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Aaron knew Mark sensed them when the boy whipped the giant bison with one arm and summoned several pieces of stone with the other. He’d brought a bag filled with stones knowing he’d be followed.
“Duck!” Aaron yelled as he banked low. Pieces of stone wheezed past, supercharged with Chi.
“Straight into an attack?” he called out to Mark as he reared his fist to fire a Stinger. “I thought you’d want to start with a conversation at the very least.”
“Don’t attack!” Aang yelled. “You’ll hit Appa.” Aaron belatedly realized the boy had a point, so he dispersed the energy he’d been gathering and fired a gust instead.
Aang sent him a harsh look.
“What? It’s only a light gust. We can’t just watch as he takes us down.”
“Let me try a different approach,” Aang suggested. “You keep him busy.”
Aaron shrugged, happy to have the help, but he knew how things would end.
“At least fucking talk to me,” Aaron yelled. “After everything we’ve been through, you just take off and leave?”
Mark fired several precision stone bullets that traced a vicious arc that threatened to rip through Aaron’s wingsuit. The young Airbender trailed diagonally in the air before he swiftly changed directions with a precise gust.
“We got nothing to talk about,” Mark yelled over. “You want to offer me up to that psychopath to buy you more time and I like my freedom very much. You can try whatever hair-brained scheme you have planned without me.”
Aang popped out from below Appa, hands tight around the bison’s reigns. “You have to. Time is not on our side. We won’t be able to get the ocean spirit back without help. You owe it to everybody who cares about you to try to figure this out.”
Mark snorted. “I don’t owe anyone anything.”
Aaron’s blood ran cold.
In the same instant, the Avatar popped out from underneath Appa with a determined frown. “You don’t mean that.”
Stone sprung from Mark's pouch and wrapped around his fist as he struck at the Avatar with an open palm. The movement was so fluid and swift, it caught Aang unaware and launched him, but not before he was able to conjure a wall of wind to cushion the blow. Still, it knocked him clean out.
“I really do mean it,” Mark said as Aang spiraled into the snow.
Aaron watched all this with a horrified look. He flipped on Chi's reinforcement and kicked the air, accelerating with an audible crack. His hands blurred as he generated a cushion of air to slow down the Avatar’s descent, and he landed right beside him and rushed to check his pulse.
He was alive, thankfully, and he cast a hate-filled look at Mark, who was flying farther and farther away on Appa.
He had a choice to make. Stay with the Avatar or complete his mission.
Gritting his teeth, he shot off the ground, raising a plume of snow and vibrating wind.
“You Fucker!”
Aaron slammed into Mark before the other could react, sweeping him off Appa with enough force to shatter bones.
Blood spurt from Mark’s mouth and as they spiralled to the ground below, the earthbender commanded the stone around his fist to expand, wrapping around both of Aaron’s arms, as his fist reeled back for a punch. Aaron’s sub-mind was faster though. A half-powered stinger formed above his open mouth and fired straight into Mark’s chest.
The boy spun wildly in the air before he crashed with a loud thud. Aaron landed a second later, his eyes burning red.
Immediately, Aaron shut off Chi-reinforcement to save Chi and spun up One-with-the-world with enough range to cover their impromptu Arena.
It was just in time, too, as a large earth spear shot out of the ground a second later, as Mark climbed to his feet. Aaron casually avoided the blow with airflow.
“This won’t go like last time,” Mark warned, wiping off the blood staining the corner of his mouth. “I’ve levelled up a lot since then.”
Aaron thought the tackle and subsequent Stinger would’ve done more damage, but the durability his body stat gave was no joke.
“Level 1 or 100, I will still kick your ass,” Aaron said. “Maybe after a good beating, I can finally get you to listen.”
“So that you can drag me back to those old farts you call masters,” Mark scowled.
Aaron’s face hardened. “I know you’re an ungrateful little shit, but don’t curse at the people who took you in. We’re your best chance of winning. Don’t throw it all away just because you’re afraid.”
Mark’s little face twisted. “Who said I was afraid? I’m just smart enough to know when to call it quits. If y’all really wanted to, you could win this without me, but you’re here ready to fuck me over when it suits you like I predicted. Well, I’m not about to roll over. You think you can beat me, give it your best shot.”
Aaron didn’t hold back. He shot forward, bombarding Mark with dozens of stingers. Mark responded by raising a wall and firing chunks of it. It kept Aaron dodging and would’ve concealed the dozens of hardened Chi-infused earth bullets he was creating if Aaron had weaker senses.
Aaron baited his attack by rising high into the air, firing several concentrated gusts, which forced Mark to retaliate in kind with most of his ammo. A chi-assisted gust from his legs allowed him to dodge the bullets that did make it through, and he fired a wind blade as he came down with an axe kick.
Mark kicked to the side, a chunk of earth launching him while several more sped towards Aaron, nearly clipping him.
Two fast stingers shattered the first two, and Aaron avoided the third with a spin, gathering air as he swept down to meet Mark, who’d huddled behind another stone wall. Aaron touched down just shy of the wall, directing the wind he’d gathered with great skill, around the earth wall, directly into Mark’s side.
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It was like a cannon had gone off. Stone flew in every direction, but Aaron knew the attack didn’t connect. Aaron felt the ground vibrate as Mark swam through the earth towards him.
He had to admit he’d gotten better, and the extra mind had certainly made him more creative. If only he wasn’t such an asshole. They’d been on such good terms hours ago.
With airflow and a bit of Chi, it was almost comically easy to dodge out of the way of Mark’s ‘surprise’ attack.
He exploded from the ground with an earth armour, sloshing snow in every which direction and raised a bloody mace he summoned. Aaron drew his blade, ready to dodge and counterattack, but to his surprise, the blow crushed the ground instead, unleashing a shockwave of epic proportions that sent Aaron flying. It raised a thick curtain of snow and dust, obscuring Mark.
Aaron tumbled several paces back but landed on his feet, eyes a bit wide with surprise. That was new. He’d not been talking out of his ass when he said he learned new tricks. Reviewing the memory with his sub-mind, Aaron noticed that his technique was partially based on Chi flow. He expelled large amounts of Chi, causing a rupture that should’ve been impossible. He would’ve been so proud if he didn’t feel a hint of panic.
He couldn’t find Mark anywhere. The Chi did not dissipate after the explosion. It clung in the air, obscuring Aaron’s Chi senses, completely hiding Mark. All he could rely on now was the shifts in the air and his hearing.
Aaron leaned back, dodging a spear made of stone that surged out of the darkness and immediately activated Chi-reinforcement. The boost gave him the strength he needed to receive the heavy swing that came a split second later. It bent his swords that he’d raised in time and sprained his arms, but Aaron grunted through the pain. He hopped back, gaining distance from Mark and did the one thing he should’ve done the moment the dust cloud came up. Boosted by Chi, a veritable storm exploded from his mouth, banishing the dust curtain and giving Aaron a full view of his student.
The manoeuvre stole a chunk of his Chi, which didn’t matter because his expanded reserves of Chi now bought him at least two minutes of power, so he chose not to waste it. Several more spears came flying, but they seemingly moved in slow motion as advanced, his anger spiking.
The kick slammed into Mark faster than he could react, and since the Chi technique he’d used was still up, Aaron pulled his sub-mind and set it to the task of gathering Chi around them. The chi was earth-attributed, but Aaron figured it still had lots of Life Chi flowing within it, which was the basis of their technique.
Mark skipped on the ground several times before collapsing in a heap, but he did not stay down. He sprang to his feet but collapsed to one knee to vomit blood before he lifted up his bloody mace with a hard look in his eyes.
Aaron flashed in front of him, two-meaty wind palms formed in his hands. Mark swung switched out for his batons, his mace quickly disappearing, but he was too slow.
Mark’s armor shattered.
The pain sent him reeling, and Aaron advanced, making the most of his technique. Mark disappeared into the earth a split second before Aaron arrived with a powerful kick and a growl.
“Coward!” he yelled. You wanted to face me, well, here I am.” His anger swelled and his eyes darted around the snow. He snarled and twitched at every moment. Already, he felt himself slipping, but he kept burning Chi reinforcement. Mark hadn’t given him a choice. He had to remind himself again and again that he wanted to teach him a lesson not kill him.
Aaron leapt to the side when he felt the ground shift under him. A spear of stone waited on him as he came down, which he took care of beforehand with a stinger. As he landed, the very ground under him exploded into shrapnel, ripping open several wounds in his legs. The pain was almost blinding. Aaron shot up into the air to avoid being injured more.
Even blinded by rage, his analytical mind shone through.
“So, that’s how you want to play it?”
Mark was fighting like the coward he was, delaying him so that he’d run out of Chi, while he chipped away at him.
“Fuck that!”
He spun, gathering air. He pulled his sub mind he’d tasked to gather chi, feeding everything he had into the technique as he wove it. The earth shook when he came down. Stone misted and snow evaporated as a shockwave ripped out. Aaron had unleashed the technique that’d started it all—Wind Palm.
Aaron slowly staggered to his feet and marvelled at the destruction around him. He would’ve savoured his strength if his hand was not broken in two places, his sub mind fried, and his Chi pool guttered out. He held on only through sheer force of will.
‘Please be alive,’ he thought. ‘That last move had been incredibly stupid.’ His anger had gotten the better of him.
In the corner of his eyes, Aaron noticed Aang's approach and nearly laughed. He imagined how differently things would’ve gone if the Avatar hadn’t been knocked out by one move.
When Aaron saw Mark’s collapsed body in the snow, he felt his heart at his throat. Aaron let out a breath when the boy sat upright with some difficulty.
“That chi reinforcement is no joke,” he wheezed. “I thought I could tire you out, but what the hell was that last attack?”
“Mark…”
His clothes were tattered and bloody, half of his face was swollen, and his left eye was sealed shut.
“I don’t want or need your sympathy. I always figured it was always going to end like this. I’ve never won a fight, and even after all my levels… I still can’t beat you fair and square.”
Aaron said nothing.
“Hypothetically, what do you think is going to happen if you drag me back? Do you think it’ll get you the opening you need to take out Samir?” he scoffed. “If he has any lick of sense, he’ll bring an army with him as well as those war balloons, all the Dark Fire and Azula, but not before wiping out most of the Northern Water tribe. You Phantoms may be overpowered, but you don’t stand a chance against an army. On the off chance that you win though, I’m sure he’ll have a dead man switch that guarantees the fish dies. So, why bother trying in the first place?”
“Because we can win, “Aaron said. “With enough time, you can turn a regular ghost into a dangerous threat. Grandfather is already figuring out how to counter Samir’s bullshit technique. If we had a week or two more, that fight you think is so hopeless could go wildly different.”
“Meanwhile, the world falls apart, and Samir sinks his claws deeper into everything that survives?” he countered. “Time is his friend, not ours.”
Aaron grew frustrated, the hypocrisy finally getting to him. “So, you’re just giving up. You refuse to fight but offer no real solutions. Make no mistake, if that spirit dies, the death of millions will be on your and Samir’s heads. You’re the cause of this madness, and the longer you avoid him, the harder the coming fight will be. Stand with us and let us put an end to this madness now.”
“No,” he said with a dark look in his eyes. “I’ll fight him when I’m good and ready.”
Aaron scowled, his face morphing with rage. “Then you’re just as bad as him. There are a dozen other ways for this to play out. This doesn’t have to end with me dragging you back,” Aaron insisted. “Despite everything, I don’t hate you, Mark. Grandfather’s resources are vast, and we have the Avatar with us. Once he masters the Avatar state and we convince the Earth King, the Fire Nation will stand no chance. This war could be over in a month.”
“That’s assuming you’re calling the shots,” Mark pointed out. “If push comes to shove and every single one of your plan goes up in flames. If Samir asks for me, will you be able to stop your grandfather from handing me over?”
Aaron opened his out and shut it. He bit his lips in frustration. “At that point, I’ll gladly hand you over myself.”
Mark gave a bloody smile, his voice thick with emotion, “That’s all I needed to hear.”
Aaron stumbled forward as a sharp pain slipped through him. He looked at his stomach, confused to see his glider suit turning red, his bent blade sticking out halfway through his belly.
“How?” he muttered as he crumbled to his knee.
“Aaron!” he heard Aang yell from behind him.
“I really didn’t want it to end this way,” Mark muttered, “but you were right all along. I am a selfish bastard.”
He flicked his hand, and Aaron saw the blade this time. It was one of his crumbled swords, aimed straight at his heart. He lifted his arm up just in time to block it. And it cut through his muscle like paper and stuck out the other end.
Aaron fell back into the snow, body and mind paralyzed from the shock and pain.
Metalbending?
Was that even possible?
Mark pulled a dagger from his waist, ready to finish him off, but then his eyes flashed with fear as he disappeared into the ground.
Aang touched down a moment later in a giant air wave that lifted Aaron and tossed him backwards. His eyes flashed white, and they glowed with malice.
There was a good chance the Avatar would sooner kill him than hear to his words, but Aaron tried anyways.
“Get help,” he said as everything faded.