28. Painful Retreat

CHAPTER 28: PAINFUL RETREAT

Jet groaned in agony on the ground. His hands immediately reached for the base of his back as a shot of pain coursed through his entire body. Long Shot wasn't in any better shape. In fact he was in worse shape as he felt the full force of the attack along with the body of Jet sending the air out of his lungs. The hard tree trunk only multiplied the agony he was in three fold. His mind could barely stay conscious from the sheer pain he was now in.

Meanwhile Zuko glared down at them with a vicious scowl. The sheer intensity in his eyes was simply terrifying even for someone as experienced and brave as Jet. He audibly swallowed a large gulp of saliva as for the first time in a long time, he felt the fear for his live.

Zuko turned his attention back to the rest of the remaining freedom fighters. So far he had taken down only 3 and heavily injured 3 including Jet and Manori. That still left 7 very capable fighters still as fresh as a daisy.

Three of the four quickly surrounded him and the rest attended to Jet and Long Shot writhing on the ground in agony.

"We need to fall back now!" Jet suddenly shouted with all his strength.

"What about the others?" One of the freedom fighters asked as he turned to the burning corpses on the ground.

"We can't win this fight this way!" Jet continued. "We have to retreat for now! We cannot lose anymore lives!"

"Jet is right, we need to retreat and regroup!" Manori agreed as she joined the group. She helped lift Jet to his legs. Long Shot was helped up by another pair.

"What makes you think that I will let you escape!!?" Zuko warned ominously.

He was still surrounded but he didn't seem too bothered by them. He could feel the extremely powerful and awesome energy the sun basked upon him. The limitless chi that he felt course through his body.

He punched a massive blast of fire forward. As expected they simply avoided the attack but that was his intended plan. As their momentum unbalanced them, he jumped to the left fighter and speared him through the gut.

Using the same momentum he quickly launched himself off of the ground. Whilst mid air he did a flying swinging back kick. A large and expanding arc of fire came forth from his kick. The sheer intensity of the blue flames blew them all away. As soon as his feet landed on the ground, Zuko made a beeline for Jet. The freedom fighters hurried to the side of Jet to stop Zuko. His running momentum acted as a boost for him to launch himself high into the sky. As he continued to ascend he raised his hands over his head.

Suddenly the surrounding flames gathered in-between his hands. The mighty red and yellow flames embued with his chi and turned a dark blue color. By the time he reached the apex of his jump, the flames had gathered to a massive ball of fire the size of a wrecking ball twisting in on itself. Just at the last second a flash of black flames emerged from the blue flames as Zuko continue to pour more and more chi. Finally he aimed the attack by lowering his hands towards the freedom fighters. The ball of fire burst forth and large streams of blueish white flames rained down on the entire forest. Everywhere within his vision was rained down by a sea of scorching hot fire. Eventually Zuko stopped as he couldn't see a thing anymore and he became worried he might hurt Katara, and Aang to a lesser extent.

As he landed on the ground the entire forest had caught on fire and the flames started to spread fast to the surrounding areas. He was right to worry as they came dangerously close to Katara and Aang. In a panic he quickly extended out his hands in a wiping motion. The fire cleared following his hands until the entire thing eventually stopped.

Zuko was relieved he could stop the flames but what he saw next scared him almost the same way Aang did. All he saw was the already dead bodies of the freedom fighters. The rest were nowhere to be seen. He quickly ran to the scorching burnt hot area they were. Looking at the ground he noticed it had shifted apart and closed rather hastily, almost sloping up. His mind immediately thought of earth benders and so his guard came on strong. He quickly took a fighting stance and scanned the surrounding areas. All he could see was the charred black of the beautiful greenery he just destroyed. All he could hear was the cracking of the trees as their wood tore in cinders. The smoldering smoke that rose high into the sky and attracted prying eyes. Suddenly the thought hit him like a brick stone. That attack obviously attracted attention.

There was no time to waste so he hurried over to the unconcious bodies of Aang and Katara. He first pulled up Aang and threw him over his shoulder. He then grabbed Katara and lifted her up princes bridal style. He could already hear the rumblings of footsteps approaching from afar. So he hurriedly made his way south towards the myriad of hills he remembered seeing. He had almost forgotten that his entire body was covered in slashes and blood continued to flow like a water melon. The adrenaline rush he felt from the fight kept him walking forward.

A good ten minutes passed by the time his adrenaline rush cooled off. A wave of pain suddenly overwhelmed his mind. His vision went blurry as he could now just barely stand. Aang was still on his shoulder unconcious. He wasn't much of weighter but carrying Katara in his arms made them feel like lead.

He stopped hearing the footsteps a while prior but using all his will power his pushed his aching and bloodied body for another ten minutes. Soon he arrived in a mountainous area. He quickly noticed an obscure cave hidden from plain view. The relief of some place to hide almost made his body collapse but instead it acted as motivation to push himself once more. He just barely sat foot into the cave when his mind went unconscous right at the entrance.

***

A group of young man stood surrounded by a vast black empty space. The three watched the events of the conclusion of the devastating fight. Starting from the left they were Paul, David and Masuku.

"So he did it," Paul began.

"No," David disagreed swiftly. "He didn't just do it, he went beyond it."

"I didn't expect him to go that far to be honest." Masuku joined the conversation.

"It's a good thing that he did," Paul added. "For what Lord Vumala has planned, he needs to be the strongest."

"Well that monkey didn't mention he would be able to use the Black Fire of Vaatu," David continued.

"That black fire is going to attract unnecessary attention once word gets out." Masuku agreed.

"The word wont get out!" A loud voice suddenly interrupted Paul before he could chime in. They all turned to see the Monkey Spirit in question hovering before them.

"I did not expect him to be able to use the black fire but it does not change our plans." He continued. "The reason you are here is for him not to cause too much trouble to disrupt the plan."

Paul, David and Masuku exchanged a look before returning attention to Vumala.

"Well the good things is that he wasn't aware he even used it," Paul said.

"As long as we can keep it that way then things should go as planned." David added.

"Just make sure he stays alive long enough until the right phase," Vumala ordered. "Your only reason here is to keep him alive until I say otherwise!"

"Of course my lord!" They all said in unison.

"Good," Vumala said. "For now you know what to do!" By those words he vanished as quickly as he appeared.

***

A young man lay in bed in a small chamber. He slowly opened his eyes to look around the room. Looking down on his body he noticed he was covered in bandages from head to toe. Suddenly a wave of pain shot through his body as if his body only now remembered he was hurt. He resisted the urge to scream in agony and forced himself to sit up.

Suddenly the door to the room swung open. A familiar face entered in Manori. She carried a tray of medicines and fresh bandages.

"You're finally awake?" She asked and placed the tray on the nearby stand. "How are you feeling?"

"I feel like shit!" Jet answered in a slightly annoyed tone.

"Well the worst has passed for now but you had a lot of burns. It took quite a lot of effort to patch you up." Manori explained.

"Where am I?" Jet continued. "Where are the others? How are we still alive after that attack?"

"That would be thanks to me!" A high pitched voice suddenly joined. The voice was followed by a rather tall elderly man in large purple robes. "You took quite the beating from the Fire Nation Prince," continued the elder.

"Well we had him beat but then…" Jet trailed off as he tried to recall the fight.

"He some how woke up from all the injuries surrounded by an aura of flames." Manori continued in his stead.

"It would appear the young Prince has more to him than I initially thought," commented the elderly. "I thinks its about time he and I finally met"

[A/N: Read 10 to 20 chapters ahead on my patreon available now. 

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