After escaping prison, two years after the end of the war and the establishment of peace, Azula is out to take over the Fire Nation again. But this time she has decided to start small, and, instead of fighting against the other Kingdoms, to rebel against Firelord Zuko, her own flesh and blood.

NOTE: I DON'T OWN THE AVATAR SERIES OR ANY OF THE CHARACTERS EXCEPT THE ONES I'M GOING TO MAKE UP ALL IN GOOD TIME…

ANOTHER NOTE: I'm sorry, I don't spend every fleeting moment writing this fanfiction, but I will TRY to stretch it out for as long as possible. 'Kay? Review please!

The ring of the underground fighting stadium was made of dirt, with lines etched in the ground to show boundaries. Two fighters were on either side: one a large, muscular bald man with scars running down his chest, the other a skinny man who was shivering, with thin hair and a body made practically of bones.

"Fighters take your places!" A voice boomed, and the two men met in the center of the ring, the larger one chuckling at the fear of his opponent.

Azula, the former Fire Nation princess, leaned forward anxiously. She hated her life already. She had been forced to resort to living like this, and although she was the owner of this fine establishment, Thunder Land, the only dueling club in the town of Ziro, she still wished that she were back at home, sleeping in soft beds instead of a straw mattress.

"Have all bets been settled?" The announcer asked, trying to be funny. Azula shot him a dirty look and he turned his attention back to the fighters. "Let's fight!" He brought his hand down in a swift chopping motion between the fighters, wisps of fire curling behind him.

He was a Bender.

Everyone in the club was a Bender. Those were the rules. In order to fight, you had to Fire Bend. Azula smiled to herself. Obviously, the larger man would win, but she loved to watch these easy fights and ask herself how she had gotten into a position of power, as minute as it was. She had come upon the building by chance, and it had been falling apart before she had taken control. It hadn't been easy, of course.

First, she had had to kill the owner, and then she had secured the place for herself. Upon succeeding in this venture, she added her own Fire Nation flair: red and black decorations and paint in the main upstairs parlor and in her office, which was where she did her business.

The arena itself was smaller than anything in Omashu, but it was still respectable, for a fight club. There were one hundred seats exactly, circling the main arena, and two hallways that led to changing rooms for the fighters. Because Azula wanted to be professional, and have power. She had succeeded.

Azula snapped out of her reverie to turn her eyes to the fight. The larger man was Bending with all his might, sweat dripping down his forehead. He was her prized fighter: the one she had placed a bet on this afternoon, and he was winning so far. The smaller man was panting helplessly in a corner, and she smiled to herself. Wonderful.

And then, suddenly, there was a flash of blue lightning, and the larger man was looking down at his hands as if he didn't know what was going on. Azula stood up and gasped. The crowd, stunned, began to boo.

The larger fighter, Azula's star had broken the number one rule of the Thunder Land duels: no lightning. Azula was the only one allowed to Bend Lightning, to symbolize her position of power, and here her famous fighter had gone and broken that rule.

Signaling one of the guards who were standing around the ring, a man dressed in a shirt which read Thunder Land on the back came to collect the larger fighter. In two swift motions he had paralyzed him using his pressure points, which reminded Azula fleetingly of her old friend Ty Lee, who often used pressure points to her advantage during combat.

Stay focused, Azula. Your old life is behind you.

And her new one? Everything was in shambles. Customers were fighting over money now, wondering whether or not the bets were still good. Of course they were. Azula sighed, knowing she had lost a great amount of money.

Despite everything she had gone through to get to this position, suddenly everything was going right down the drain.

No.

It was time to take action…Again.