Aang stood over the fallen warrior, his chest heaving, his voice steady but heavy with compassion as he said, "It is your loss. You are defeated, Tai Lung."
For a heartbeat, there was silence. Then laughter.
Low at first, but growing, echoing through the shattered valley. Tai Lung's laugh was almost mad, rumbling up from deep within his chest. Slowly, he pushed himself to his feet, blood streaking his body.
"That was… impressive," he said between breaths, straightening his back. "Right now, you are a lot stronger than Po." His lips curled into a smirk. "I never expected you would be so much harder to deal with than that fat panda."
Aang's frown deepened, his hands curling into fists. "Stay down," he warned "You can't win this."
But Tai Lung only smiled. "Is that what you think? You've opened your chakras, just like I did. I presume you met Guru Pathik, right?"
Aang hesitated, frowning again. "What about him?"
Tai Lung tilted his head slightly, his grin sharpening. "He did not tell you what I unlocked along with my chakra's opening… did he?"
Aang's brows knitted together. "I don't know what you are talking about, but he warned me you are threat to the world's balance as we know it "
Tai Lung nodded "Yeah, he told me that as well, and I will admit, he is not entirely wrong. He did seem a little disturbed when he saw what his teaching produced. I guess he sees the world's balance as part of his responsibility now. But I fail to understand why he didn't warn you of what he feared."
Aang said "Where are you going with all of this? You have lost this fight!!"
Tai Lung's smile faded into a look of still focus as he closed his eyes. For a moment, there was nothing, then a faint golden shimmer began to pulse beneath his skin. It flickered like sunlight through leaves, growing brighter and fiercer, until it spread through his entire body. The air trembled. The very wind seemed to turn toward him, pulled by an unseen force.
Aang's eyes widened. The light swelled into a blinding torrent, wrapping Tai Lung in a radiant cocoon. The earth quaked underfoot, and for a moment Aang could only raise his arm to shield his eyes.
When the light dimmed, what emerged no longer looked human.
Before Aang stood a towering figure, a being with the unmistakable presence of a spirit. A grey and black tiger, tall, lean for his size yet rippling with power, with sleek muscles beneath shimmering fur. His eyes burned a brilliant gold, the irises ringed with predatory yellow. Two long teeth jutted upward from his lower jaw, and his whiskers, sharp and curved, formed the shape of a regal mustache. Around him shimmered a thin golden aura almost breathing like a living golden flame.
But it was his eyes that froze Aang in place. They were the eyes of a hunter, the gaze of a powerful beast, proud, and utterly untamed.
Aang took several steps back, his voice trembling. "What… what are you?"
When Tai Lung spoke, his voice was no longer his own "When I unlocked my chakras," he said, "I reached something deeper… my true essence… the real me you could say. You have your Avatar State." He bared his teeth in a grin. "I have this. Let's call it… my Animal State. This is my peak!!"
The words sent a chill crawling down Aang's spine.
Tai Lung's grin widened into something feral. "This is my first time fighting like this," he said, his chi halo flaring brighter. "You've earned the right to face me… at my strongest."
Aang's eyes narrowed as he shifted into his stance, his breath steady, his limbs tensed. His gaze, however, betrayed a flicker of unease.
Tai Lung chuckled darkly. "You think you can fight me like this?"
He stomped the ground and the world obeyed. A massive slab of rock burst upward from the earth. With a second movement, he kicked it. The stone shot forward like a meteor, tearing the air apart as it hurtled toward Aang.
Aang barely leapt aside in time, the rock exploding behind him in a shower of rubble.
Tai Lung didn't pause. He slammed his fists into the ground, flinging shards and boulders into the sky, then met them midair with rapid, precise punches. Each strike sent a rock hurtling toward the Avatar, arrows of stone whistling through the air.
Aang twisted upward, bending the wind beneath him to carry him higher. He landed on the edge of one of the remaining columns, panting, his eyes darting down to his opponent.
Tai Lung crouched then sprang. In a single, graceful leap, he cleared the distance and landed atop the opposite column, face to face with the stunned Avatar.
"You do realize," Tai Lung said, his voice low and dangerous, "that I still have my firebending, right?"
He raised one paw. A flicker of blue ignited in his palm, swelling into a vivid, roaring flame that painted the sky into a mix of ghostly azure and gold.
Aang stepped back, feeling the heat.
"Enter the Avatar State… NOW!" Tai Lung roared.
Aang flinched then closed his eyes, his breath slowing. When he opened them again, they blazed pure white, the tattoos along his arms and forehead glowing to match.
Tai Lung's grin sharpened into something near ecstatic. "Yes," he said softly "Face me with everything you have, Avatar." He spread his arms, the golden aura flaring behind him like the wings of some celestial beast.
"I am Tai Lung, the Snow Leopard," he declared, his voice echoing across the battlefield, "and our battle… shall be legendary!"
The moment Aang's eyes and tattoos blazed white, air whipped into a furious cyclone around him as the elemental sphere formed around him again.
Across from him, Tai Lung's golden aura pulsed brighter as a slow dangerous smirk spread across his face. Then, without warning, he charged.
The ground cracked beneath his first step. Aang, anticipating the attack, flew backward, his body engulfed by the winds that carried him aloft. The column he had stood upon shuddered, tore itself free of the earth, and soared into the air at his command. With a thrust of his hand, he flung it toward the onrushing Tai Lung.
The massive rock hurtled forward, but Tai Lung didn't dodge. Instead, he lowered his shoulders, his body glowing gold and wreathed in faint blue flame, and crashed through the column with a deafening explosion. Shards of stone scattered like arrows, but he burst through the dust unscathed. Mid-leap, his foot struck one of the flying fragments, propelling him forward with even greater speed.
Before Aang could react, Tai Lung was upon him.
The Avatar had barely raised his hand to summon another attack when Tai Lung's paw, curled into a fist and burning with fire, struck the spinning sphere of elements.
The impact was cataclysmic. The Avatar's sphere deformed, sending ripples of air and fire outward in waves that flattened nearby pillars. Aang was flung downward, crashing into the earth below with a thunderous crack that sent dust billowing in all directions.
But the Avatar was quick to recover.
He burst upward again, propelled by airbending, trying desperately to create distance. Yet Tai Lung was relentless. He bounded after him with terrifying speed, leaping between the broken columns and chunks of rock like a predator in pursuit. The ground splintered under each jump, but the leopard didn't slow.
Aang turned mid-air and waved his hands, waves of fire, wind, water and earth rained down toward his pursuer. Tai Lung vaulted over the first wave of attacks, landing not on his feet, but on all fours.
A bestial roar tore through the battlefield as he began to run, claws digging into the shattered ground. He moved like an unleashed beast, swift, fluid, and impossibly fast. The world blurred around him.
Aang sent another barrage of elemental fury, but Tai Lung's newfound speed turned him into a golden streak weaving through the attacks. Fire roared past him, water shattered against invisible walls of air, stones splintered harmlessly behind him.
The chase lasted less than half a minute.
In that brief stretch of chaos, Tai Lung closed the distance. He launched himself skyward, soaring high above the Avatar. For a brief instant, he hung suspended in the air, a silhouette framed against the sphere of elements.
Then he descended like a meteor.
Fire exploded from his feet as he dove, the force enough to make the air scream. Before Aang could react, Tai Lung's fist struck once more, an earth-shaking blow that drove the Avatar into the ground with a resounding crash.
The land quaked.
Tai Lung didn't stop. He landed atop the crater, his golden aura blazing, and unleashed strike after strike, each blow ringing like thunder, each impact radiating heat and power. The ground split and burned beneath him, the shockwaves scattering fire and stone in every direction.
Aang, trapped within his elemental shield, raised one glowing arm and unleashed a burst of wind. The gale struck Tai Lung with such force that even he was thrown backward, sliding several paces before steadying himself.
The Avatar wasted no time. Hovering above the ruins, he broke the surrounding stones into countless fragments. With a flick of his wrist, they rained down upon Tai Lung in a storm of deadly projectiles.
But Tai Lung didn't dodge.
He stood tall, golden energy radiating from every limb. Each rock that neared him was shattered, deflected, or burned to cinders before it could do any damage.
When the dust finally cleared, not a single wound marked his body. The Avatar's storm had failed.
Tai Lung raised his head slowly smirking at the avatar, his eyes gleaming with fierce untamed pride. He was now faster, stronger, and more resilient than any human could ever be. He was the perfect blend of physical power and elemental bending.