Far from the heart of the battle, yet close enough to see and hear the crashes that split the air, the crowd stood spellbound. The Wulong Forest had become an arena, its towering rock columns shaking under the fury of two figures clashing.
Most of the gathered masses held spyglasses, their hands trembling as they strained to follow the blur of motion. Roars of flame and waves of water echoed across the land, mingling with the shattering of rock.
On the Fire Nation's side, Azula narrowed her golden eyes, lowering her spyglass for a moment. "The Avatar is stronger than I remember," she murmured. "He is nothing like the one we faced months ago."
Ty Lee tilted her head. "Still… Tai's doing well. He's keeping the Avatar on the defensive."
Mai gave a small, cold smirk as her eyes flicked toward the figures darting through steam and stone. "He brought the Avatar to his knees already. I'd say the fight's as good as over."
But Azula shook her head. "No. For the plan to work, the Avatar needs to be defeated while in the Avatar State. Only then will it mean something. When he enters it… that is when the real fight begins."
As though summoned by her words, the Avatar entered the Avatar state. From their vantage point, even separated by the distance, the watchers could feel it, the sudden shift in the world's rhythm as the boy rose up in the air in a storm. Rocks tore from the ground, torrents of water rose, fire spun into orbit, and the very wind howled.
Ty Lee's face paled. "Tai Lung… he's going to fight that?"
Admiral Lung, standing rigid in his military uniform, inclined his head solemnly. "He expected this. You both knew the Avatar would be far stronger than the last time. Isn't that true, Fire Lord?"
Azula's eyes never left the storm of elements circling the glowing boy. She hesitated before answering, "Yes. Stronger. Definitely stronger than I thought."
The crowd gasped collectively as the battle resumed. The speed of the combatants along with the rocks made it impossible to follow properly. They darted in and out of sight, explosions splitting the columns into rubble. The destruction grew so immense it was difficult to believe two benders alone were responsible.
And yet one thing was clear: the roles had reversed. The Avatar pressed forward relentlessly, while Tai Lung twisted, dodged, and deflected. On the Fire Nation's side, many whispered prayers to Agni for Tai Lung's safety and his victory.
On the opposite side of the cliff, where the Earth and Water nations had gathered in hope of the Avatar's triumph, the atmosphere was the opposite.
"Aang's losing," Katara said, her voice quivering, eyes wide as she clutched her brother's arm. "Tai Lung is too strong for him!"
"Calm down," Sokka replied quickly "He hasn't entered the Avatar State yet."
Toph stomped her foot with a frustrated huff. "Can't those two keep to the ground? All this flying around, I can't tell what's happening there!"
Sokka lifted his spyglass again, tracking the streaks of light. "Aang's running and dodging, Tai Lung's pressing the attack."
Then Katara gasped, clutching her mouth. "No!"
Toph tilted her head sharply, feeling through the earth. "I felt that. That was a solid punch."
They all fell silent as Tai Lung stepped back, giving Aang room. And then he finally entered the Avatar State.
Katara's voice broke. "Aang is forcing Tai Lung to run!"
Sokka muttered, "I don't believe Tai Lung can last long against that."
Toph's bare feet trembled on the ground, her blind eyes narrowing. "Columns are snapping like twigs. Just feeling the destruction is enough to tell me how insane this fight is."
Sokka's brow furrowed as a darker thought struck him. "We're lucky Tai Lung is too full of himself. If he'd fought during Sozin's Comet… Aang wouldn't have stood a chance. I can't even imagine how powerful he was back then…"
But his words were cut short.
Tai Lung soared high above the battlefield, fire bursting from his limbs, and in his hand appeared a small, spinning orb of blue flame.
Confusion rippled across the watchers. Such a tiny flame, what could it mean?
Then the Avatar raised a shield of impossible size, merging jagged stone and frozen water into a mountain of ice and rock to meet the little ball.
The collision came.
The world shook. A deafening roar filled the skies as the explosion tore through everything, splitting rock and blasting winds so fierce the audience stumbled backward. The very earth trembled beneath their feet.
Dust and smoke veiled the battlefield. Silence stretched across the watchers as their spyglasses lowered one by one. Horror etched every face. They could not comprehend what they had seen, how a single firebender's strike could cause such devastation.
At the same time, Katara clutched her hands together, whispering desperately. The supporters of the Avatar feared the unthinkable. Was Aang still alive?
——————
The air still quivered from the thunderous blast Tai Lung had conjured. He himself stared, chest heaving, at the devastation that stretched before him. The compressed blue fire, his first attempt to mimic the Avatar's compressing of elements and the assassin from years ago, had brought unexpected results. The land trembled, boulders tumbled like dice, and even the sky seemed to pulse with the echo of its force.
He hadn't expected the flames to swell into such destruction. A shiver passed through him as he realised, had he tried that at closer range, the explosion might have swallowed him whole. It would have been his end.
But his musings were torn short. The stones beneath his feet groaned and shifted, tightening into jagged clamps that snared his legs. His golden eyes snapped forward to the wall of smoke and dust that cloaked the horizon. From the murk, a glow appeared, and then he saw the Avatar, still hovering inside his sphere of air, utterly untouched.
Tai Lung snarled and smashed his fists against the stone shackles, fire bursting from his knuckles. Shards exploded outward, freeing him, and he leapt skyward again. But a sudden lash of water coiled round his leg like a serpent, yanking him violently sideways. He struck a column of rock with bone-jarring force.
With a guttural roar, he blasted fire from his hands to soften the impact, but the crash still rattled his senses. His head spun, just long enough for the Avatar to close the distance.
Tai Lung's eyes narrowed. He drove his fist forward, but Aang's fist struck first. The Avatar's blow erupted in a tempest of air, a gale so fierce it pinned Tai Lung against the stone like an insect on glass. The column shattered beneath him, sending rock splinters into the sky.
Snarling, Tai Lung ignited his palms again, forcing his body upright. With one fluid movement, he conjured lightning. A blue-white fury hurtled toward the Avatar.
The strike connected, and for a heartbeat Tai Lung smirked. Then his triumph froze upon his face. Aang had not flinched. He lifted two fingers then the lighting was launched back at him faster and stronger.
Tai Lung inhaled sharply, teeth clenched, as he allowed the lighting to strike him, he drew the lightning into his own body. Muscles convulsed as the current wracked him, but he twisted, roared, and launched it back with even greater force.
Once more the Avatar caught it, his arms steady. But this time the lightning flung him backwards into a rock column, but still he held it, redirecting it again toward his foe.
Tai Lung braced himself, chest tightening as he met the strike head-on. The lightning slammed into him, shoving him back toward another column, cracks spidering beneath his feet. He readied himself to release it again.
All at once, the rocks spinning around the Avatar shattered into hundreds of small fragments. The fragments streaked toward Tai Lung like arrows loosed from a thousand bows.
Tai Lung thrusted the lightning outward into the hail of stone. The world lit with a cataclysmic blast. The air shook, ears rang, and dust swallowed everything.
From the explosion, fragments still came, whistling through smoke. Tai Lung twisted, ducked, and flung fire from his palms to deflect them, but the barrage tore into him. His column split beneath his weight and crumbled, swallowing him into the haze.
A hush fell. The Avatar floated nearer, then with a wave from his hand, a powerful gust swept through, blowing the smoke aside. And there, Tai Lung was kneeling amidst the rubble, blood streaking his arms, chest and his brows.
The once-proud warrior's shoulders sagged. His breath came ragged. Aang landed not far from Tai Lung, his glowing eyes went back to normal as he exited the Avatar state.
He declared "It is your loss. You are defeated, Tai Lung."