So I realized I had a lot of cut content that involved musical references...
And since I'm a little bored, here's the more coherent surviving drafts.
*****
"And who the fuck are you to order me around?" Major Singwa demanded, but Xing was immune to the man's glare. Koshi wanted to intervene, but his charge was too amused and casually raised a hand to stop him.
"Why, don't you know? Ah, right. I'm out of uniform..."
The major blinked in confusion at the sheer lack of concern on Xing's part, and he watched as what he thought was a mere noble boy produced a scroll from inside his robes. "It's all in here, major." Xing made a show of unfurling the scroll and facing its contents towards Major Singwa, forcing the man to stare at the royal emblem stamped at the bottom of it.
"In case you need a summary of its contents," Xing said with the relish of anticipation.
"I am a very model of a Fire Nation general..." he suddenly sang out, catching Koshi off guard, and exacerbating the poor major's confusion.
"...and I'm here to take command of this front, as decreed by the Fire Lord. I'm your new commander, Major Singwa, which gives me all the fucks to order you around."
Credit to the man, the major stammered for only a few seconds before violently shaking his head and then snapping his back straight at attention. "M-My apologies, general."
"None taken," Xing graciously said. "If anything, I suppose you should be commended for sticking to the chain of command, even in your army's decapitated state. After all, I am by all appearances a mere civilian. Though next time, maybe try to be more polite?"
*****
[road des] It was a feat of logistical engineering that should have made Azula preen at being the head of it. But the pride at taking the first steam carriage trip from Chenbao to New Ozai was somewhat marred by Xing sitting beside her. Of course she didn't mind his company, especially being alone with him in the carriage compartment, but the damned boy was ruining the mood by staring out the window and humming a tune, occasionally blurting out a nonsensical word in a weird gravelly voice. What the hell was an 'aw-to-bhan' anyway? Thankfully, the tune lasted only for a short while, but by then it had embedded itself into Azula's head that the princess found herself occasionally humming it when her guard was down.
*****
Kuei rose up from his throne as he heard the explosions approaching ever closer. The huge doors to the throne room shuddered from each explosion, leaking smoke. The king could hear the palace guards screaming briefly before they were drowned out by the wall-shaking roar of flames.
The last of the guards admirably formed up around Kuei and his throne despite their obvious fear, raising walls of earth to form a rampart.
Silence followed after a particularly thunderous blast, but nobody felt any relief. Kuei found himself tiptoeing to have a better peek through the heads and shoulders shielding him. And then everyone was rocked back as the massive doors suddenly exploded inwards with such a force that they were torn off their ancient hinges to slam straight into the nearest structural columns. Thick smoke rolled into the throne room through the breached entrance, filling the massive hall with the stench of burning meat.
The palace guards bended their stone walls higher, and one tasked himself to pushing Kuei back and acting as his human shield.
Despite the rising dread, Kuei couldn't break his gaze from the thick smog quickly creeping through the doorway. [add des]
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
A silhouette soon appeared through the smoke, heralded by a jarringly jaunty whistled tune, keeping in time to the loud, heavy footsteps that rang out amidst crumbling stonework and crackling flames. [add des]
Kuei forgot to breathe for a few seconds as he saw the red armored figure walking out of the debris cloud, untouched save for streaks of soot on his armor and face. The young man wore a dark grin as he finished whistling. The Earth King felt the gaze of the dreaded Scorpion of the Fire Nation shifting across the palace guards before finding him. The grin that bloomed on the monster's face made Kuei suddenly feel very, very vulnerable.
The monster began walking again, and then broke into a soft song that somehow carried over to Kuei's ears. "Where be the Earth King to? I know where he be. He be hid in Ba Sing Se, and I be after he..."
A burst of flame followed, and then the Scorpion was flying at them. Kuei and his men barely had time to scream in defiance or fear as white flames came for them.
*****
The full might of the 11th Regiment began to advance [add des] their transport tanks rolling down the hill at full speed towards the exposed left flank of the Earth Kingdom coalition. A massive cloud of dust was kicked up in the formation's wake, but it did not damped the stirring sight, from Mozi's view from the rearmost transport tank. [Somehow, having the musically talented troops of the regiment wielding their preferred instruments instead of weapons and playing a tune added to the atmosphere.]
It was a sort of marching tune, utterly foreign to Mozi and the rest of the regiment's sensibilities, but Xing had insisted that the improvised band learned to play it during their month-long break in Zilang with all the enthusiasm of a drill instructor. Admittedly, it was catchy enough that most soldiers could memorize the tune, but then Xing had everyone memorize a sequence of nonsensical noises that passed for lyrics.
Despite the madness of the whole thing, the whole regiment went along, and when Xing had the musicians play as the tanks drove into battle, everyone, even Mozi, began singing right on cue, their voices actually rising above the growling of the steam engines and rolling tracks.
"Ob-stiurm oder shneit, ob di-zooon-ne unslackt..."
The confusion among the Earth Kingdom formation was utterly gratifying to Mozi.
The musicians of the 11th did not stop playing, nor did the soldiers stop singing as they closed the distance and began to sling fire over their open-topped transports. The song remained uninterrupted as the earthbenders hastily scrounged up a counterattack, hurling boulders through the skies towards the tanks. If anything, the rain of pebbles created from firebender intercepts enhanced the rousing mood. [add des]
*****
"Xing, I swear..." Azula's annoyance was interrupted as Ty Lee entered the tent and immediately caught sight of the stupid contraption.
"Ooh, what's that?"
Shit.
Grinning, Xing introduced the boxy invention he wasted a whole team of War Ministry engineers' time on like a proud father. "It's a musical instrument." [add]
Ty Lee skipped over with an entranced smile. "And how's it work?"
[add des]
Azula had her hands up to her ears just as Xing's hands grabbed either side of the box and slowly pulled it apart, creating a droning sound that quickly began to incite violence in the princess. [add des]
Unfortunately, it was not a sentiment shared by her traitorous friend. "Ooh, that's so cool!"
Encouraged, Xing's fingers began to move across the buttons on either end of the bellow box, eliciting a squeal of delight from Ty Lee.
Not wanting to deal with this any further, Azula quickly left the tent as a horrific melody began to play, and Xing began to spout noises along to it. [add des]