Holding my leg in pain, I violently crashed onto the ground, furthering the intense pain of the arrow in my thigh while all the air was knocked out of my lungs, causing me to roll onto the ground, my mind engulfed in pain to realize my situation.
'Argh! I-It hurts!' Thought Aang through gritted teeth as he rolled on the ground in agony, his silent cries drowned out by the marching of the soldiers.
"AANG!!" Yelled Gyatso loudly in horror as he gazed at Aang while the numerous soldiers approached him with Sozin leading them.
It was difficult, but Monk Gyatso's voice helped snap me out of my muddled mind, and although it was still engulfed in pain, I could now hear the marching of the soldiers, causing me to look up, though thanks to the nasty fall everything was blurry; however, even so, I didn't need to see clearly to now those numerous reddish black blurs were the Fire Nation soldiers.
Grunting in pain, I slowly stood up and tried running away, though I could barely walk with the arrow in my thigh, and even putting the slightest bit of weight on my left leg caused intense pain to shoot through my whole body; my right leg was hardly any better as well, with my bottom have having suffered a burning injury, but at least I could use it, granted it hurt, but at this point, my entire body was hurting so it hardly made a difference.
Yet, I didn't make it far before I tripped, which surprisingly saved my life as I saw an arrow pierce the ground a foot in front of me; with the threat of death creeping from behind, I pushed through the pain and continued limping towards the remaining, Air Nomads, though we were too, the soldiers would without a doubt reach me before then. Then again, they didn't even need to reach me, and almost right on queue, I vividly saw my shadow along with intense light surrounding it.
Looking behind me out of reflex, I saw a massive wave of flames rapidly approaching me; knowing I wouldn't be able to dodge, I thrust my palm forward, manifesting a powerful gust of wind as it surged to meet the mighty flames; however, despite my strength, I was being easily overpowered as my wind was being forcefully pushed back.
Gritting my teeth, I spun my arms, summoning even more wind as it collided with the approaching flames, yet all I managed to do was slow the inevitable; if a miracle didn't happen… I was going to die.
'C'mon! I can't die! I-I've yet to meet my wife and child!' Thought Aang aggressively as he continued to summon more wind, creating something akin to a vortex around his body, slowing the mighty flames.
Just as I was about to summon more, I suddenly grasped my chest and collapsed onto the ground as I began violently coughing blood; however, this brief moment was all that was needed for the powerful flames to envelop me.
However, despite being enveloped with intense heat, I was still clearly alive; looking up in confusion, I widened my eyes when I saw who was standing before me, diverting the powerful flames just enough to save me.
"M-MONK TASHI!" Yelled Aang as he tried to stand up, only for him to collapse back onto the ground while violently coughing.
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After a few moments of spewing a continuous wave of flames, I lowered my fist and stood upright; I was expecting to see the charcoal corpse of the young Avatar, yet when the fire cleared, I furrowed my brows when I noticed a man. Most of his body had been burnt into an unrecognizable corpse, so I had no idea who he was, though when he collapsed onto the ground, I clenched my fist in anger when I realized that brat was somehow still alive.
"Tch, annoying." Muttered Sozin with a scoff as he watched while Aang quickly inspected the burnt corpse while shaking his head.
"Aang!" Yelled Gyatso in concern as he ran forward, uncaring for his limp as he arrived before Aang, who was holding the unrecognizable corpse in his arms.
Scoffing at my failed job, I ignored it and was about to punch once more, shooting an even stronger attack than before, intending to kill both even in the case that old man attempted to protect the Avatar, yet when I had thrust my fist forward, my eyes widened when I noticed how small my fireball was. Following that sudden realization, I noticed the warm feeling that had been coursing through my body was rapidly receding, causing me to look up at the sky, searching for the Great Comet, yet it was nowhere to be seen.
"Thirty minutes… Thirty minutes have passed." Muttered Sozin with widened eyes while he clenched his fist, trying to contain the rising anger.
Furious wasn't enough for me to describe the emotion I was feeling; we had attacked the Air Temple, the smallest between the Water Tribe and the EarthKingdom, yet, even with the enhancement granted by the Great Comet, we still weren't able to destroy them within thirty minutes! The amount of shame I felt coursing through my body was something I'd never felt before; however, as I shifted my focus to the remaining Air Nomads, I quickly realized that even without the Great Comet, we should still be able to slaughter them all.
The Air Nomads were injured, exhausted, and weakened; while we've lost many soldiers, we were still thousands strong; we may not have managed to defeat them within thirty minutes, but by the end of the day, we will have taken over the Air-Temple.
"Attack, my men! Leave no survi-" Yelled Sozin loudly as he thrust his fist into the air, though he was promptly interrupted as a powerful gust of wind suddenly pushed everyone back.
Quickly regaining my balance, I raised my head, looking for the source of the sudden problem, only for my heart to sink as I stared in the sky at the Avatar; the four elements circled in a ring shape… earth, fire, air, and water, every single element was present, and his arrow markings were glowing brightly.
I may not be the Avatar, but I knew exactly what had just happened.
"…Avatar State." Muttered Sozin through gritted teeth as he stared at the Avatar in the distance.
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While tears streamed down our cheeks, we raised our head and stared at the one responsible… The one responsible for everything, all the death. As we stared at Sozin and the large number of soldiers, no words were exchanged as we raised our hands before thrusting our palms forward, creating a powerful gust of wind, one far stronger than previously, causing the soldiers to be violently slammed against walls with Sozin being the only one able to withstand our explosion of wind.
"I-I've been preparing for this moment!" Yelled Sozin with a wicked smile as he brought his two fingers into the air, launching a lightning bolt right at the Avatar, causing it to tear through the violent wind with immense speed.
"Enough!" Said the Avatar, his voice booming outward with an otherworldly yet equally terrifying degree.
Raising our hand, we commanded the water to form a shield, blocking the lightning bolt as it dispersed itself in the water; lowering myself to the ground, we brought my hands upwards, causing the ground to shake as a tall wall of earth protruded into the air before pushing it towards Sozin.
"Leave and never return! We will not say so again!" Declared the Avatar sternly as he pushed every soldier, including Sozin, to the entrance of the Air Temple.
However, a mighty fireball, one incomparable to what he could do just a few minutes ago, allowed him to barely burst a hole through the wall, giving him a chance to attack me from a distance, yet all his attempts were futile.
Furrowing my brows, we constantly dispersed his fireballs with a wave of my hand, summoning a powerful wave of wind with ease, though while we did that, we raised our other hand, gathering a surreal amount of wind within the palm of my hand. Compressing and rotating it, we continued doing it for a few more moments before we lunged forth; we had already given Sozin a warning; it was his decision whether he abided by it or not.
Moving through the air, we flew right through his fireballs while thrusting our palm forward, intending to end him once and for all.
"Argh!" Said the Avatar as he grabbed his chest in pain, the intense glow vanishing while the three other elements vanished from around him.
With a sudden bout of intense pain, I veered off track slightly while Sozin dodged just in time, narrowly managing to secure his life and live another day; however, he wasn't lucky enough to come out unscathed.
"ARGH!" Yelled Sozin in agony as he grabbed his arm, which had been wholly shredded from the middle of his bicep, downwards, causing him to bleed profusely.
Though, I was left to skid across the ground for several feet before I eventually came to a halt.
"Argh! F-Freaking bastard!" Stated Sozin furiously as he punched at Aang, intending to end him with a fireball, yet before he could, a gust of wind violently hit him in the back.
"Protect Aang and push the invaders out!" Yelled Gyatso loudly as he and numerous other Air Nomads rushed toward Aang while finally using this chance to release their bottled-up emotions, unleashing devastating attacks upon the soldiers.