The water swelled up under Sokka's floating body and began to accelerate toward the shallows.

Unfortunately, Aang hadn't considered Sokka's condition as the wave began to crest once it reached the shallows and then crashed onshore.

[blindgirl]

It was humiliating, they were getting their buts beat, well the other three were, she was doing fairly well for not even seeing this attack coming, it was truly a shame that they had that silly river, if they didn't then she could have felt the attack from miles away and have been able to be the hero as usual. Oh well, she had to work with what she had and for the moment it seemed the crazy unfunny girl was out of sight and out of mind, launched into the trees, it shouldn't take too long for her to recover, after all they wouldn't send idiots after the master of all four elements.

Toph turned her head oh so slightly to listen to Aang as he shouted out his intention to drab the others and she nodded shouting back to him after a brief summery of the area. " I lost Sokka, I think he's in the water still cause I can't sense him." After Aang seemed to have not heard her or found something more important she rushed tossing whatever of their stuff she could find up into the saddle. Appa seemed jumpy and ready to run so she placed a hand on his side, he wouldn't leave twinkle toes would he? No, she assumed not, everyone that boy met either wanted to fight with him or kill him. Honestly he needed to be less conspicuous.

Maybe then they wouldn't be able to find them so easily.

Once everything seemed to be on Appa's saddle she moved forward and turned her attention towards sugar queen and the two attackers, Aang seemed to locate Sokka and was headed to help him but the shivering acrobat was recovering from the cold and a watery impact was on the move. She seemed to have no limit to her energy and her blow on Katara left the girl with a noticeably unmoving arm, that was a threat in and of it's self. While Toph didn't know exactly what the girl was doing she didn't want to find out.

Hearing that Aang was headed for the water she changed paces and instead of continuing to fight Katara she changed her path and seemed to lunge in the boys direction leaving the projectile girl to the disabled water bender. With a quick flick of her wrist the second the pink clad girls ankle touched the ground it was encased in rock, it seemed surprising enough to the girl that she let out a yelp as her body moved to the ground, she went to dislodge her leg and Toph was quick to encase the hand she pressed to the ground in rock as well.

Never one to be daunted the girl contorted herself attempting to be free of the snare but Toph was quick enough to secure her remaining leg leaving one hand free. She reminded Toph of a tied up peice of grass but she seemed to be indisposed enough for Toph to not worry about her getting free any time soon.

Still Aang and Sokka were messing around in the water and she frowned, her lips pulling into an annoyed line as she stomped her foot in a juvenile display of aggravation. " Hurry up!" With haughty steps she made her way over to the shore of the water not sure if she would be able to help carry out the most likely drowned warrior but more than willing to berate him for loosing to a wispy girl.

[prodigy]

Azula may have been launched into the trees and the wind knocked out of her but she was not out of this fight. She had fallen from the lowest level of the canopy and down to the ground with about as much grace as a elephant-hog but nevertheless, she was up on her feet immediately and save for a few limping steps with her arm wrapped around her stomach, the Princess was okay.
She wheezed her first few short breaths as she stumbled along, her left hip twinging with pain. Her lips curled into a snarl, strands of hair clinging to her sweaty brow as she brushed them back with the dirty palm of her hair.
The Princess watched and listened as she saw the culprit, the one who had sent her flying. A small, short girl clad in an oversized vest, her dark hair twisted up into a thick bun. The ground where she had been was disturbed, bent and cracked. An Earth Bender. Her eyes narrowed, fringes of dark coal swooped upward as accent. The Avatar, the child dressed in the saffron robes of a monk raced off away from his white beast towards the water's edge and the girl in blue. She could see Ty lee suddenly retreat, rubbing her arms as if she was cold. Meanwhile, Mai danced around them, circling like a panther.

Azula narrowed her eyes and shook her arms out, straightening. She could do this, even if her stomach still didn't feel right and her lungs burned. Both fists went to her sides immediately, igniting the air with the sudden snap of a bright blue flame. She rushed forward, her feet landing precise and quickly as she practically danced across the ground. The avatar was too far, but the small earth bender. She leap over the cracked and crumbled ground with a battle cry. While in the air, she twisted her body, her leg trailing behind her with a point toe as she kicked. Flames sprouted from her toe and heel, flaring up from a subtle orange almost immediately to the nearly white periwinkle trademark flames. The arc of fire swept downward towards the earth, scorching the grass that it crossed as it crept up behind the Earth Bender.

[meatandsarcasm]

Sokka, while creative, had always found himself grounded in reason. Things like cloud gazing were never that appealing that way, because he could never see anything but clouds. That made the last several minutes extremely boring, considering clouds were the only thing he could see. Sure, he could hear the fight, and he felt the water around him, but sight was a pretty dominant sense, and all he could see were those stupid clouds. He couldn’t take it.

“Wiggle your big toe.”

Sokka waited a moment. The toe didn’t listen.

“Wiggle your big toe.”

Still not listening. Stupid toe. Stupid clouds. Stupid girl with her stupid punching. Wait…no, not stupid. If everything that caused him misery were stupid, that would mean he was getting beaten by stupid things, and what would that make him? Less than stupid? Well, that certainly wasn’t true. He was a rational, inteli-

"Sokka!"

Feebly, Sokka tried to turn his head towards the sound of the voice, “Huh?” Then he felt the wave start to rise. “Wait! Aang stop the bending! Stop the”

This was when his face his the dirt. Unable to moved anything but his head, he just lay face down for several moments. Finally, he spoke in a muffled, flat, and decidedly sarcastic voice.

“Thanks a lot. Big help.”

[airnomad]

Aang cringed slightly when Sokka slammed into the ground without so much as a token effort to absorb the impact. He'd heard the Water Tribe teen speak as the wave brought him in, so he knew he wasn't unconscious, but for whatever reason he seemed incapable of moving. The young Avavar sucked in a hissing breath of air as he imagined how much that must have stung, and raised a hand to rub the back of his neck.

"Sorry about that," he said sheepishly. However, despite the comedy inherent in the situation Aang remembered that their primary goal was to get away from this fight. With that in mind, he crouched down next to Sokka and grabbed hold of his arm. "We've got to get going," he said as he started to tug Sokka's mostly limp body off the ground. Sokka was a bit heavy, though, and he only really succeeded in dragging him a foot or two across the dirt.

"Can you stand?" Aang asked, and without even waiting for a response he gave the ground a slight kick with his heel. The earth underneath Sokka rumbled and then surged upward, lifting him into a vertical orientation. Aang stepped in quickly to try and grab a hold of him if he fell, but the success of that plan depended largely on Sokka having even the slightest feeling in his legs.

If he couldn't get to Appa under his own power, then chances are a few more bruises were in store for him as Aang relied on bending to relocate the Water Tribe teen.

[blindgirl]

Expressionless with a dead dolls eyes Toph turned her head immediately towards the awkward cry she heard and the footfall vibrations she sensed coming from the tree line. Who shouted out their attacks like a wild animal? Each foot fall created ripples on the ground lapping like waves on Toph's acute senses. It was enough that she could practically see every muscle in her body move, every stretch and strain of her body as it pushed it's self closer and closer. Honestly even if she wasn't able to sense vibrations in the earth she would have known the older girl was headed straight toward her. It wasn't too difficult to feel the heat in the air coming, there was a fire attack of some manner after the girl lifted off the ground.

Now it was time for a waiting game, her muscles experimentally tightened and she could feel the heat coming closer, some quick math in her head gave her a couple more seconds before it hit her. It was hard for her to tell specifically how big it was and where it would hit, quickly she pulled her arms up taking a firm stance against the girl.As her arms and hands moved rock crept up her body encasing her and as the fire hit Toph grunted uncomfortably against the heat but unharmed, to an observer it must have looked like an animal springing into action at the last possible second but Toph enjoyed such antics. Keeping her rock armor on she shook our her arms pulling the rock cased limbs into a fist and crouching lower to the ground.

Her leg bent and her body shifted into a runners stance and she took a few quick strides of her own towards the persistent competitor, propelled on the rock as she was it was much like gliding over the earth it's self striking a firm punch towards the girls abdomen. She wasn't as her full speed and it was likely she would miss unless she'd underestimated the slight limp the girl was sporting. She'd just take another swing at her inside the rock armor, unless she kept a steady stream of flames on her it wasn't likely she could do much damage.

[aratak]

Ty Lee had managed to disable one of Katara's arms, but the water bender wouldn't let that get out of control. With her free arm, she manipulated the water, spinning her arm around until several thin disks of ice were hovering in front of her. Using each finger to bend the various water was tricky, but being confined to using one arm forced her to be a little more creative. She flicked several of this disks using a trick she had learned from Mai during this very battle. Ty Lee is a god close range, so you have to throw stuff at her. She also figured Aang could handle the Sokka situation, and get them away from here. She decided that that this was now a battle between her and Toph, and Azula and Mai. After flicking the smaller projectiles at the fleeing circus freak, Katara summoned one massive disk, using most of the chakra in her arm to do so. Katara figured Aang could handle the Sokka situation, and get them away from Ty Lee. She decided that that this was now a battle between her and Toph, and Azula and Mai. And as much as the mother inside her wanted to go help Toph with the more dangerous fire-bender, the dagger-thrower was actually pretty tough to beat with her handicap. These thoughts kept swimming in her head, and Katara couldn't decided what she should do. It seemed as though Mai herself would provide the answer, as some daggers came flying and Katara had to duck them narrowly.

"This isn't going to work. I have to take you out..." She said, standing back up as she spun around and launched the disk at Mai with great momentum. The disk was a dangerous weapon, sharp and large enough to leave a fairly sizable dent in a tree. Katara figured that this was enough of a distraction, and hopefully a knock out punch. She darted off toward Azula and Toph, water flying behind her as she controlled it with her good arm. She was still pretty far away, but she decided to launch a couple icicles at Azula anyway. On the run, the attack wasn't terribly precise, but there were a lot of them, and it would likely give Toph the edge.