Smoke and Fire

With the martial master dead, only the whip specialist and Jon jon remained.

As soon as their bombardment stopped, Wang leapt forward for the firebending whip master. Again, he unleashed a dizzying attack.

His hands whipped so quickly and erratically, they spawned a veritable maze of flame before Wang, which he easily crossed aided by Chi reinforcement and his sheer skill. Wang's short blade cleared its sheathe, and in the blink of an eye, the whip master was dead.

His bloodshot eyes turned to Jon jon next, and his Chi swelled as he pulled his second blade.

"You're going to wish you died instead of that martial artist," he said, his voice cold as Ice.

Sweat dripped down Jon jon brow as he spoke.

"I have no desire to fight you, Wang," he said. "Believe it or not, we're on the same side. They have my son. Fighting you would only hurt my chances of seeing him again."

Wang's blood boiled at the very sound of his voice, but every word that came out of his mouth was true. They'd indeed captured Jon Jon's son a while back, with plans of forcing him to join their fight a while back.

Wang took a long steadying breath before he sheathed both his weapons, but the signature red glow of Chi-reinforcement didn't leave his eyes.

"Well, go on, then. Let's hear it. I assume you have some plan of some sort."

Jon Jon smiled as he eased up to a neutral stance. "What would you be willing to trade for easy access to his inner sanctuary."

---

The groups saw smoke on the horizon before they laid eyes on the wreckages. It was so thick it nearly blotted out the sky. Sokka thought a volcano had erupted, but Aaron recognized the signs of a battle.

“Ready yourselves,” Ren announced, but the kids had been ready since they left camp that morning, exactly two days after they received the news. Uncle Harlan had led the assault on the fire Nation Armada along Yara, but they’d been unable to stop the advance. Samir had been wounded, but he still had an Iron grip over the mind of his thralls.

The coming fight might be the hardest of their life, and the kids had done everything they could to prepare themselves.

Aaron and Mark went on a hunting frenzy, killing every animal and beast they could find each time they stopped to feed and water Appa.

Mark drilled them all on the intricacies of his Parallel processing skill, encouraging them to start from physical and mental exercises and advance to juggling two mental tasks simultaneously while piling on increasing complexity.

However, everyone bowed out except Aaron whose mastery of the skill soared even higher. His mind grew serene and he felt a smaller consciousness rub against his. Between them existed a two-way tether, and he could feed it tasks and receive and send information.

After the spar two nights ago, he’d gone about setting it to the task of a critic who scrutinized every moment and chi technique. In days he learned to integrate a less deadly version of wind palm into his feather fist martial arts and supercharged his already deadly Chitechnique.

However, the most practical and interesting use of parallel processing he’d found was to set it to the task of chi gathering, ensuring he never truly ran out of energy while he endlessly theorized.

Despite Mark’s and Aaron’s assurances, the kids were wracked with nerves. Aang was scared he might have to kill somebody and Katara was afraid she’d lose all access to her culture before she had the chance to even master water bending.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Sokka was terrified that the Fire Nation would turn to hunt his father after they were done with the tribe.

They were all valid fears Aaron had no means of dispelling, so he urged them to turn fear into action and focus on what they could control, and that was sticking to the plan.

An ocean of fire and Ice spread out before them when they arrived at the Northern Water tribe.

Metal ships docked on crumbling icy docks spitting smoke and fire, and below, fire, water, and Ice were flung back and forth.

A few watchers spotted them as Appa flew closer and raised an alarm. Below, Men scrambled, and the catapults mobilized.

“Aaron, Mark, take care of them,” Ren ordered.

“Gladly,” Aaron said as he hopped out of the bison pouch, gliding towards the first ship.

Mark followed after on a thin slab of rock. With a wave, Several chunks broke off and super speed downwards towards the watchers, killing several, while Aaron flew closer to the towers and split his focus. One mind focused on keeping him quick and precise with airflow, while the other created stingers and sniped the watchers when he flew close enough.

The ships below spun to life, and Aaron and Mark banked low. The catapults were next.

Aaron touched down the ship closest to Appa, Mark on another a dozen or so meters away and unleashed hell. His lesser mind sunk into his awareness technique while he unleashed a wind blade, slicing through the leverage points of the catapults.

Soldiers tried to rush him, but he weaved through them, cutting down the ones that came close enough before he leapt to his next ship to start all over again.

10 ships were disarmed in a blink, but several more caught on to what they were doing and peppered the giant bison in the sky with flaming rocks.

Luckily, Aang and Ren were on the task, manoeuvring and batting away flaming rocks as they approached.

Aaron was about to pull back to Appa when his One with the World alerted him of a lightning attack aimed at him.

The moment the attack flew, he leapt up into the air, balancing on an airball as the metal deck was bathed in electricity. Soldiers collapsed in a heap, and on the edge of the ship was a young girl his age with a proud smirk on her face.

Princess Azula.

“So, you’re the young Phantom that’s been making a fool of the Fire Nation’s finest,” she purred. “You don’t look like much, but appearances can be deceiving. I’ve always wanted to fight a Phan—”

Several stingers whipped out, cutting her off, while kicking up a cloud of smoke. Aaron’s Submind burned One-with-the-world while he darted to the side, tracking her chi signature, but the Princess was not hiding.

Several blue tongues of flames rushed forth in tight barrages that had Aaron bending and bowing.

The Princess was every bit as fierce as the reports stated, but Aaron was in another league. Leveraging his extra mind, he made impossible leaps, dodged attacks that lashed out from his blind side, and swung out with wind blades and stingers, which the Princess frankly freakish flexibility carried her past.

Their dance turned scenic as they moved through the ship.

“Don’t tell me this is the best you can do?” Princess Azula drawled, as he dodged, weaved, tumbled, and returned fire. Azula pushed him to the edge despite mixing martial arts with air bending, airflow, and everything else in his arsenal aside from Chi-reinforcement.

It would’ve been shortsighted to spend all his Chi with the battle to come. To Azula’s credit, she didn’t look like she was going all out either. Her smirk remained ever-present despite having been pressed several times, which frustrated Aaron even more.

Years of training had sharpened her skill to a terrifying edge. She was probably the most dangerous bender her age. Despite understanding all this, Aaron couldn’t accept she was simply better than he was.

“Tired Already?” she teased. “I thought Phantoms were more metal than flesh.”

Aaron growled, rearing for another attack when he heard Mark yell over.

“Stop flirting with the crazy princess and get out of there. Dark fire troops are surrounding you!”

Aaron quickly scanned the field at the warning, and it had been true. Over a dozen of them were slowly encircling him. Limiting his range on One-with-the-World had narrowed his vision. All the adrenaline pumping in his vein didn’t help things either.

With a steadying breath, he spoke. “Until next time, Princess.”

With a Chi-assisted leap, he cleared the ship and landed beside Mark. Another leap brought them mid-air, flying towards Appa. Azula and the Darkfire peppered them with fireballs and even a longer bolt of lightning followed, but a particularly dense stinger was enough to beat back the attack.

Azula’s eyes widened at Aaron’s skill, but her smirk never waned.

Enjoy the chappy. There won't be another set till Saturday