┊𝑰𝒈𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝑳𝒐𝒗𝒆┊

chapter 9

"Well, this is a pleasant surprise."

"What do you want?"

"Oh, you know, the same old thing."

"You won't win."

"Why isn't that stupid waterbender with you? She is your girlfriend, right?"

As soon as the words escaped her mouth, she was encased in rock and earth. "She's not Aang's girlfriend!"

"Well, Avatar, I guess you went for the earthbender girl instead."

Aang and Toph blushed ever-so-slightly before jumping away from Azula's fire breath. Toph made an earth shield and Aang just twirled his staff to stop it. Aang noticed Azula was still smiling, then saw her eyes look to the forest around them.

Ty Lee jumped out of the trees behind Sokka and was about to render his boomerang arm useless, but his skills had greatly improved since they last battled and he was able to dodge her, also driven by the need to save his sister. He smirked at her and dodged another attempt.

"Not this time," he said as he jumped around her. The machete flew up next to his face as Mai's darts flew at him. "Why is everyone attacking me?"

Aang blew a gust of wind, knocking Mai back just a little, but Ty Lee had jumped back up into the trees to avoid it. Toph made the earth rumble and shake, but only made a couple of them stumble. Mai's darts pierced the earth dress that Azula was 'fashioned' with and she escaped it, shooting flames at Aang and Toph.

Mai shot darts out at Toph, but she heard them and pulled up an earth wall to catch them before punching the wall, sending it flying into Mai. She was caught offguard, but recovered quickly and jumped out from behind the wall before it smashed into a tree. Mai was about to shoot at her again until she saw Toph get swallowed by the earth. She stood there shocked for a second until she heard something behind her, right before something smacked her in the head. Her vision was only blurry for a second, but she shook it off and continued her battle.

Aang was having trouble with Azula on the other side of their camp. Luckily he could battle her easier with the little earthbending he knew and the waterskin that Katara had given him. Airbending wasn't enough to beat fire. A water whip caught her armguard but did no damage until Aang froze it and busted it with a rock. Azula growled as blue flames shot from her fingertips and caught Aang's shoulder scarf on fire. He removed it quickly and tossed it on the ground beside him. He shot boulders at her, but she gracefully dodged all but one, which sent her into a tree and disabled her only momentarily.

Sokka and Ty Lee were locked in a hand-to-hand combat. Ty Lee kept trying to get to his pressure points, but Sokka dodged her. He sliced his machete at her and thought he missed until he saw a trace of blood on it, then noticed the giant gash across her arm. For a moment he was proud of himself, but that pride was replaced by guilt soon after. He was taught never to hurt girls, but this was a totally different situation. It didn't stop him from feeling guilty though.

She held her arm and glared at him as his stance softened slightly. He was staring at her, his blue eyes not filled with hate like she had expected, but with pity and guilt and something else she couldn't quite read. She was about to attack again when Mai slammed him into a tree.

"Are you okay?" she called to Ty.

"I'm fine, thanks."