parallel lines

chapter xx

Katara's voice was clear as the airbender flew down towards them, closing his glider and Momo following suit to his shoulders, "I thought you were finding Appa."

The next frame showed them being lifted off by Aang, Toph, and Natsuko to the top of the walls, while the others asked the Avatar why he wasn't looking for Appa, he pointed at the direction where a large contraption of sorts was gaining on to the wall, a large drill that looks like the way the Fire Nation would go inside. They were apprehended by the soldiers by the time they got up, showed them to the leader, and offered their assistance to face the drill when their Terra Teams were quickly defeated.

Katara and Natsuko began checking on the soldiers who were ambushed by two girls, if their suspicions were correct it was the two girls accompanying Azula who did it to them. After Katara explained what Ty Lee had done to their body, Sokka the plan guy came up with a plan to hit the pressure points and take them from the inside.

With distraction from Toph, they were able to get in without any bother and navigate through the complicated metalwork of the machine using one of the blueprints, cutting the braces that connected the inner mechanism and the outer shell with waterbending, occasionally Natsuko used firebending which she actually got to cut through two of them. Once the two waterbenders were finished, the whole place began to shake so they headed for the exit, thinking that it was them that caused it until the com spoke.

"Congratulations, crew. The drill has made contact with the wall of Ba Sing Se. Start the countdown to victory!"

They were exhausted and Sokka, who didn't do anything at all but to annoy them while he cheered on and on, was trying to make the brace budge out of place, but was doing a poor job at it. Aang then suggested to cut halfway through the columns instead of going all the way through and deliver the final blow at the top, putting his plan to motion. When they were at the last brace, the three girls found them out with Ty Lee saying something first, "Wow, Azula, you were right! It is the Avatar and friends."

Sokka looked at Ty Lee and tried his best to casually say hey to her if not for Katara and Natsuko dragging him off and began to run for the exits, the siblings taking another exit and Aang and Natsuko speed running to the top of the drill, "You two need to get out of here, Natsuko and I will take care of the final blow."

"Wait." Katara took her canteen, "You need this water more than I do."

She threw it towards Aang and they all separated, Aang and Natsuko running through the engine room, occasionally saying "wrong stairs" to each other and somehow managed to work their way up top. They ran to the spot where it might hit the most, but the boulders kept on falling from the top of the wall, even when they told them to stop.

"I'll cover you." Natsuko said and Aang nodded, taking out the water from the container and began slicing the metal whilst his other half was keeping the boulders away from Aang. When Aang got tired, she noticed that the people up top has ceased to throw boulders down, so she conjured up a flame with her hands and saw Azula behind them, Momo's squeals also signaling that someone was behind them, "Aang!"

He stopped and looked before grabbing water again to continue slicing through the weak point while Azula was against Natsuko, who had the princess amused with the way she was also to bend fire.

"How long have you been practicing firebending, peasant? Even a child would be able to firebend better with a monthly training." Azula smirked at what she thought was a sad attempt to firebending, before she could see small sludges of rock and water, "Just a day, I got bored."

Azula was silent the whole time, in a stance, her arms moved in a circular motion and gave out blue flames through her two fingers, which she was able to put out, moving the fight away from Aang to not let him get hurt. They continued on and on, Natsuko gaining nearer the girl and moved swiftly across, her eyes widening as she avoiding the fingers of the firebender, "You have long fingernails."