A/N: Prompts- Easy: Underestimate, Medium: Burnt Rubber. Word count: 1,871
It was almost right. She was close. So close. After months of tracking the Avatar, she was only but a grab away from having him in her clutches. Her team had managed to track the Avatar and his friends, which included her dear brother, to a dense forest. Why they were there, she didn't know nor did she care. Perhaps they were lost. All the better for her.
She and Mai were moving quickly among the brush while Ty Lee did her best moving in silence among the tree tops. Azula only needed to give hand signals to let her team know when and where to move. There was nothing she loved more than hunting. It gave her power. She was the predator and they were her prey. She was going to savor every minute of this hunt. As they approached the group, she waited to strike. They couldn't see them in the dense vegetation, so she used it as an advantage to eavesdrop on their conversation. The more she knew, the better.
"This great. Just great. We're lost in some huge, freakish jungle and we can't find Aang or Toph."
"Calm down, Sokka. We'll find them. This isn't the first time we've been split up." She heard the female water bender say.
"Exactly. You should know by now that nothing good ever comes whenever we're split up." There was a short pause. "Alright. I'm going to see if I can find Appa. He shouldn't be too hard to find. You two look for Aang and Toph. According to my map, there's a beach just north of here, so meet me there if you find them."
"Be careful. I have a feeling my sister is out there as well." Zuko said.
Azula smiled.
She gave another hand signal to Mai, who went off on her new mission.
"I hope Aang and Toph are alright." Katara said.
"Toph can see everything in this forest that we can't and Aang's the Avatar, the most powerful bender in the world. They'll be fine."
"Oh, Zuzu. Surely you don't mean he's better than I am." Azula had finally decided to make her presence, while Ty Lee kept herself hidden in the trees.
"Azula!" She smirked as she watched the two tense up, ready for a fight.
"Oh, is that any way to greet your sister?" She didn't give them a chance to respond before she threw a large fireball at them. Katara and Zuko jumped out of the way, as she expected, and ran off in opposite directions since the fire was now blazing on the vegetation. Azula made a note to contain her bending so she wouldn't burn the entire forest with her in it. She gave a hand signal for Ty Lee to follow Zuko while she went after Katara.
The smell of ash and burnt plants filled her nostrils as she ran. She loved it. It was proof of her destruction. Although she must have burnt a few rubber trees, for the smell of burnt rubber started stinging her nostrils not soon after. Not a particularly good smell but it fueled her fire nonetheless and made her run faster. The young water bender was making the chase easy. She was laying a path right in front of her. The evidence of her water hacking at the plants was obvious. Maybe a little too obvious.
There was a clearing in front of her, surrounded by trees and bushes. No sign of the water tribe girl. How peculiar. Azula didn't step into the clearing. Instead, she scanned the surrounding foliage. This was obviously a trap. Did Katara think Azula was stupid enough to fall for it? She was insulted that someone would even think the Firelord's daughter was as dumb as her brother. She'd make her pay soon.
Her eyes narrowed when she noticed unusual plants above in the tree tops. The flowers were large and deep, likely holding water. So that was it. The water bender was planning on getting her in the right spot to freeze her in a case of ice. So then, where was the water bender? A quick scan showed the foliage was untouched, except for a bush to the right of her. Its leaves looked undisturbed and its branches were partially snapped. A smirk crossed her lips.
Using her fire bending, Azula quickly propelled herself in the air. A quick spin sent a large fire whip towards the bushes. Her calculations were correct, of course, when she saw Katara jumping back from the bush before the flames hit her.
"Where's the fire?" She teased, sending another flame towards Katara before landing gracefully on the ground. Azula, however, was caught off guard when a few chunks of ice slammed into her. She almost went down but it gave Katara enough time to run.
"She won't get the best of again." She vowed before running after her.
She lost her though. The water tribe peasant was clever and she'd greatly underestimate her. A thought crossed her mind, causing her to smirk again. She certainly won't underestimate Katara again.
Moving silently through the brush, Azula was stalking her prey once again. She listened and looked for any subtle signs of recent human activity. Katara had gotten smarter and stopped making obvious marks with her water. It was a nuisance, but it wouldn't stop Azula.
After some time wandering through the forest, she spotted Ty Lee lurched on a branch, watching something. The sound of two people mumbling to each other caught her ear. A quick bird whistle alerted Ty Lee that Azula was near and didn't want her to attack. She watched the acrobat gracefully climb down the tree and cartwheel over to her.
"There's a new plan." Azula whispered.
"Oh?" Ty Lee said with curious, big eyes.
"We should try to head for the beach. Aang or Toph might have found their way to there by now." Zuko said.
"What about Azula and Ty Lee?" Katara said.
"We don't have time worry about them. We need to get out of here."
Azula and Ty Lee stepped out of a bush. "I'm hurt, Zuko. You don't even have time for your younger sister."
Zuko and Katara took a fighting stance, ready to defend themselves against the two. "I don't want to fight but I will defend myself if I have to." Katara said. There was a certain feistiness about her that Azula admired. It was foolish but admirable.
"Such hostility. I didn't come here to fight." Azula said.
"No, you just came here to capture Aang." Katara said.
"On the contrary, I'm actually more interested in playing a rousing game of volleyball on the beach."
"You can't be serious." The water bender said.
"Why would you want to play volleyball? What kind of game is this?" Zuko asked.
"It's no game. I actually want to play volleyball."
She noticed Katara's mouth opened to respond but her brother spoke before she could.
"Alright. Fine. We'll play volleyball."
"Zuko!" Katara yelled. Zuko grabbed Katara and turned her around to talk to her privately. They were whispering but Azula could make out some of the things they were saying. Katara was saying Azula was playing another game and Zuko was convincing her to just play along. Azula looked over to Ty Lee, who smiled at her. It annoyed her.
After they were done whispering, or in Katara's case, half-way yelling, they turned around. Katara had a sour look on her face while she spoke.
"Fine. We'll play volleyball."
At the beach, Azula watched Ty Lee construct a court using two skinny logs and some vines. Katara and Zuko kept their distance. Katara especially had a heated glare towards Azula. She was angry.
'Good.' Azula thought as she held a ball made out of some kind of soft earth. It wasn't a perfect sphere but it was close enough for their activity.
"All done!" Ty Lee said.
"Good. I'll be a good sport and let Zuzu spike the ball first." She said before tossing the ball over the makeshift court towards her brother.
He was hesitant, glancing over at Katara who shrugged. After a minute of staring at the ball, he launched it into the air and spiked it over the vine net. Ty Lee smacked the ball, sending it back over the net.
Katara stepped in and kneed the ball back into the air towards Azula, who fiercely struck the ball. She smiled when Katara gasped at the ball barely missing her head and landing on the ground.
"I believe that's one point for us."
After an hour of playing, the sun was just barely setting. Azula noticed the profuse sweating Katara was doing. No doubt a way to keep her element around her. Or maybe volleyball was a lot of work for her. It was Ty Lee's turn to spike the ball. Azula rolled her eyes when Ty Lee jumped up and spun to kick the ball. She always had to make the simplest things silly.
Zuko ran towards the net and hit the ball towards Azula. She was sure he did it on purpose. No matter, with a little fire bending, she shot the now blazing ball back towards him. He quickly jumped out of the way and let the ball hit the ground.
"Hey!" Katara protested.
"Oops. My mistake. I got a little carried away." Azula in her least convincing voice. Something in the distance caught her eye. She noticed a bird fly towards her. It was a falcon. The smirk on her face grew into a grin the closer the falcon got. When it was just above her, it released something on the ground before taking off.
"It seems like they've won, Ty Lee." Azula said.
"Let me get the ball." Ty Lee responded. She jumped over the net towards the other two but instead of grabbing the ball, she landed a few quick punches, rendering them helpless as they fell to the ground.
"Ah!" Katara yelled.
"You tricked us!" Zuko said.
"Are you surprised?" Azula took a quick glance at the paper the falcon left on the ground. "It seems Mai has found the Avatar all by himself. Let's go."
"Coming Azula!"
She left the two to argue by themselves.
"I can't believe you, Zuko!"
"I'm sorry but you're the one who said you didn't want to fight her."
"I don't want to fight the Firelord either. I suppose that means we should have an afternoon tea with him!"
"Hey, at least we won!"
Once she and Ty Lee disappeared into the thick brush of the forest, she could hear the sound of the Avatar's bison roaring in the distance as it descended on the beach.
"What happened?!" She could hear Sokka yell.
"Zuko decided it would be a good idea to play volleyball with his sister."
"….Did you two at least win?"
"Ugh!"
Azula smiled.