Author's Notes: Hey everyone, I hope you liked the last chapter and I hope you like this one as well. As always I own nothing.
When you do what you fear most, then you can do anything―Stephen Richards
Zokar felt his spirits, which had risen with the arrival of reinforcements, plummet at the news that fighting was going on outside of the hall. He had hoped that his aunt's arrival signaled the end of the fighting. He was tired and wounded, as were most of those with him. He risked a quick look at his mother as she lay moaning on the ground. She needed extensive healing and he was not sure that she was going to get it with a battle being waged. A chuckling sound drew his attention, Lord Katu was smiling and chuckling.
"Did I not tell you Fire Lord, the old world is over."
"Not yet." Zuko spat.
"We shall see." Lord Katu said. For a moment everyone just glared at each other and then. Then, as if by some unspoken signal, everyone lunged forwards.
With the arrival of Azula the two sides were evenly matched in numbers but many with Zuko were already winded and wounded and Katara was too occupied with treating Mai to take part in the battle. Fortunately many of Lord Katu's followers were better equipped to massacre party guests than fighting members of the Royal Guard led by a prodigy like Azula. It seemed that they were in for a bloody struggle which could go either way. Or it did until several of the guards who had come with Azula fell back and sent streams of fire into their erstwhile compatriots' backs. Azula and the others turned to face this new threat but in the confusion they kept getting in one another's' way and became a confused mass and easy prey for the traitors. The situation was only made worse by the spirits which continued to hover above the fray and swoop down on targets which presented themselves. Though they quickly learned to keep their distance from Azula when she sent a bolt of lightning into one of them and blasted it out of existence.
Lord Katu and his followers were not able to capitalize on this because Zuko and the others charged them. They were outnumbered and most of them were wounded but they were driven by a rage and a determination to avenge the treason that had been inflicted upon them and all the deaths and injuries that had resulted from that treachery. Zokar felt something inside him growing as he thought of his mother, a rage and hate that he had never thought himself capable of before. Taking Fire Fang in one hand he grabbed up one of the female assassin's swords without really thinking and charged, his rage blinding him from the pain in his wounds. His one thought was Lord Katu, his smirking, arrogant face so confident of victory it made Zokar want to retch. Zokar wanted to get to him, to kill him, to wipe the arrogance away and replace it with pain, fear and finally despair as Zokar tore him apart limb from limb. Screaming in fury he threw himself into Lord Katu's followers.
Zokar had never trained with two-sword fighting and these swords were not designed for it anyway. Also, he had so much rage flowing through him he could not focus. As a result his swordsmanship was practically nonexistent and more resembled wild flailing and his blades banged against each other more than once but his rage lent him speed and increased his already formidable strength. He thrust and hacked left and right killing and maiming as he tried to force his way to Lord Katu. The man saw him coming and clearly did not wish to engage Zokar in combat and began to push his way through his followers in an effort to escape the hall, the fighting had moved from the entrance and Katu was able to make good his escape, Zokar in hot pursuit.
As soon as he was clear of the hall Lord Katu broke into a full sprint. As Zokar chased him through the hallways, though his wounds slowed him. As he ran he could smell smoke and hear the sounds of people fighting and screams of pain and fear echoing the throughout the palace but he ignored it all of it, he was focused entirely on catching Lord Katu and killing him. Zokar soon found that his quarry was a skilled runner despite being hampered by his heavy robes. In an effort to slow him down Zokar sent a blast of fire at Katu's back, before it could make contact Katu turned and directed the fire into the wall. Zokar cursed, he had not known that Lord Katu was a bender and the man hadn't used it at all during the massacre in the hall. At the moment, however, Zokar was too angry to care about it or consider the implications other than that the man was still getting away.
Lord Katu ran up a flight of stairs, Zokar behind him and gaining ground. They emerged on an upper story balcony. Below them a battle waged in the palace courtyard and beyond. Whole sections of the city seemed to be on fire and the sounds of battle rose up so that even where he stood Zokar could hear it. More spirits hovered above the city, swooping down to strike at people or destroy buildings. Zokar barely acknowledged any of this, he was focused entirely on Katu. The man, seeing that there was nowhere for him to run, at last turned to face Zokar. A jian sword appeared in his hand.
"I had hoped to kill your father but I suppose that there is still time for that and I am sure it will hurt your father greatly when I present your head to him." With a roar of pure rage Zokar threw himself at the other man. His blows were wild but powerful and he was sure that he would easily break through Lord Katu's defenses. But he didn't, the man blocked and parried his attacks with almost contemptible ease. Enraged Zokar redoubled his efforts but no matter how fiercely he attacked none of the blows got through.
"Really, is that all you can do? Surely you mother meant more to you than that? Did you not come after me to avenge her? Then again, perhaps she did not generate that much devotion from you, she was always a rather cold woman. I am actually rather surprised that that attack hurt her in fact." At those words a read mist descended over Zokar's eyes and a roaring filled his ears, blocking out all else. His threw himself at Katu with both blade and flame forgoing any technique. He was so blinded by his rage that he could barely see anything through the haze of his rage, even Lord Katu was little more than a haze to Zokar. Yet, though he was being driven back, Lord Katu was still able to either evade or parry Zokar's attacks.
Despite his obvious skill Katu did not go onto the attack, only evading or parrying. Zokar did not know why and he did not care, except that the man's contemptuous ease at holding him off was fueling his anger. Again and again he hammered at the man, his breath coming in ragged gasps, blind to everything else.
"Pitiful," Lord Katu said; "Your uncle was just like you. An animal who could not accept that the world had changed and that his time had passed. Or maybe he did, perhaps that was why he allowed that boy from the Water Tribe to kill him, because he knew that there was no place in the world for him any longer." That stoked Zokar's rage even further and he gathered himself to lunge forward again.
No Zokar! A voice echoed in his head. It did so with such force that it broke through Zokar's rage and made him pause. He knew that voice, having heard it before, in a place between worlds.
Uncle? He thought, feeling half hopeful and half foolish for doing so.
Yes Nephew. Nephew you must not give into Lord Katu's taunting. He is getting you to give in to your anger; it is empowering you but it is also making you blind and reckless. Once you have exhausted yourself he will move in for the kill.
Zokar saw that his uncle was right. Now that he had pause to think about it his wounds were hurting greatly. As the rage and adrenalin receded he found that he was practically drained of energy and he did not think he could last much longer. Lord Katu seemed to sense this and began to launch his own attacks, tired and feeling the effects of his wounds Zokar was forced to give ground in turn.
Uncle what do I do?! Zokar thought desperately.
Master your rage, do not be used by it.
At first Zokar did not know what his uncle was talking about and he felt a flash of anger at what he thought was useless advice. That anger flashed through him, giving him a brief surge of energy, and then it came to him. He saw what his uncle was talking about, how to master his rage and use it to his advantage.
He searched himself for the rage that he had felt earlier and stoked it back to the full force that it had been at before. Again the red mist descended over his eyes but this time Zokar did not let it take him. He did not let it flow freely through him, he caged it in a part of his mind and held it there. He felt pressure building within him. He could feel it roiling and churning, trying to break out, he could feel the intense energy of that anger as well. Soon his whole body was quivering with the effort.
With great difficulty he tapped into that energy, the key was to tap into it without letting the rage that generated it to take control of him again. It was possibly the most difficult thing that he had ever done in his life. It pounded in his head till he thought his skull would split open, it coiled in his belly like a ball of magma till he felt sure it was eating its way out of him. His eyes bulged burned with the effort to focus and beat back the red mist and he wanted to scream from the pain it was all causing him.
Despite all of the pain he found that his efforts were bearing fruit. He could now see clearly again, indeed his vision seemed sharper than it usually was. His flagging energy surged anew and the pain of his wounds receded to the back of his mind. The strength the rage gave returned to him but this time he was in control of it, not the other way around. The speed had also returned, to Zokar it seemed that Lord Katu was moving in slow motion. And when he launched blasts of fire along his blades the flames seemed to be both more powerful and precise than before. In short order Katu was once again on the defensive.
But it was so hard. The rage becoming harder and harder to contain and the pressure and desire to give into the rage were building, Zokar knew that if he did not release the rage or surrender to it soon the pain would drive him insane. He had to end the fight and quickly.
Katu seemed to have sensed that something had changed within Zokar and went fully onto the offensive. To Zokar it seemed like the man was moving through tar. With little effort he brought his right blade up to knock Katu's sword away. He then followed it up with a kick that sent the sword flying. As the man fell back Zokar found that he could not hold it back any longer, with a scream of pain and release he thrust both of his blades into Lord Katu's chest and shot fire along them into the man and then everything went black.
He was not sure how long it was before his vision returned to him. The anger had drained away, as well as the energy it had granted him. He felt weak as a baby, the pain in his wounds seemed to have intensified, his breaths came in ragged gasps and he could not stop his body from shaking. He looked over to where Lord Katu lay and saw only a blackened corpse. He wanted to do nothing more than lay down and pass out but sounds from below caught his ear. With great difficulty he made his way to the edge of the balcony and looked down, in the streets below the battle still waged, it seemed the night of blood had not yet ended. With a weary sigh he began to slowly make his way back towards the stairs.
Author's Notes: Hey everyone what did you think. Sorry that it took so long to update. As you can see the first Zokar is taking on his mentoring role, will explain how later on. I was originally going to have his nephew learn to fight like he did but I decided to do something different for him. The second Zokar's fighting style will essentially be Juyo from Star Wars, if you don't know what that is google it, this was my interstation of it. Did I do a good job? Please let me know in the reviews. In a way it is the opposite from his uncle, who fought with suppressed emotions, while he fights with controlled emotions. Till next time please pray for persecuted Christians and all others who suffer persecution, the sick, the homeless and runaways, victims of human trafficking, those who suffer, Gail Berry, a friend of the family suffering from mental deterioration and all others who suffer from physical and mental degeneration and all who need prayer. Bye and may Jesus bless you
