Path Ahead

Conflagration

Aang was getting worried. He was only using a fraction of his power, but he was afraid that Azula was doing the same. They were testing each other, gauging the capabilities of the opponent. He got the feeling that she was just toying with him, and Aang hated that. It usually meant that she had a plan.

Firebending was unique among the bending disciplines for several reasons, but one of them was that it lacked any defensive techniques. This was quite alien to Aang, since airbending consisted mainly of defensive mobility. In this particular contest, the only thing Aang could do to protect himself was create a fire effect strong enough to keep Azula's from breaking through. It was a different way of thinking, and Aang was glad that Bumi had encouraged him to think differently.

When Azula began to make lightning between her fingers, Aang tensed but paused. He could have taken the opportunity to strike at her while she was occupied, but he had a feeling she could respond faster than he could. Besides, waiting for the opportune moment was something he'd learned from earthbending, and the hesitation allowed him to be free to do whatever was necessary, including re-directing the lightning as Zuko and Iroh had taught him.

Azula smirked as she met his gaze triumphantly and moved to release the lightning. That was all the warning Aang received, and it was all he needed. When Azula shifted at the last second to shoot at Katara instead of Aang, he was ready. Before Katara could even bring her water to bear, a rock wall appeared in front of her, absorbing the electricity.

"You broke the rules!" Azula accused in a snarl, whirling on the Avatar again. He was a little surprised to feel his mouth stretch into a slight grin.

"You attacked someone besides me," he returned mildly. "I said I'd obey the rules as long as you did." The Firelord's eyes widened, then narrowed. She'd taken a gamble, and it hadn't worked. Aang's restraints were off.

"Guards!" she shrieked, attempting to even the odds. "Take them both!"

This order did not have the desired effect. The guardsmen moved, all right, and Aang turned his attention automatically to Katara, but he could see that she was in no immediate danger. The crowd suddenly surged and shifted, and the guards had all they could manage as they were attacked from all sides.

"Aang!" Katara's cry was just in time. Azula had used Aang's moment of distraction to make an attack on him. Reacting mostly on instinct, Aang leapt into the air, free to use his native bending at last. Lightning crackled below him, charging the air and making the fine hairs on his arms stand up. She was already preparing her next attempt when he landed, but this time, he stood his ground. Steeling himself against the fear that tried to rise up within him, he extended his hands to catch the lightning, pulled it safely through his body, and released it back out towards Azula. It exploded several of the paving blocks, but she jumped neatly backward.

Aang followed up with airbending and earthbending, keeping the Firelord off-balance as he tried to alternately move her into a different position or hold her. She was too quick, but that was fine. Now that he could use any of his abilities, Aang had time to think.

He could use the Avatar State, which would allow him to decisively end this, but he hesitated. Even with all of the chaos, there were too many enemies available to take advantage of the moment of concentration it would take for him to shift into that state. He needed to wait until he was certain his allies had his back.

Azula had stopped bothering with lightning, no doubt deciding that it was too slow. Instead, she shot blue fire at Aang in rapid bursts, using hands and feet as she maneuvered away from his efforts. He used his air scooter to zoom around her, presenting a moving target. Neither of them had complete freedom of movement now that general melee had broken out all around them, but Aang felt like that hampered him more than it did Azula. He was a little too slow in dodging one of her attacks, and it set fire to his clothing. Aang launched himself off of the air scooter to roll on the ground, drawing the dust around him to snuff out the flames.