Throwdown! [Gaang and Ozai's Angels]

[meatandsarcasm]

Grass did not smell pleasant. It didn’t taste too good, either. Pretty much, he wasn’t liking grass right now. Maybe he’d fell better about it as a person if he hadn’t hit it so hard, you know, met it under proper circumstances. A pleasant hello and a “Hello, grass, how are you?” to which the grass would reply, “Why I am fine, Sokka. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” Then they’d have a rousing conversation of the positives of eating meat instead of greens, as grass did not take kindly to its cousins being eaten. If this was how things had gone, he may like grass. As it stood, all it was doing right now was pissing him off.

"Can you stand?"

“Yes, Aang, of course I can stand,” Sokka quiped, sarcasm dripping off of him as if he’d been floating in that instead of water. “That’s why I’m lying here face first in the dirt, because I just find it so f-” Suddenly, his rant was cut off by the earthreaching out and pushing him upwards, causing hi sarcastic drawl to shift immediately. “What the heck are you-?!”

Despite Aang’s diagnosis, Sokka felt absolutely nothing in his legs, or for that matter most of his body. The result was him being sent straight up to his feet, wobbling and flapping like he was made of jelly, and then promptly falling back down on his back with a pronounced “oof”. Now, at least, he could see the airbender standing beside him. This time, he could give him a proper glare.

“I’m going to request you stop doing that now.”

[prodigy]

The blue flames fanned out across the compressed earth armor that formed across the front of the small, blind girl. It was sheer luck that she raised the armor in just enough time, and the armor was thin, weak enough that the intense heat leaked into it. The bright sapphire flames faded into their pumpkin colored counterparts and dissipated into the air as they curved around the armor.

Azula landed, barely allowing her body to sink to absorb the impact before she popped back up. She ignored the pain in her hip, ignored the queasy feeling in her stomach that still lingered. The short Earth Bender was mere feet away now. Her lips pulled back into a grimace, her perfect teeth exposed as she pulled one shoulder back, pressing the limits of the joint as her palm opened up, her claw like fingers curving towards a center. At that center, the bright start of a fire bender's fire began to glow. A healthy punch of fire would break that girl's armor of weak earth. With her hair streaking from her hairline, Azula swung her arm forward.

At the same time, the Earth Bender moved forward. The encasement of earth moved surprisingly smooth against the ground, keeping the girl encased. Palm of fire was aimed towards the girl's forehead, yet she managed to move quicker. The Princess of the Fire Nation was not having a good day. The met, but not before the blast of fire could escape from Azula's command at near point blank against the earth encased skull of the girl. Her own earth enforced punches met with the Princess's gut once again, already tender from her run-in with the tree branch. The shock wave shook through the earth surrounding her arm, taking the strength the earth bender would possess and compressing it into a stronger wave.

Azula stumbled back with a silent grimace of pain, Her spine curving forward as she was knocked back. Yet she fought to stay upright, digging her toes into the ground, reaching out with her hands to dig into the ground, to scrape her fingers through the dirt, slowing and keeping herself right. She was hunched over, almost like a predatory cat. She lifted her head up, swiftly, with a growl from her pulled back lips. It was then that a hail of icicles flashed passed her. They embedded themselves in a tree just to right of the Princess. It did not faze her. Let the water bender come. Fire against water always won.

She dug her toes in, and pushed off the ground as she lunged forward at the small earth bender once more. Her hands dug along the ground, drawing flames from the earth as she brought her claws up in front of her. Azure flames twisted and coiled as the flames bubbled forth into her grip and the scarlet clad woman snapped her wrist forward as she whipped a fire snake up from the earth. The flames stretched out as they tore through the air, snaking towards the girl in the earthen ware armor. The ground was alight with fire, a circle of flames that spread and protected the woman, dancing at her feet as she cracked that whip through the air, taunting the girl with the snake's tongue.

[airnomad]

As Sokka popped up from the spire of earth, Aang tried to grab a hold of an arm or anything to keep him from collapsing again. However, it seemed like the Water Tribe boy's paralysis had reduced him to a noodle-like consistency that made Aang's tentative grip on his forearm ineffective at keeping him upright. The young avatar winced as Sokka hit the ground once more and uttered a quiet "Sorry..."

Things didn't seem to be going very smoothly for the group and as Toph continued to butt heads with the Fire Nation princess Aang realized that things would need to be resolved soon. "Okay," Aang said after a moment of reflection, responding to Sokka's request. He bent down on one knee beside Sokka and pulled him into more of a sitting position before looking up tp the sky and shouting "Appa!"

The sky bison, who had taken to hovering above the little campsite after the flames started flying, let loose a rumbling roar in response and quickly descended toward his life-long companion. Aang underhooked one of Sokka's arms as the massive creature landed heavily beside them. Almost immediately, he told Sokka to hold on as best as he could and then he kicked off hard from the ground. It took substantially more bending than usual to lift the extra weight, but Aang managed to clear the lip of Appa's saddle and drop Sokka off safely.

The young Avatar then stood up on the bison's back and scanned the area for the others. Momo darted around the saddle as well, clambering over Sokka to get a view of what was going on as well. "Toph! Katara!" he called out, "We need to go!"

[aratak]

On the run, Katara watched as her opponent didn't even seem to notice her. "Damn..." Katara muttered, after realizing her attack missed. "Come on Toph...we have to go!" the water bender told her. She decided to fling a few more icy projectiles at Azula, now that she was closer.

"You guys need to bring Appa over here...It'll be easier to escape that way!"

She turned to Toph once more, and hoped that she was getting the message that the fight had to be over. otherwise, the group might not make it out of this one.

"Come on Toph, I know you can still fight, but you're out numbered. We can fight these three another time..."

[mab]

The chilled off Ty Lee was now forced on the defensive, nimble hands intensely rubbing her bare arms to generate some warmth back in the limbs. Taking quick, meaningful steps with increasing determination Mai’s golden brown eyes flashed with intent. “You’re going to have to do a little more than throw some puddles my way.” Her tone was one of resolve, though bordering on becoming a sigh as if the whole encounter tired her.

Then it came revolving at her with such force Mai was genuinely surprised. Bringing her arms up just as the energy intensity of the water rushed through her the noblewoman was sent flying back. Landing right on her rear with the wind knocked out of her Mai’s eyes widened past their normal state as she tried to suck more oxygen in. Her whole middle felt sore and there was a moment of utter silence in her head, except for the ringing in her ears that is. Never had she been dealt a blow like this and Mai was not fond of it. Resolute that she would not be pushed aside so easily the knife thrower stood and surveyed the scene. Immediately her focus was drawn to the tan girl clad in blue heading to an already busy Azula. Taking deep breaths and for the first time recognizing the added weight from her now wet robes Mai grit her teeth and took off at a run.

A renewed sense of urgency welled up inside her as the water bender told the Avatar to bring their vehicle of escape closer. It would be a less than satisfactory end to their efforts for the bald boy and his group to simply fly off after all the girls’ labors. Retrieving a typically unused tool from her arsenal, one of the retractable sais, she held her arm poised so as to be ready to attack at the precise moment. The feeling of her booted feet hitting the earth repeatedly sent waves of soreness up her back but these sensations would have to be ignored for the time being. The day was drawing to a close and it seemed, however frustrating it was, that the Avatar would come out on top. The princess would be less than pleased.

Drawing closer, closer… Her presence still undetected and with the Water tribe teen trying to pull her friend away Mai took this as good a chance as any. Flinging the long blade, sharp arms sliding out in the process, the sai flew straight through the air with graceful speed aimed at the girls back. Turning over from tip to hilt again and again Mai’s dash slowed a bit to observe. The earth bender appeared to have Azula evenly matched a she remained incased in solid earth, flames unable to pierce the hard shell. But it had to be growing warm inside the case.

[prodigy]

[NPCing Toph because she hasn't been around in over a month.]

The earth bender, firmly encased in her rocky hide, had chosen after much internal debate to listen to reason. Katara's voice was muffled by the rock and earth and so was Aang's as he shouted. Behind her, Appa let loose a growlish cry as Aang clamored over his creamy fur, up onto the strong, and wide neck of the six-legged bison. Toph stayed where she was, her bare feet firmly rooted to the earth and encased in a hard layer of cracked mud and dirt. Infront of her, the Fire Nation Princess was not hesitating, even as Katara's wickedly sharp icicles flew at her.

Azula's eyes were quick and reflexes even quicker. She saw the hesitation in the Earth Bender and lunged once more. The circle of protective, red hot flames that encircled her suddenly burst into the characteristic blue, rising higher and higher as she ran forward. Her feet with their curled toes of gold pushed off of the ground as she rushed through the flames with a leap as if her legs were coiled springs. The whip of fire snaked out behind her, as she swept her hand from the bottom of a arc, outward in front of her until her fist was behind her head. Her arm paused in the air, and the Princess gritted her teeth. Her painted lips were in some sort of twisted grimace of pleasure, her golden eyes flashing with in the bright fire that had flared up around and behind her. The fire lit her hair, casting the dark, almost black umber tones in more richer, subtle and cherry toned hues.

The whip snaked through the air with a vicious roar of flames, the blue tones glaringly obvious against the emeralds around them and the scarlets of her uniform. Toph knew, that as the whip came at her, she needed to go. The young girl quickly stomped the ground, her small fists punching together in front of her body as she focused her mental energy on the ground. She separated her fists and lifted her hands sky high, palms facing up as her fingers became claws. The earth cracked and a massive wall of compacted dirt and earth, speckled with river rocks, rose up nearly six feet into the air to deflect the flames which met it. The flames sputtered out against the cool earth, fading to warm oranges before disappearing with low hisses.

It was then that Toph turned and ran towards the voices of Katara and Aang, towards the growl and heavy rumbles of Appa, towards the vibrations that were striking the ground and the reverberations they gave. Her armor of dirt and mud began to crack and fall away, weighing her down as she moved quickly. She clamored along the ground, her dirty feet pounding away as she neared the great beast. Her hands grasped at the fur of Appa, digging in as she embraced the beast and began to climb.

The whip dissipated against the wall, which held, strong, staying. The princess breathed heavily, inhaling deeply as the whip disappeared, leaving her fist gripping just air. There was a pause.. and then those white, blue-tinted icicles whistled past her, striking the wall of earth. One passed dangerously close to her neck, but the Princess's sharp eyes saw them and reacted in just enough time! She arched her back away from the deadly projectiles, golden eyes widening as they whizzed by her. They crashed and embedded themselves into the wall, tendrils of ice extending from them slowly at first and then.. they began to melt.

She growled as she craned her head towards the now sprinting water bender. There was no point in going after them.. not now. They would continue to track them; Drive them to the nearby Si Wong Desert. Azula stood, straightening her posture as she stood behind the wall of Earth. Her hair hung straight, the tendrils next to her creamy face with her sharp features. She let the fires around her die as she raised her face solemnly to the sky, watching the bision take flight with a great gust of wind from it's tail, the wind blowing back her hair, blowing the wrap around her waist; blowing out the remaining fires. Yet despite this.. failure.. she watched them with a grin upon her painted lips and deadly deeds in her eyes.

[Let's wrap this up. I'm tired of waiting]

[airnomad]

From his stand up high on Appa's saddle, Aang had a decent view of the battle as it played out. Katara and Toph were disengaging their respective opponents and making their way toward the sky bison. Toph reached Appa first and began scrambling up his ramp-like tail where she frantically felt around for the saddle and then rolled safely inside it. Without her 'bender vision,' Aang imagined it must be far more unnerving.

With one friend safe, the young Avatar turned back to see Katara as she closed within just a few strides of their ticket to safety. But just she seemed to be in the clear, a glint of twirling metal caught Aang's eye. Speeding out of the treeline at great speed came a sai heading right for Katara. By the time Aang identified the dager there wasn't much he could do to stop it. Instead of attempting to deflect it with an airblast that wouldn't reach her in time, he could only shout, "Look out!"

Katara could see the troubled look on his face as she closed in and immediately turned to look behind her at what was coming. She managed to twist enough to glance over her shoulder before the sai struck her opposite shoulderblade. Fortunately for her, the tip of the sai struck the leather strap of her waterskin, and her turn away from the impact lessened much of the damage that she could have sustained. Even so, the impact dug a deep wound into her back and spun her around to the ground.

The Water Tribe girl let out a yelp of pain, causing Aang's heart to sink with dread. The young Avatar's fear turned very quickly to anger. He quickly picked up his staff from the saddle and with a great swipe he unleashed a torrent of wind that blew dirt and dust up into the air towards the Fire Nation girls.

Below him he heard Katara hiss in pain, and when he looked down he saw her tossing aside a blood-stained sai. "Are you okay?" Aang asked. He kneeled down on the saddle and lowered his staff as a handhold for her to take. The Wtaer Tribe girl showed great resilience in gritting through the pain and grabbed the end of the staff with her good arm.

"I'll be fine..." she responded, "Just go!" Aang helped hoist her up onto the saddle where she collapsed against the leather padding and clasped a hand over the wound.

The Avatar was hesitant to leave her alone, but their priority was to get away from this fight as fast as possible. Katara's wound didn't seem life-threatening, and was likely within her skill to heal with waterbending.

"Yip-yip!" he called to Appa, and the air nomad assumed his position atop the sky bison's head to help navigate their escape. Six furry legs kicked off at once and in seconds the group was leaving the ground behind. The fight was over and they had gotten away with everyone accounted for, though not entirely unscathed.

Once the figures on the ground looked like ants, Aang turned around to regard the others. Sokka was still basically paralyzed and Katara was grimmacing with the pain of her own injury. Toph was unscathed, but still holding onto the rim of the saddle for dear life. It didn't seem like a good time to hold a group meeting on their next destination, and so the young Avatar decided to direct Appa in an general Eastward direction. As a rule it seemed there were less and less Fire Nation outposts the further East they traveled, and so that would be a good enough heading for now.

Tugging the reigns to his right, Aang muttered a quick "Yip-yip" to change course before hopping back into the saddle with the others.

[Thread Concluded]