Battle Lines

The East Forest was quiet at night. Azula, Jiahao, and Kobu were standing next to each other and were looking ahead. "Are you sure that they should be here?" Azula asked looking to the waterbender.
"From how much time you said has passed in our world and the time that has passed here. We now know that one day here is two days in our world. Since your army said they would join in six days, they should be here in three days, today." Kobu surmised.
An aurora appeared in the night sky, below that was a curtain of light. Azula was the first to see the curtain open, and the sounds of marching could be heard from behind the light. The Fire Lord smirked when she saw what she was waiting for from behind the light. "Perfect."
----Three days since Fairy Tail had encountered, Ping, Chun, and Hen in Magnolia, things had calmed down. Though that didn't stop some from worrying, particularly Aang, and Zuko, though Zuko hadn't been seen for a while. Iroh, Mai, and even Erza didn't know where he was. It was concerning and they didn't want to worry the others.
Iroh was sipping his tea, while Erza sat across from him. "Something doesn't seem right. If Azula has been here for days, I am worried that she may be planning something nefarious."
"Should we be that worried?" Erza asked.
"I wish I could give you a proper answer. Given my brother's victory over the Avatar, and how crazy Azula is. I can only imagine what she must be planning." He said with a slightly worried tone. "But I am more worried about the lengths she will go to. So I will be worried if she stages an attack in the city. With her being the Fire Lord, I can imagine she'll have a lot more power than she did before."
The main doors opened and the team of Natsu, Gray, Lucy, Wendy, Happy, Carla, Aang, Katara, Toph, and Sokka entered. "I can't believe the mayor only gave us half!" Toph hotly exclaimed walking in.
"It may have something to do with you Natsu and Gray tearing up everything in sight." Aang lightly reminded.
"Please Twinkle Toes. If this guy knew who he was hiring, then he should have seen it coming."
"You fought through his house!" Katara exclaimed. "You know there was a way to round up the dark wizards without destroying the city in the process."
"But still, taking half was cruel!" Natsu complained. "I won't have enough to eat."
"And how am I supposed to get fish now, huh?" Happy asked.
"You can fish them out like a regular person!" Lucy yelled before shrinking into despair. "How are we supposed to pay our rent now, it's due next week!?" she cried.
"I can help you and Katara pay it off." Wendy offered.
Mira walked over to meet them. "Welcome back, how was the job?"
"We got paid half and I think we are banned from there." Gray summarized. "Lucy and Katara need another job for their rent."
"Honestly…" Carla started. "You people are completely barbaric. Even when the leader begged to give up, you still beat him senseless." She said giving a disappointed look at Natsu.
"He tried to take over the town using a pet monster; I'd say he got what he deserved." Sokka said.
Mai had walked over the group; more specifically she looked towards Aang. "Hey, I need a favor from you."
Aang tilted his head slightly, he was curious about what Mai of all people would want from him.
…
Hen was by himself at the hastily built Fire Nation base camp. There were red colored tents as well as some of their battle tanks in the background. He was wrapping tape around his fists and his wrists. He had been uncharacteristically quiet, he was familiar with Fire Nation soldiers, but this was when he was in the colonies. The soldiers from the Fire Nation proper were definitely a lot fuller of themselves. They looked down at him simply because he wasn't from the Fire Nation. But he didn't mind. He only had one thing on his mind and that was protecting Chun and he certainly wasn't going to let anything bad happen to her.
Knowing he could only do so much by himself, he needed to spar with someone, but not just anyone. Since he was going up against wizards, he had to be fought to the absolute limit. He got up and he found Ping talking to one of the soldiers.
"I don't care. We need all the help we can get against these magic users! So get it done!" Dark Ping exclaimed.
"Y-yes ma'am." The soldier said. He left the two of them alone.
"Hey, crazy lady." Hen called out to her while smirking.
"What do you want, insect?"
"You say I haven't been taking things seriously, and you know what. You're right, so have an idea."
Ping folded her arms. "This ought to be good."
Hen got into a fighting stance. "You and me, let's go. Right now!"
The swordswoman laughed. "Are you serious, I could kill you know, if that happens, then who will watch over that delicate little Chun."
The earthbender only chuckled. "I'll take my chances, so let's get it on, unless… you're chicken." Hen started to cluck like a chicken. A stiletto knife was thrown past his cheek, Hen narrowly avoided it, but it drew small amounts of blood. He grinned as he knew that Ping wasn't going to hold back.
"Azula still needs you, so I won't kill you, but I will bang you up, so you'd better be-" Ping was suddenly launched across the base camp as a small pillar crashed into her gut. She rolled and slowed herself down by dragging her fingers into the ground and stopping with her feet. "Cheap shot artist!" she generated two phantom katanas sprinted to where Hen was waiting for her.
"Well here goes." Hen charged forward as well and surrounded his right fist with rocks to create a large rocky fist.
When the two of them clashed, an explosion of dark energy had struck Hen and he was sent flying in a similar manner to Ping earlier. He slid back on his feet and he saw Ping was right in his face. He instinctively launched himself and Ping followed him into the air. "You're outmatched!" she slashed past him before kicking him down to the ground. Hen slammed hard into the ground. Seeing Ping land on the ground, he noticed that they were a safe distance from base camp, so he didn't need to hold back as much. He slammed his hands into the ground and the ground around him was slowly turning into lava. Ping noticed the ground heating up and she continued running, despite seeing the cracks in the ground.
There were spouts of lava that were shooting out and Ping was avoiding them. Hen had made two clumps of rocks float beside him and they started to heat them up, and when they were molten, he shaped them into star-shaped projectiles. He shot them forward to Ping. Unable to predict his sudden technique, she threw her phantom blades at the lava stars. Only one of the stars was deflected, and she was hit with the second one, the lava burned through her clothes and she was knocked into the air. The ground below the flying Ping was molten lava. She noticed this and she fired a Graviton into the lava to shoot herself into the air. She landed on solid ground and she glared at Hen.
"You could have killed me!" she hotly exclaimed.
"Um… oops?" Hen playfully said.
Ping's hair stood up on end and dark energy was pulsing through her veins. "Oh, you've done it now…"
Hen smirked and he spun his lava stars beside him. "Bring it on!"
"ENOUGH!" they saw Jiahou walking up to them with an authoritative stance. "What do you think you two are doing?"
"Chill, Mr. General." Hen sang. "We were just sparring, man."
"Yeah right, this dirt ingrate tried to kill me!" Ping exclaimed.
Hen playfully stretched out his tongue. "You're just mad 'cause I nearly beat you."
Jiahou pinched the bridge of his nose. "I don't care why you two are fighting. I just want it to stop! We need to be at full strength, the fate of the Fire Nation could rest on this plan succeeding! So knock it off!"
The young general walked off and Hen started chuckling. "Wow, someone's got to grab that pole out of his butt!"
"I know what you're doing. You tried to melt me, just so you can protect your precious Chun."
Hen chuckled. "First of all, Chun can take care of herself. I'm just doing what any decent person would do for a friend. And second, I have no idea what you're talking about."
Ping got into his face that showed a confident grin. "Don't mess with me! I could kill you if I wanted to."
"But you won't will you? Cause if that happens, I won't be around to help you people take down Fairy Tail, and if… when this plan fails. It'll be your fault because you took out one of our assets. Azula will be pissed at you, and General stick-in-the-mud will vouch against you because he saw the two of us fighting." Ping's eyes widened and she was completely shocked by how much Hen thought this through. And he remained extremely confident. "I'm not a dumb as I look." He lightly tapped his finger on Ping's nose.
She watched him playfully skip away, mocking her. This left Ping extremely steamed. "I HATE him!" she thought.
----Mai and Erza were flying on top of Appa. The two of them were trying to find Zuko. They knew he had been acting different ever since he had heard of Azula returning. "Has Zuko said anything to you?"
Erza looked forward as she held the reins. "I can't say that he has. He's kept to himself since yesterday." Though Erza did know why, and that was because Azula was there, but still, per Makarov's orders she had to keep quiet about it.
"Maybe he heard about us talking about Azula, and that struck a nerve." Mai looked out into the distance. "No one really has been able to put Azula in her place, maybe Zuko wants to do that if the time comes when they fight again."
"I'm not sure if that's a good idea."
"Why do you think so?"
"They may have a strained relationship, but they are still brother and sister," Erza remembered that she had made a promise to watch over both Zuko and Azula.
"Maybe, but Azula's not normal. She's too far gone. I've seen it for myself. She's been like that since she was a child, she's crazy."
Erza kept quiet. She realized that given how much negative things she had heard about her, she needed to know why Azula was like that and she doubted that Mai had those answers.
"Down there!" they spotted Zuko on the ground of a rocky landscape. He was performing constant fire bending techniques, throwing fire jabs, and arcs with his bare hands and feet. He was also charging lightning and he shot a long stream of electricity across the field with two of his pointing fingers. He was panting after he had completed the attack. Sweat was all over his shirtless body. Mai's face was red and she had a puff of steam escape from each of her ears after she had seen his shirtless body. Erza saw this and chuckled. "That cat must never hear about this!"
Erza was still smiling. "Hehe, yeah agreed."
Appa landed hard on the ground, this loud commotion had caused Zuko to turn to them. "Zuko, what are you doing out here?" Mai said walking to him.
"What does it look like? I'm training, if Azula and the Fire Nation managed to find us, then I have to take her down."
Mai scoffed at him. "You know we can just sick Natsu on her, he'll easily be able to-"
"No! If anyone has to defeat Azula, it's going to be me!" He declared. "I'm not going to hide behind Natsu. So I'm going to do it on my own." Erza gave Zuko a look of concern, but he didn't acknowledge it. "There is nothing either of you can say that can stop me."
"Zuko, this is stupid. I won't let you risk your life over some stupid thing you think you have to settle with her!" she yelled.
Zuko clenched his fists. "It isn't stupid!" he exclaimed. "You don't know what it was like growing up with her. She practically cheered on my death when my grandfather wanted me dead! She's twisted; it has to end, so I'm going to be the one that does it."
The sound of Erza using her Requip magic was heard. They saw her in her Fire Empress Armor. "Erza, w-what are you doing?"
"Zuko, I don't like this way of thinking, but if you're hell-bent on trying to get stronger. Then at least let me help you." His eyes were slightly wide, but he tightened his stance as he prepared to fight against Erza. Zuko had thrown a long stream of fire from his fist, but Erza easily slashed through the flames with her sword. "You have to do better than that!" she had slashed the air and shot a thick arc of fire towards Zuko. He quickly side swiped away from the flame. Erza kept up the attack and ran towards him to attack with her sword. Zuko dodged and he stomped hard on the ground, sending a wave of fire towards Erza. When the fire had engulfed Erza they didn't look to be effective. Smoke was rising off of her armor.
Zuko shot numerous fire jabs, this attack drew Erza in as she was deflecting the fiery projectiles with her sword and the dragon-like gauntlets that covered her arms. As she got close, Zuko shot blasts of fire from his feet which propelled him towards Erza. She didn't expect him to come at her so quickly, and also didn't expect him to drive his knee into her stomach.
After her shock, he leaped off of her back and further propelled himself into the air and while he hung in the air, he created two compressed flame projectiles and he sent them both down to where Erza was and a tremendous explosion was created.
A blast of wind blew past Mai and she saw Zuko landing on the ground. "Jeez, are you as crazy as your family!?" Mai exclaimed, after pointing to the crater that Zuko created.
Erza stood at the bottom of the crater, covered in dust and soot. There were slight cracks in her Fire Empress Armor. "He isn't holding back at all… Then neither shall I." Erza thought. A gold light covered her and she had changed her armor, she donned her Flight Armor to counter Zuko's fast attacks.
"Uh, how many armors do you have? 'cause I lost count," Mai asked not expecting an answer.
Erza leaped out of the crater and sprinted towards Zuko. Zuko formed fire daggers above his closed fists. He ran forward to meet Erza, who started the attack.
----Azula meanwhile was walking around the city of Magnolia, though she was dressed a red shirt and black shorts in order to fit in with the rest of the city since her Fire Nation uniform would stick out like a sore thumb. She was her scouting the city if the event came that they would have to fight there. "Ah, there it is." She saw the very large guild that she was aiming to take down. "Fairy Tail… And the Avatar is hiding in there somewhere. Very soon, this will all be over."
"Hey!" Azula turned around and she spotted a certain pink haired dragon slayer. "Impressive ain't it?"
"What is?" Azula asked as she looked over Natsu, unaware he was her enemy, she noted his much-toned muscles and abs that were exposed by his open vest. "He just walks around like that!? I mean… I'm not complaining but…" 
"Fairy Tail, can't ya tell! I'm a part of it!" he showed her his guild mark on his shoulder. "That is our guild hall!"
"Oh great… he's a part of this lousy guild too?" "That's great…" she said faking a smile. "Say, you wouldn't happen to know of someone called 'the Avatar' would you?"
Natsu chuckled. "Of course! Me and Aang are best buds!"
"Best buds…? And who exactly would you be?"
Natsu let out a single laugh and grinned. "I'm Natsu Dragneel, haha!"
She let out a huge gulp on the realization that he was the enemy she was warned about; Azula hoped that Natsu didn't notice. "I see… I've heard a lot about you… " Azula hastily backed away from Natsu, just in case she would have been spotted by anyone from her world.
"How could you not?" Happy said, floating above Natsu. "He is Fairy Tail's Salamander."
Azula was startled by Happy's sudden appearance, especially since she had never seen a cat with wings before, but she kept her composure. "And you are?"
"I'm Happy! Part of Fairy Tail's strongest team!"
Azula scoffed at Happy's outrageous sounding claim. "You? What's your ability? Being annoyingly cheerful?" Happy froze in mid-air and turned grey, his confidence immediately shot down. "With how weak you look, you could barely qualify to be a sidekick." A crack was seen through Happy's frozen form. "What exactly do you even do in your guild? Fly around while coughing up furballs." Happy's petrified form had shattered.
Natsu glared at her. "Hey, don't talk to Happy like that!"
"I'm only being honest." Azula argued. "Anyway, why does someone as powerful and… ahem… muscular as you hang out with… that…"
"WHAT DID I EVER DO TO YOU!?" Happy cried.
Azula had placed her fingers on her forehead. "Even your voice annoys me."
"You annoy me." Natsu said. "No one talks to Happy like that, without me punching them in the face!"
Azula had backed away slightly. "Alright… sorry… I guess..." Azula suddenly came up with an idea. "I've heard about your dragon slayer magic, is there any way I can… see it in action?"
Natsu's smirking face had surprised Azula, she was even more surprised when she was grabbed by the wrist and Natsu took off across town with Happy following them. "You wanna see? Well, then you're coming with me on this job then! Let's go Happy!"
"Aye, sir!"
"HEY! I DIDN'T AGREE TO THIS! UNHAND ME!" Azula yelled as she was actually dragged off of her feet and was helpless to stop Natsu from dragging her around.
----Aang was sitting on top of the roof of his and Natsu's home meditating by himself. "Hey!" he looked down to see Katara looking up at him. "I had a feeling you would be here."
"Well I kind of live here, haha." Aang created an air spout that lifted Katara to the roof. "So what brings you here?"
"With all the crazy stuff that happens every day around here, we never really had some time to be just by ourselves you know."
Aang blushed and slightly looked away. "Hehe, yeah… I know what you mean." He nervously said.
"So mind if I see the inside of the house?"
Aang sweated slightly. "Well… it's probably not a good idea, you have to remember I live with Natsu and Happy, so it's a mess in there."
Katara cringed when she put this information together. "R-right… I see what you mean. Thanks for the warning." There was a brief awkward silence between them and they tried to avoid eye contact with each other. Katara started to speak about what was on her mind. "But I wanted to talk about… well, it's about back when we were fighting against the Oracion Seis."
"Oh yeah, what do you want to talk about?" Aang said finally turning to her.
"It's about what I said… when we tried to get all of you to get back up and help us defeat Zero."
Aang looked away while he was flustered. "Oh… r-right… Boy, he was sure tough though."
Katara let out a chuckle while she smiled. "You really are turning into Natsu, I didn't come here to talk about your fight with Zero. No… because when Zero took you and the others down… I-I saw a very short glimpse of it… I didn't want to believe it, but I really thought you were in trouble or worse…" she put her palm to her heart. "My heart ached, and I felt so helpless."
"Katara…"
"When Zero said that he beat all of you… I was really afraid that… I was going to lose you." Aang instinctively put his hand on Katara's. It was her turn to blush as she continued. "It was then that I realized how important you are to me, how much you mean to me."
"Katara what are you saying?"
"I meant what I said, back then. And I still feel that way now. Aang I love you!" she declared. The pair of them were blushing, though Aang's face was a deeper shade of red. He was extremely glad that Happy was nowhere near the pair of them.
"Whoa… I didn't expect to hear that… The truth is that I thought I kind of drove you away, what with the kiss on Ember Island, then there was me disappearing to this world."
She giggled in response to this. "Well, Ember Island was just… very bad timing… and well since you disappeared… I've missed you a lot. Plus you'd have a better time trying to get Happy to quit eating fish than driving me away."
Aang laughed at this. "I should have said this a long time ago, I love you too."
Their cheeks were both bright red and their faces were both slowly closing in, while they scooched closer together. When their eyes closed, they both knew that there was no turning back and all that waited for them was the inevitable lip contact. Once their lips did touch, they both hugged each other, deepening the kiss.
After a few seconds, they both ended the kiss and let go of each other. They both then rested their foreheads on each other. "It's weird… it feels… real…" Aang said.
"Of course it is, sweetie," Katara said with a slight grin.
"U-u-um…" they both saw Wendy on the ground and her whole face was red and steam was puffing from her ears while her eyes were white circles. "A-Aang… Kat-ara…?"
"Uh… how much of that did you see?" Aang asked.
Carla hovered in front of her. "Enough. Now she's going to get crazy ideas in her head." The both of them had quickly shifted away from each other. "But that's not why we're here, something is happening at the guild and you need to get there." She looked to the empty bed of hay where Appa usually lay down. "Where is that bison?"
"Mai and Erza needed him, so he's gone for now. But what's so important at the guild?"
"This is something you have to see for yourself."
Both Aang and Katara got up and they jumped down to the ground. "Right, let's go." Aang noticed that Wendy hadn't moved from her spot. "Uh, Wendy?"
She suddenly shook her head. "But… I saw…"
"You are much too young to be thinking about that stuff, Wendy?" Carla said with her arms folded.
"But isn't Wendy around the same age as us?" Katara whispered into Aang's ear, to which Aang replied with a nod.
"Anyway, we should go now if it is that important." Aang declared.
----In a small desert town, Natsu, Happy and their unwilling partner, Azula were hiding behind barrels as they staked out the bar that a supposed up and coming dark guild usually hung out. "I can't believe I'm here… what was I thinking… this is a very bad idea…" Azula was muttering to herself, back turned to Natsu. Blue lines were rising from here as she was fearful of what would happen. The worst thing that could happen was that Natsu would realize who she really was, throwing her plans into jeopardy.
"Natsu… she's weird… we should leave her." Happy said.
Natsu walked over to her and he placed both his hands on Azula's shoulders, instantly spooking her. She screamed and leaped and stood in her firebending stance and had two fingers aimed at Natsu.
"Haha, why are ya so jumpy?" Natsu laughed.
"D-don't sneak up on someone like that, you filthy peasant!" Azula exclaimed. "S-so what's your plan genius, unless I'm remembering wrong, that job said you had to take out a small dark guild. How do you plan to do that exactly?"
"I'll beat every single one of them, that's what I'll do!"
"Oh right, like you can defeat an entire army of people on your own." Though she didn't notice that Natsu was walking through the dual swing doors of the barn, "W-what… are you that dumb?!"
"YO!" Natsu yelled entering the bar. "I'm looking for the 'Death Soul' guild!" every single face in the bar turned to Natsu and Happy, all of them were brandishing melee weapons, from chains to rusty swords and daggers.
The biggest person in the bar had walked up to Natsu, he had tattoos all over his body, was dark skinned and bald. "I am the master of the Death Soul guild. Who are y-" he didn't finish because Natsu had launched a fist into his chin that sent him flying through the roof.
Azula who had walked to the entrance had her eyes grow wide, while her pupils shrank. "H-he just took him out like it was nothing!"
"GET HIM!" soon they were all charging to Natsu and Happy
Azula watched as his hands were lit a flame and they didn't look to hurt him. "I-Is that his-"
"Hey you!" he turned back to Azula. "You said you wanted to see my magic, well here it is!" he threw an explosive punch that had sent three guys right through the wooden walls of the bar. While she was in awe of Natsu's magic, she shook her head and ran into the bar to join the fight.
"I should be fine as long as I don't use my firebending, these fools look incredibly weak!" she saw a fat man whipping a chain like a lasso and. She let it wrap around her wrist and she ran, slid under his legs and she yanked on the chain as hard as she could, forcing the plump man to the ground. Continuing to be aware of her surroundings, she dodged a punch and she backflipped onto the bar counter and she kicked a man in the face. She leaped and swung on one of the hanging ceiling lamps and she swung onto the back of another man who was using a wooden bar stool as a weapon.
He fell to his stomach and Azula continued fighting hand to hand, she chopped a few necks and threw a lot of kicks, though many of the dark guild members were going for Natsu and he easily beat them back. "Heh, someone is paying to rid themselves of these weaklings? You better charge them for wasting your time; these people aren't even a challenge!" she even saw Happy fighting off some of the dark guild members with a single fish that was larger than he was. "Hah, they're so weak… they're even losing to the cat!"
"Hey, that's mean!" Happy cried.
One of the last guild members had stepped out of the back with a magic flamethrower. "Haha! Burn you trash!" he shot the wide flames to Natsu and Azula. Azula considered manipulating the flames, so they could not be burned by them. But she was astounded when she saw Natsu, literally sucking up the flames into his mouth. Azula turned white while her mouth was agape as she couldn't believe what she was seeing.
"Unbelievable… h-he really can eat fire… H-he really is that powerful!?"
Natsu had chuckled and he rubbed his mouth. "Thanks for the meal!" he said in a low tone as he smirked. "Now that I've eaten, I'm all fired up!" the person who fired the flamethrower noticed the red Fairy Tail emblem on Natsu's shoulder, and that was enough of a reason to run. "You're not leavin' Fire Dragon's Roar!" he shot a wide burst of fire from his mouth and the flames spread all over the bar.
From outside, the bar exploded and wooden debris was raining from the sky. All the members were knocked out with swirls replacing their eyes. "H-how did you do that?" Azula asked. Dumbfounded by this ability Natsu had shown.
"Haha, it's all part of my magic. You weren't so bad yourself."
"Natsu had blown stuff bigger than this!" Happy cheerily chirped.
Azula though quickly noticed something missing. "Hey, where is that guy you punched earlier?" Not long after she asked the question the guild master of the dark guild had fallen onto the dusty ground.
"Oh, there he is." Happy said.
"Now to collect the reward money." Natsu was dragging the unconscious leader by his foot. He looked back to Azula, and he started sniffing the air. "You smell… familiar…"
"Don't sniff me you disgusting barbarian!"
"Dragon Slayers have really good noses." Happy said.
Natsu then got closer and he continued sniffing, much to Azula's discomfort. "Yeah… you smell like someone I know. Lucy, Toph…? Ah-ha! You smell like Zuko!" he exclaimed.
Azula had her hands behind her back and sparks were being generated by her two fingers, she stood ready to strike had he managed to figure out her identity. "Zuko…? I've never even heard of that name before, strange."
"Yeah, you also have the same eyes as him…" he noted.
"So what, many people have similar eye color. Why don't you deliver this weakling trash to wherever you're supposed to?"
Natsu turned around and smiled. "Yeah, I guess I should. By the way, I didn't ask your na-" when he looked back expecting to see Azula, he and Happy were surprised when she had disappeared. "Huh, where'd she go?"
"Didn't she seem weird to you?" Happy asked.
"Well, whatever!" Natsu said. "Let's go home Happy!"
"Aye!"
From behind a wooden building, Azula watched them leave. "Beating him will be a challenge; he must be stronger than any other Fire Bender in our world, perhaps even my father. But if I beat him, I would be revered. I defeated a slayer of dragons, maybe then my Father would finally see my strength…" she watched Happy and Natsu leaving the small town. "Make no mistake Natsu Dragneel. You've made a dangerous enemy!"
----Elsewhere Mai had been watching Zuko and Erza fight for hours. The sun was slowly setting over the horizon. She had lain on Appa's side and the bison had let out a yawn. "I'm with you there! How long are these two going to go at it? I'm bored."
During the fight, Zuko was still shirtless and he was fighting with his dual swords in order to match up to Erza who was in her black wing armor. Erza's sword was covered in dark purple energy and she flew toward Zuko.
Zuko covered his swords in flames and shot forward to Erza. The two collided and after a brief second, they shot past each other. Both of them were panting. "We should stop for today," Erza said.
Zuko fell to one knee. "Good idea."
…
The sun was setting and both Mai and Appa were asleep. Erza and Zuko were not too far from them. "So are you still dead set on fighting Azula?" Erza said.
"My stance hasn't changed on that. Azula isn't going to change, even my Uncle thinks so." Zuko said.
"Really?"
"I remember him saying: 'She's crazy and she needs to go down.' It's either me or her."
Erza looked away. "I guess I can't change your mind on this."
"Azula made it her mission to make my life a living hell, so let's see how she likes it when she's on the receiving end. I'm finally a match for her now, I can shoot lightning… and it's likely she doesn't know how to redirect it. So I'm going to end it."
"You're talking about putting down your own sister? How can you be okay with that!?"
Zuko stood up and looked at the sun. "She was okay with my death. At the very least, a harsh beating is what she deserves, but I will be fighting to kill. Because I know Azula will."
Erza didn't want to be the one to stop Zuko, however, the favor that she made to Ursa's apparition was still fresh in her head. "...Go back to your family, don't abandon them, don't make the same mistake I did. And if I can ask you a huge favor, please take care of my son ...and daughter when the time comes."
Ursa would want Erza to somehow drive Azula on the right path, but first, she would have to somehow pull the wedge that stood between Zuko and Azula. "I won't stop you Zuko, that wouldn't be my place since I wasn't there when she tormented you."
"Yes it wouldn't, she was probably twisted from birth. Considering the person my father is, it only makes sense that some of his qualities went into her."
Erza gave a long sigh. "We should get back; everyone was worried about you when you disappeared on us."
"Fine," Zuko said standing up.
----Azula returned to her campsite and Jiahao was the first to greet her. "Ah, Fire Lord Azula. How was your day, I can assume your scouting of the city was successful?"
"It's smaller than Ba Sing Se, so taking over it will be child's play. Trying to beat Fairy Tail, on the other hand, would be a challenge, perhaps the biggest in the Fire Nation's history."
"I don't understand…"
"Other than the Avatar, there is that Natsu Dragneel we have to worry about."
Jiahao laughed. "You seriously don't believe that someone could eat fire? I'm sure it's highly exaggerated."
Azula chuckled. "That's where you're wrong. That Natsu can literally eat fire, I've seen it for myself."
"You've 'seen' it? How!?"
"I ran into him, he was too dim to recognize me as Zuko's sister, and he sniffed me for some weird reason. But this Natsu, he is a literal one-man army. If we aren't prepared, he'll run through our army like it was nothing to him."
"You are underestimating our army?"
"I think you're missing the bigger picture here. What can an army of Firebenders do against someone who is practically immune to fire?"
Jiahao went silent as he wasn't able to give her a good answer. "So what do you propose we do?"
"You leave that pink haired simpleton to me. I have a plan to defeat him, and maybe I'll roast his pathetic flying pet too."
"Flying pet?"
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."
Jiahou sighed. "For the past three days, we've been learning about the magical items in this world and thus, we managed to quickly construct modified armor for our soldiers."
"Modified in what way?"
Jiahao led her to where he had the armor hanging on wooden racks. It looked like typical fire nation heavy armor, with the white skull-like faceplate and spiked helmet. The alters in the uniform were that there were red crystals that lined the edges of the shoulder plates and the lower parts of the uniform. There were also fingerless gloves that each had a red crystal orb on them. Finally, there was a dark red orb on the chest area with the Fire Nation insignia in a lighter red inside of it.
"These crystals are called Lacrima, think of them as magical containers that have a variety of uses. As for our uses, they are meant to absorb a portion of magic used on them to lighten the damage they do to our troops. And they are able to amplify the flames from our troops to double their power, by using the magic they absorbed." Jiahao explained.
Kobu walked to them. "A magic battery if you will, though we still need a sound strategy if we plan to win."
Jiahao looked in the distance. "You don't worry about that." He turned to Kobu. "That job request job you sent out, how long before they get here?"
Kobu looked at the sunset. "As soon as they realize what we are doing, they will most likely send a small team to take us out. But there is no doubt the Avatar will be with them. Once we know they are here, we'll take them out."
----Back at the guild, there were concerned faces as they all turned to a job request that Mira had shown them. But at that very moment, she was about to say something-
"YO! I'm back!" Natsu announced bursting in through the door. He noticed all the worried faces that everyone had. "Huh, what are you all worried for?"
"Where were you, Natsu!?" Gray exclaimed.
"Something big just happened!" Mira said. Natsu looked at the job and he grew curious and looked at the large reward.
"WOW! That's a lot!" Natsu commented.
"Hmm, really?" Toph asked. "Tell me, by how many times over will it pay off Lucy's rent?"
"You're cruel!" Lucy said while she folded her arms.
Aang looked over it. "It says that a traveling troop was ambushed by a group of four wizards with the power of the elements. They were seen traveling to the East Forest."
"If it's those four again, we have a chance to stop them for good!" Gray said.
"Guess they got tired of piggybacking off dark guilds in order to take us out," Sokka said.
Natsu placed his palm on the table. "YES!" He exclaimed. "We should take them out!"
"Or we could capture them; maybe get some answers out of them," Katara suggested.
Aang then looked up before he turned to everyone else. "I'm going." He declared. "They aren't too far from Magnolia… and given how dangerous they are. It would be dangerous to let them do as they please while innocent people could get hurt."
Lucy was thinking. "This gives me another chance to talk to Chun. I have to see this through…" "I'm going too!" Lucy said, surprising almost everyone there.
"You sure about this?" Katara asked.
"Yes, I'm sure."
Gray scratched his head. "Well if you're going, then so am I. If that waterbender from before is there, then I can deal with him. But, we should probably wait for Erza."
"No time," Aang said. "The longer we wait, the more chance we could lose their trail."
Gajeel who stood in the corner had grinned. "Gihi." He then stomped his foot on the table. "If you want to put them down for good, then you'll need me!"
Natsu looked at Gajeel. "We don' need you." Gajeel flinched and his eyes became white circles.
Both Dragon Slayers bashed heads. "Want me to prove how much you weaklings need me, Salamander!"
"Why wait?! let's do this right now!"
Toph had made a rock pillar burst out of the ground and it dazed both Natsu and Gajeel. "You two are impossible. We'll all go, deal with them once and for all!"
Sokka looked deep in thought. "Hold it! Don't you guys think this is weird?"
"What do you mean?" Ty Lee asked.
"Why choose now to start going after innocent people when they could have done it a lot earlier?" Sokka said. "They relied on Dark Guilds to even the odds, but with just the four of them, it doesn't make sense."
"What are you saying Sokka?" Suki asked.
"I'm saying that this could be a trap. Draw out the strongest of Fairy Tail would leave the guild open to attack."
Carla walked up to him. "I agree, besides sending out all of you to deal with only four people seems excessive."
"So Aang, why don't you take Natsu, Gajeel, Lucy and Gray out there to deal with this, the rest of us will defend the guild if necessary."
Aang nodded. "Fine, but if we find nothing we'll come straight back."
"Just be careful. It could be a trap." Katara warned.
Natsu laughed. "Don't worry, we'll be safe. We'll just beat the crap out of anyone shady we see there."
She then looked at both Aang and Natsu. "Just try not to destroy the forest… again."
Aang laughed to himself. "Yeah, we'll be careful this time. Promise."
"Just remember, if you find nothing, come straight back. We're not sure if this is a trap or not." Sokka added.
"Then we'll just make it quick!" Natsu said clenching a fist with a confident face. "Let's go!"
"Aye!" Happy exclaimed.
----At the Fire Nation campsite, Chun was sitting by herself close to her tent. "Problem?" she looked to see General Jiahao standing over her.
"U-um n-no not really?"
"Good, cause if we are going to take down this 'Fairy Tail'. We need to be at the top of our game, not to mention if we manage to capture Magnolia; it would be a huge win for the Fire Nation. Think about it, our dominance would be spread across two worlds." Chun stayed silent and only kept hugging her knees. "I take it that doesn't excite you?"
"This is a bad idea…"
"Excuse me?"
"Obviously, you haven't read our record against Fairy Tail. Plus…" she thought back to the before the Fantasia Festival, where Fairy Tail had worked together to destroy Laxus' lacrima that threatened to strike the city with electricity. "Plus, Fairy Tail is a lot more than a destructive force of nature. They are a family…"
"You seem to know an awful lot about them. I hope you know where your allegiances lie, cause Magnolia will be under our control once the Avatar is brought to justice."
Chun angrily got up. "You just don't get it, do you!? Do you have any idea how messed up this is? We already won, now you want to go through all this trouble to stop someone who isn't even in our world anymore. Plus we're starting a war in a world we don't belong in! Doesn't that bother you?!"
"It doesn't." Jiahao calmly stated. "We are only doing this to ensure our future as the dominant nation. No matter where the Avatar is, he is always a threat to us."
"This world has rules and laws you know. I don't know if you know this, but if we do this and somehow win. The Fire Nation will have made a handful of new enemies, not to mention the Magic Council will-"
"I don't give a damn about this world's laws!" He declared. "If they want to stop us, let them. But like every other Nation in our world, like the Avatar. They will be no match for us."
Chun sighed. "Why did I think I could talk you out of it, you're blind to your own power, just like the rest of them." She paused before looking away from Jiahao. "My brother… how is he doing?"
"He's recovering fine, still doesn't remember you, however."
"Of course… things never go right for me after all." She groaned.
"That isn't the kind of talk I expect to be hearing from a Firebending prodigy. If this doesn't work out because of your weakness, I'm afraid we will have no more use for your brother." Chun glared at Jiahao, she was very tempted to straight up attack him but she couldn't because of the situation with Jiahao and her brother. "Now be a good little girl and do as you're told. Can you do that?"
"It's not like I have a choice."
Jiahao had left her by herself. "I've got to do something… but… What can I do now? Changing their minds isn't going to work…"
----Once night fell, the group of Natsu, Aang, Gajeel, Lucy, Gray, and Happy had quickly gotten to the East Forest.
"You know they are going to ambush us right?" Gray said.
"Yeah, but we have Natsu's nose to tell us where they are, right?"
"I still don't smell anything. Ain't no one here but us." Natsu who lead the group had his foot trip over a very thin trip wire and once this happened a quickly built trap sprung into place. A bunch of small explosive lacrima had fallen to the ground around them. They were blinking red and they were beeping.
"I knew it was a trap!" Gray exclaimed.
"GAHH!" they all screamed as the bombs had exploded around them.
A huge plume of black smoke had surrounded them before it faded away. A hemisphere of spinning air surrounded them, Aang put it up to protect from the explosive forces. "Hey, that wasn't funny!" Natsu exclaimed. "Show yourself, you cowards!"
Suddenly flaming arrows had shot towards them. Aang could hear them coming and he easily blew them away. "Archers?!" Aang exclaimed.
"Huh, since when did they have archers?!" Lucy said.
Aang though knew what was happening. "So it is true…"
"What is?"
"That the Fire Nation really is here." He said.
"W-wait… you mean their army is here?" They heard loud stomping and it was closing in on them.
"Everyone stay together!" Aang said. Everyone had stood back to back and they watched as heavy komodo rhinos and Fire Nation tanks had surrounded them. Many of the tanks ran down the trees in their way.
Natsu smirked. "Haha, this all ya got?!"
Gray showed a similar confident smirk as he got ready to cast a spell. "You think a bunch of arrows and some fancy tin cans will stop us."
Natsu started sniffing the air. "Wait… that scent I've smelled it before."
"Well if it was that easy, we would have defeated you by now." Jumping off one of the rhinos was Jiahao and he looked right at them. "So you are part of the infamous Fairy Tail, the group that has caused us so much trouble."
"Who are you?" Natsu asked.
"Thank you for asking, you may address me as General Jiahao. I am a General that was appointed to come to this world and retrieve the Avatar. Now we can either do this the easy way or the hard way, so unless you want to start a war with the Fire Nation. You'll hand the Avatar over to us."
"You're stupid if you think we'll do that!" Lucy said pointing at Jiahao. "Especially after hearing about how horrible you guys are!"
"I see so we're doing this the-" though he was interrupted when a ball of fire had sped over to him. He quickly split the flames and threw them to his sides. "Well, that was rude!"
"I got tired of hearing you flap your mouth," Natsu said. "You better be prepared for a beating pal, cause anyone who messed with Aang, is going to have to deal with me!" A small, concentrated blast of blue flames had struck Natsu and this made him stagger back slightly.
"Ah, we meet again, Natsu." He turned to see Azula, though she was donned in her Fire Nation armor.
"IT'S YOU!?" Natsu exclaimed.
"The weird girl!?" Happy yelled as well.
"YOU MET HER!?" Aang and Lucy comically yelled.
"Yeah, she was in town and said she was interested in my magic. Why?"
"Cause she's Azula!" Aang revealed.
Natsu, Lucy and Gray's eyes became white circles as they realized that they were staring right at the girl that was responsible for so much pain.
"Y-you're the one?" Lucy asked while shaking.
"Guilty as charged. Now let's get this over with. I am the Fire Lord and I have a very busy schedule."
Natsu grinned. "I've been waiting for this! I've heard a lot about you, Azula. And you're going dow-!" he was struck in the head with a metal pillar courtesy of Gajeel. "Hey! What did you do that for!?" Natsu angrily exclaimed while there was a growing bump on his head.
"You're done stealin' the spotlight Salamander. Gihi!" He looked to Azula. "So you're the Evil Princess of the Fire Nation huh? You ain't scary. You look just like some spoiled brat."
"Spoiled brat?" Azula repeated with a twitch in her left eye. "You will address me as Fire Lord you rivet headed peasant!"
"Take this you spoiled brat! Iron Dragon Pillar!" his right arm turned to a pillar and he shot it right at Azula.
Azula using her quickness had jumped up and landed on the pillar, and she ran towards Gajeel while she shot blue flames towards him. The flames had hit him and even though they hurt he stood tall. "Hah, your fire is nothing like Salamander's!" Azula jumped over him and Gajeel retracted his arm. His cheeks started puffing. "Try stopping this, brat. Iron Dragon-" Though Natsu had stepped on Gajeel's face and when Gajeel unleashed his breath attack, Natsu was sent speeding towards Azula with Gajeel's iron shards following him.
"I've got you now!" Natsu exclaimed as his arms became covered in long whips of fire. "Fire Dragon's Wing Slash!" he spun in the air and he ignited Gajeel's iron shards and he directed the attack towards Azula.
The Fire Lord stood her ground and she generated a sharp fire arc that cut through the combination attack. The arc was speeding to Natsu and he started to suck in the blue flames. Once he did, he comically shivered. "What the hell!? Why are your flames so cold!?" he got over it and he grinned while looking at Azula. "Thanks for the meal Azula, now I'm fired up!" Natsu was then headbutted by Gajeel and the two of them butted heads. "What's your damn problem!?" Natsu exclaimed.
"You are, fire breath! I was going to fight her, dumbass!"
"You were just going to lose!"
The two of them were throwing fists at each other. "IM GONNA FIGHT HER!" they both exclaimed.
Jiahao and Azula were both confused. Three black dots were hovering over their heads. "Heh, looks like I'm popular, even in this world."
Gray had his fist into his left hand. "Don't kid yourself! Ice-Make Lance!" he shot ice lances towards Azula. But an earth wall was raised and the lances had shattered upon impact. Gray and Lucy gasped.
"You're welcome!" Hen said, appearing from behind them.
"It's you!?" Lucy yelled.
"Oh hi blondie, fancy meeting you here. You might want to move, things are about to get rough."
"Hah." Gray chuckled. "Then bring it on!" he yelled while throwing off his jacket.
"Whoa… Kobu is right… you are a stripper!" with a humored look on his face. "But you're going to wish you kept that jacket on because I've got something up my sleeve that will make short work of that ice magic of yours."
"Go ahead and try."
"I won't let you!" Aang sped towards Hen, and he made a sharp earth wall speed to him. But dark red orb stopped the attack in its wake. Ping had appeared next to Aang out of the shadows.
"Did you forget about me Avatar?" Aang backed away and he shot an Earth pillar where she stood but she disappeared. "Too slow, child!" Aang growled slightly and he chased after her by jumping into the trees where he had last heard her voice.
Natsu and Gajeel were still fighting when a huge bullet of water splashed into them, sending them flying back. "Seriously, I can't believe we're losing to you people," Kobu said as he calmly walked onto the scene. He glanced at Gajeel. "And you, weren't you Phantom Lord's Dragon Slayer; so why are you with Fairy Tail?"
"None of your damn business." Gajeel retorted. He then turned his right arm into a sword with metal spikes sticking out of it. "I hope you're ready to take your beating, cause I'm coming for both of you!"
Azula had blue flames raging out from her open hands. "Then do your worst. I've been preparing for this since I got here!" Azula exclaimed.
Natsu punched his fist into his palm. "Then what are we waiting for!?"
At the same time, Gray had sent a rushing wave of ice towards Hen but the earthbender had stepped on the ground, a wave of molten rock shot out of the ground, it engulfed the ice, instantly melting it. Gray's eyes shot wide open. "Weren't expecting that were you?"
Lucy was shocked as she saw this happening. "I don't believe it… how did he make lava shoot from the ground!" She started fiddling with her keys. "I've got to help Gray!" but her priorities changed when she saw Aang quickly avoiding beam slashes from Ping.
"You're fast Avatar!" Aang was preoccupied with the Dark Ping in front of him that he didn't notice that there was a second shadow twin behind him. "But not fast enough." She placed her palm right on his back as soon as Aang let out a feared gasp, Ping had shot a single Piercing Graviton through him and Aang fell to his knees.
"Aang!" Lucy worriedly yelled. She saw Aang quickly getting up and he struck a blast of air in her face and she hit the ground hard. Aang was throwing charged fireballs to Dark Ping, but her blades kept blocking the fire that he sent to her.
"Don't worry Aang, I've got your back!" she pulled out Leo's key, but before she could use it a hand clasped over her mouth and she gasped in sheer terror, this prevented her from calling for help. A second hand grabbed her wrist and she was pulled into the bush behind her.
Behind the bush, she was pinned to the ground and she kept her eyes closed, fearing her captor. She struggled to escape the grip of her captor. Though only a whisper seemed to come from the person.
"Lucy stop! It's me, open your eyes." Instantly recognizing the voice, she opened her eyes and saw it was Chun holding her down. Chun spoke in a whisper, hoping not to draw the attention of those on her side. "Just be quiet and I'll let you go. Okay?"
Lucy nodded. Keeping her promise, Chun let go of her and let Lucy get up to her knees. "Chun? What in the world are you doing here?"
"I-I… I tried to stop them, but they can't be reasoned with. The Fire Nation I mean."
"But why stay with them? You're different from them and I know it."
Chun clenched her fists. "You don't understand, Lucy! I have to fight for them, I don't have a choice."
That wasn't sitting well with Lucy, she knew that Chun was different from them, and she could see that she didn't like what she was doing. "There is always a choice. Come with me, come to Fairy Tail. We can help you!"
Chun looked down and broke eye contact with Lucy. "Believe me; I really want to… But… You don't know what Azula or the rest of the Fire Nation is like. Both she and our General, they are willing to do anything to get what they want."
Noticing Chun's tone, Lucy put together that she was scared, but she couldn't figure out why. "Chun… Are you really that afraid of her?" she asked referring to Azula.
"She's no Jellal, but… her family hates failure…" Chun replied. "I'm just afraid that if I… they're going to…"
They were interrupted because Gray had slid close the bush. "You're not bad!" He threw his hands into the ground and he made pillars of ice geysers speed towards Hen.
Hen had smirked as he made a thin line of lava shoot out of the ground in front of him. This melted the ice that sped towards him. The lava then turned into two floating star-shaped projectiles. He threw a single punch and one of the lava stars shot forward.
"Ice-Make Shield!" he created his flower petal shield but the lava star had easily shot through it and Gray was slashed on his bare chest. He placed an icy hand over the wound to heal it.
"Sorry to do this to ya, but ya shouldn't have gone against me. My lava can easily beat your ice." Through his peripheral vision, he saw an iron pillar speeding towards him. He easily jumped out of the way. "Gajeel!" Hen greeted. "How ya doin' friend?"
"We aren't friends, and let's see how your lava does against me!" though a whip of water had wrapped around his neck.
"You forgot about me huh? Are you Dragon Slayers that scatter-brained?" Kobu asked. Gajeel grabbed the whip.
"I prefer not to waste my time with annoying people!" He un-wrapped the water whip from his neck and threw Kobu towards Hen.
"Hang on, I gotcha!" Hen exclaimed. He caught Kobu and held him over his shoulder. "You gotta be more careful."
"Hey, put me down before-!"
"You're both finished!" Gray exclaimed as he was ready to cast another spell as Gajeel stood beside him. "Ice-Make Ice Drills!" Out of the icy blue magical seal in front of him he shot out four drills made of ice.
"Iron Dragon Pillar!" Gajeel right arm turned to a pillar and he launched it towards both Kobu and Hen. The Ice drills had spun around the iron pillar to increase its power.
"Yikes! They're combining!" Hen exclaimed. He made thick, walls shoot out from the ground but the icy drills and Gajeel's iron pillar were easily breaking through them.
"That didn't stop it!" Kobu exclaimed.
Hen yelled back at him. "I don't see you doing anything!" he stuck hands into the ground and giant clumps of rock hands shot out of the ground but the palms were lava and they had caught the icy drills and the iron pillar and both were able to be stopped. The ice drills were thawed while Gajeel retracted his iron pillar.
"Gihi!" Gajeel laughed. "Something tells me I'll enjoy fighting you, kid!" he said looking at Hen.
Hen grinned back at him. "Well I'm enjoying myself right now, I'm pretty sure I could take on both you and stripper boy there!"
"What did you call me?" Gray said glancing at the Earthbender
"They are our enemies, granite for brains!" Kobu said. "Stop acting all buddy-buddy with them."
Hen jabbed his thumb to Kobu. "See what I gotta deal with? He takes the fun out of everything."
"Idiot!" Kobu exclaimed.
"What do you say we start round 2?!" Hen excitedly said.
"I was just getting warmed up!" Gajeel replied.
Natsu meanwhile was still fighting off Azula. "Let's see you bend around this!" Natsu exclaimed. "Fire Dragon's Wing Slash!" he generated long whips of fire from his arms.
Azula smirked and she did the same and made blue fire whips of the same thickness of Natsu's. Their fire whips collided and they looked even. "Why bend around it, when I can match everything you do!" Azula shifted her foot forward and made both of their flames explode. Causing a huge flash that temporarily blinded both Natsu.
When Natsu opened his eyes he could see a powerful bolt of bright blue lightning speeding towards him. "Natsu!" Happy yelled. Happy flew and lifted Natsu right over the bolt of lightning.
Natsu chuckled as he was floating above the tree. "Haha, thanks, Happy!"
"Aye!"
Azula was confused by what she saw. "How…? Natsu must be at least three times that cat's body weight… how can such a weakling like him be able to lift him?"
"Azula! Stop screwing around!" Jiahao said and he shot a long stream of fire toward Natsu.
"YOU FOOL!" Azula exclaimed as Natsu started sucking up Jiahao's flames and they flew into his mouth.
"Unbelievable…" Jiahao said as he watched Natsu suck up his flames.
"Haha, thanks for the snack fire Nation dude, but your fire is kinda weak." Natsu said.
"I am General Jiahao, you pathetic little-!"
Natsu shot down towards Jiahao. "Let's go Happy!"
"Aye, sir!"
Natsu hands were covered with orange flames. "Fire Dragon Iron Fist!" Jiahao was punched in the gut and he flew far and into his own komodo rhino and he landed hard. "Seriously, that's all ya got?"
Jiahao weakly got back up and held himself on his komodo rhino. "You get that one for free, you freak. NOW!" he yelled.
"What?" Natsu yelled.
"About time!" Dark Ping exclaimed. She made a multitude of Gravitons speed to Aang. While he managed to avoid them by jumping into the trees, he felt a small prick in his neck and he saw that one of Ping's shadow twins had a blow dart in front of her mouth.
"W-what was that?" Aang thought. He stood on the ground after landing on his feet. Though his vision was confusing him as he could see Ping's shape constantly wobble and distort in front of him. "Guys… I don't feel so…" Aang had collapsed to the ground.
Happy was the first to notice this. "Guys! Aang was hit with a dart!" he exclaimed.
Natsu, Gray, Gajeel, and Lucy quickly turned to look for Aang.
Behind the bush, Chun grabbed Lucy's arm before she could leave. "Lucy, you need to listen to me. Azula and Jiahao have brought an army from the Fire Nation with them."
"Wait… an army?" Lucy repeated.
"They only have one mission; kill the Avatar. If you take him back to Fairy Tail, they'll come after all of you."
Lucy gave a serious look to Chun. "I'd like to see them try. Those guys want a war, we'll give it to them!"
Chun flinched at Lucy's bravery especially since she had just learned they would be facing an army. "Y-you're not afraid?"
"Fairy Tail doesn't walk away from bullies. If they want Aang, they'll have to go through us first." Chun is speechless and she could only stare at Lucy in awe. "But you can still come with us…"
"I can't…"
"Why not? What does Azula have on you?"
Chun looked down in shame and couldn't give Lucy the answer she wanted, despite her wanting to say it.
"Lucy! Where the hell are you?" Gray called out.
"I'm not giving up on you!" Lucy said as she jumped out from the bush.
Chun remained looking at the ground; a single tear had fallen from her eye.
Lucy could see the others forming a circle around Aang. "What's wrong with Aang?!" Lucy asked.
"He was hit with a poison dart. We need to get back to Fairy Tail!" Happy cried.
Lucy pulled out a golden key. "Leave it to me! Gate of the Maiden! I open thee! Virgo!" after a doorbell sound was heard Virgo appeared in front of all of them. "Virgo, we need you to dig us a way back to the guild!"
"Yes, Princess!" Virgo said.
Natsu and Gajeel had charged up their breath attacks.
"Fire Dragon-"
"Iron Dragon-"
"ROAR!"
The fire and iron shards that shot out of their mouths had sped right to the group of Azula, Jiahao, Ping, Hen, and Kobu. Hen made a giant, thick wall that could barely hold back the flames and iron shards.
The wall had shattered but the combined attack didn't get to them.
When the wall went down, they saw a large ice wall standing in front of where the Fairy Tail group was. Kobu shattered the ice with his bending and they saw that they completely disappeared.
"Where did they go?!" Ping asked.
"That doesn't matter…" Kobu said. "That is a special magic potion that no one will heal be able to heal. So the Avatar is as good as dead anyway."
Azula glanced through the forest. "That isn't enough, we proceed with phase two! We attack Fairy Tail and take the city of Magnolia for ourselves! We need to finish the job so Fairy Tail can't retaliate against us." Azula said.
"Perfect," Jiahao said. "So when do we attack?"
"First thing in the morning, Fairy Tail will wake up to a war tomorrow!" Azula said.
"Why…?" they all heard. They saw Chun walking up to them. "He's poisoned, you got what you wanted. Why do you need to attack Fairy Tail and Magnolia anymore?!" she yelled.
"Know your place little girl!" Azula shot back.
"If the poison will kill him, then we should just leave already, what point is there to attacking the city?"
"To send a message!" Azula said. "The Fire Nation will take over this world, starting with Magnolia."
"YOU'RE INSANE!"
A loud slap was heard and Chun was forced to look away as there was a glowing red cheek on her face. "You dare talk to your Fire Lord like that!? Speak out of turn again and I will kill you where you stand!" Chun had fearfully backed away from Azula. Hen had his fist clenched as he could barely stand to watch this happening to Chun, especially when she already had a lot to deal with. "You are incredibly lucky that I can't force you into an Agni-Kai duel right now. We have much bigger issues to deal with. So you are going to follow orders, or I will make your pathetic existence worse than it already it, do I make myself clear!?"
Chun was shivering in fear, she couldn't even look Azula in the eye. "Y-yes Fire Lord Azula…"
Azula got on her komodo rhino. "Come, we still have much to plan."
They all started leaving accept Chun hadn't moved from where she stood. Hen walked up to her and got her attention. "H-hey… are you okay?"
Chun's eyes quickly welled up with tears and she ran hugged him as tight as she could. All of the emotions she felt; guilt, fear, sadness, helplessness… they all came out in the form of a very loud, continuous sob. Hen was trying his best to be supportive so he hugged her as well but the sobbing continued. So he quickly decided that he would stay there until she got it out of her system.
But as Chun cried, Hen could only feel one emotion: Rage. It hurt him to see Chun like this and he knew the source of her pain, but trying to go against it would be suicide. "Fine, they want me to fight… Then I won't hold back. I have to now… for her sake! But after that… make no mistake… Jiahao, Azula, Ping… I'll be coming after all of you when all this is over!" He angrily declared in his thoughts. Right then and there he decided that no matter who he had to fight, he wasn't going to lose against them, not if it meant keeping Chun safe. The costs were way too high, he had to fight Fairy Tail… and win, and if only to protect Chun he was going to do just that!