-Avatar: The Last Airbender
--The Stomach Bender
---Chapter 10: The Long Way to the Top
Nohi chucked me across the bomb bay like a barrel of fish. I kept trying to find the switch that would open the hatch on the floor and dump him out of the airship. But that switch must have been somewhere else. Going at him head on was just like the day we fought in the middle ring. He kept up his attack no matter what weapon I pulled out. Trying to block him was a waste of time and only tired me out. His chain wrapped fists threatened to knock me out with one punch. But I refused to let him get the best of me. I knew all of his tricks and his gang wasn't around to steal my weapons at the worst possible moment. I could get him if I stayed away from his rampaging fists. The best I could do was strike at his legs. Hitting him in the face or the arms was like punching a brick wall without knowing earthbending. I had to wear him down, but knowing that didn't make it any easier. He was a tank. And I wasn't ready to use Chi Blocking yet. I couldn't take that chance if it didn't work. This fight wasn't about seeing what I could do or spending an afternoon. He was out to finish me off.
"I didn't think a guy like you would work for Shen," I said, circling the bomb bay.
"After he heard about our fight in the middle ring, he was impressed with what I could do."
"I thought you were out to make a name."
"I am, but money is nice too." He smiled.
He put his shoulder down and charged across the bomb bay. I threw a fan at his leg and knocked him off balance. It sent him crashing into the metal wall. The room shuttered almost as if he had caused it, but it was only the airship. We fought back to the middle of the room as I dodged his punches and hammering blows. Putting him into the wall made him angry and his every move showed it. Before I came up with a new plan, a ringing filled the bomb bay. Alarms on the ceiling were going off. Nohi turned white and immediately ran to the edge of the room. Panic shot through my head. The bomb bay was about to open! I jumped toward the wall as it opened up and almost didn't make it. There was now a large hole in the bottom of the airship. Ba Sing Se rushed below and from our height, looked like a toy city. With the hatch open, the bomb bay had been reduced to the edges of the room. Nohi and I were on opposite sides but I wasn't about to fight him here. I ran through the first hatch I came across.
"Where do you think you're running on an airship?" Nohi shouted after me.
He followed me down a flight of steps into the engine room. Great big furnaces lined the walls and burned steadily. Red hot pipes crisscrossed the ceiling and ran back and forth between furnaces. The heat was terrible; I immediately started to sweat. I carefully ducked behind the pipes and out of sight as Nohi came stomping in. I had my fans ready.
"Hiding huh? I don't blame you. Last time we fought I put you down pretty hard. Fang tells me you have a sore spot under your arm. If you get hit there you scream like a boar-q-pine!"
My side didn't hurt as badly, but I didn't want to get hit there.
"Must be tough to hide in an engine room wearing that dress and that armor! You're gonna melt!" He laughed angrily. "Is your make up running yet?"
I vaulted off a pipe and kicked him right in the face. He stumbled backward and banged into one of the furnaces. I rolled out of the way as he bounced back and retaliated with a vicious punch. He put a dent in one of the metal pipes and grinned. Then he spun around and knocked me across the room.
"When I'm done with you, your face paint will be out of order!"
He didn't let me get back up and grabbed my leg. I couldn't break free, and he bounced me off a furnace. Between the heat and getting knocked around, it was hard to breathe. Everything was getting blurry.
"I'm going to hit you so hard Avatar Kyoshi will feel it!"
"She . . . would eat you alive." I gasped.
I waited for him to get close before jumping up and taking a shot at his jaw. But he knocked my arm away and grabbed my throat. He lifted me off the ground and watched me struggle. I kicked the air and tried to pry his fingers away but it was no use. I watched him cock his arm back and knew I had to act quickly. I jabbed his arms with Chi Blocking and . . . amazingly it worked. His arm went limp and he dropped me. I gasped for air as he loomed over me and brought his head back. I stood my ground and watched as he prepared to smash his head forward in a devastating heat butt. As he swung I moved out of the way at the last second. Instead of attacking me, he bashed his head into a metal pipe. A ringing sound filled the engine room as he stumbled backwards and clutched his forehead. It didn't take much to knock him down after that. With a simple push, he fell backward and hit the floor with a loud thud. Nohi was done fighting for now. I hurried back to the bomb bay as the heat became unbearable. All the air rushing past the open floor felt good, so I took a moment to rest.
Coal, Fang, and Shen were left.
Just thinking about fighting through them . . . I began to argue with myself. Could I really take them? Did I have a choice? I knew I shouldn't push my luck. Nohi knocked himself out and I was sure the others wouldn't be so nice. Coal was a firebender who breathed smoke. I had fought firebenders before. But Fang was a Dai Li agent. How many of them had I beaten lately? I went on and on in my head until it seemed hopeless.
I stopped and took a deep breath. I had to land the airship, or at the very least force it to the ground. I looked out the bomb bay and we were flying over the lower ring. We were getting closer to the edge of the city. I had to get it down before then. My next stop was the control room. Someone was flying this thing. On the way, I kept an eye out for anyone else. The airship was empty without a full crew. Azula and Shen weren't in any of the rooms I passed, but it was a big ship. I pressed on until I reached the door to the control room. I had my sword ready as I rushed inside. To my surprise, Coal was the only one there. He was at the wheel, flying the airship. I didn't know I had come in until the door slammed shut and he looked over his shoulder.
"Land this thing." I ordered.
"Or what?" He asked without turning around. "Are you going to fly the airship?"
"I have a friend of mine who was pretty good at crashing these things. I'll think of something."
Coal flipped a few switches and turned the wheel until he didn't have to steer anymore. The airship shifted into a gentle turn. We might have begun to fly in circles; I didn't really know airships that well. Once Coal was done at the controls, he slowly turned around to face me.
"I guess you took care of Nohi." He chewed on his fancy gold pipe. "I would have done it myself if it weren't for this job."
"Why? Because he calls you the Cinder Lung?"
He laughed wryly. "My commander gave me that name when I served in the Fire Nation Army. I tried so hard to bury it. But no matter what I do, people just seem to know. Nohi thought it was funny. I was this close to blowing him up. He's lucky you got to him first."
"I don't care about your name."
He shook his head. "I should breathe fire. I do everything right. But it's always smoke."
Things got worse as he took his pipe and slid it in his belt. I unfolded my shield and stood ready. I didn't want to fight him, but it seemed impossible to avoid.
"Doing a job well? My reputation? That's all I have against that stupid name. Do you think I'll let you ruin that for me?" He held his hands out.
"Oh great," I muttered.
Fire streaked across the room as he attacked. I blocked with my shield and rolled in close. He avoided my sword and I knocked his arms away so I wouldn't get fried. Then I got too close and he spat smoke in my face. The awful taste of foul ash sent me spinning around in a daze. A fire blast hit me right in the back and knocked me into the wall. My armor kept me from getting badly burned, but it still hurt. I turned around and barely had enough time to block as he kicked a blast of fire. He didn't let up. Fire crashed against my shield continuously as he moved in closer. I couldn't find a way out until he got closer so I could kick his legs out from under him. He tumbled to the floor and flooded the room with smoke. It was the Blue Lantern and the royal palace all over again. Only it was worse because the control room was smaller and smoke was thicker. It hurt to breathe, even when I dropped to the floor. He was trying to suffocate me! I almost ran to the door, and then I had a better idea. I covered my face and broke the windows over the steering controls with my sword. The smoke quickly vented out the control room.
Coal couldn't hide his surprise when the smokescreen suddenly cleared up. In his confusion, I was able to kick him in the back. He bounced off the wall and stumbled to the other side of the room. It was my turn not to let up. He tried to use firebending but was so sluggish that it was easy to avoid. I knocked him back and forth across the control room. All his smoke drifted harmlessly out the window and he had nowhere to hide. I caught his arm, spun him around, and threw him to the floor. It was a relief to watch him try to get up and then collapse. I was just glad it was over. Between the smoke and the fire and trying to fight him, I was out of breath. I sat down next to the steering controls and started to cough up all the nasty smoke I accidently gulped down during the fight. Everything I needed to land the airship was in this room. Things started to look better . . . and then Fang entered the room. She looked at Coal unconscious on the ground and then looked to me. I felt sick. No. Not her. Not now.
"Well, you've been busy," she said dryly.
I forced myself to stand even though I was still out of breath. My sword felt heavy.
"There's not . . . a lot of earth . . . to bend up here is there?" I gasped.
Fang brought out her hands so I could see her stone gloves. She had me.
"So you beat the Knuckleduster, and then you came up here to deal with Coal? Impressive." She took a step forward. "What were you going to do about me?"
I would try my best. After fighting through Nohi and Coal, I didn't have enough energy to go after Fang. Not right away. I needed a break. Thinking about fighting her felt hopeless . . . but I wouldn't let myself give in.
"You're next," I said.
She chuckled. "You only have one move to make. Any hesitation, any mistake, and you'll lose. When I was in the Dai Li, I always preferred to face my enemies like this. Usually they lose hope. I let them talk themselves into giving up. It saves a lot of time."
My legs felt weak.
"You're playing with me." I realized.
"Not at all. The Dai Li never taught me to play with my enemies. You're mistaking me with someone like Tong or a lowlife like Nohi. They treat a fight like a game or some bragging right. I'm glad you didn't let them beat you. It wouldn't be right."
"Why are you even doing this?"
"Shen promised to help me find my parents. I know he's a liar. But his lies are good enough to believe in."
The control room gave me nothing to work with. I was just Fang and I standing on opposite sides of the room and Coal unconscious in the corner. I couldn't bring myself to move. I felt like a statue. Her voice was cold and her stare was worse. The tension in the room was unbearable.
"Go on," she said. "It will be over faster than you think."
I raised my sword and took a step forward. At the same time, Fang launched both her stone gloves and pushed me out of the control room through a broken window. The wind whipped at my ears as I began to fall away from the airship. I thought I was dead. There was nothing left to do but scream as I fell all the way down to Ba Sing Se. But before I gave into the terror, I landed on something hard. To my amazement, I landed on the catwalk sitting just below the control room. It stretched out in front of the airship like a nose . . . and it had saved my life. Fang came to the window and looked down to see I was still alive. Her expression didn't budge. I was beside myself; I couldn't believe I was still alive. My body wouldn't stop shaking and I had never felt so happy. It took awhile before I realized that Fang was coming down to finish the job. I shook off my near-death experience and jumped to my feet. My sword was gone from the fall, but I still had my fans. A few moments later Fang stepped out onto the catwalk with her hands behind her back.
"I admit it's cruel, but I'm curious to see if you'll flap those fans as you fall," she said.
I ignored her. She wanted me to get angry so I would make a mistake. No, I watched for her stone gloves.
"Are there any messages you want me to give to the other Kyoshi Warriors? Maybe you want me to give them your fans? I'm not above honoring someone's final wishes."
"Shut up, Stone Face." It was all I could think.
We stared each other down again, only this time it was on a narrow platform hanging from an airship flying miles above Ba Sing Se. I had never been so scared in my life. The wind never stopped.
Finally, she made her move.
Instead of using her stone gloves, she pulled out a blowpipe filled with spit darts- probably the same ones she used on Azula. I held off for a split second and then tried to deflect her darts with my fan. I swung as fast as I could and hoped. Just like that, it was over. I managed to avoid getting hit, but Fang wasn't so lucky. One of the darts bounced back and hit her in the leg. She plucked it out but it was too late. Her body went limp and she began to fall. Before I knew it, I had rushed over and grabbed her leg before she plunged to the earth. Somehow I was able to drag her back onto the catwalk where she slumped over paralyzed. Everything came rushing back to me and I gasped in relief. Then I looked at Fang. For once, her face showed emotion. She was shocked.
"I've never been hit with a Shirshu dart before . . ." she muttered weakly.
I pulled her back inside the airship and closed the hatch behind us. Something had happened to her. She couldn't believe anything, it was as if she thought she was dreaming.
"Fang, where is Shen? Where did he take Azula?"
"What? Oh . . . he made me take her to the top of the airship. He's there too."
She was so dazed, I found it hard to be sure about anything.
"The top of the airship? You mean, on the balloon?"
"Yes . . . he's going to kill her."
I realized I had to forget landing the ship. I was out of time, and Shen was the only one left.
"How do I get up there?" I asked Fang.
The ladder to the top of the airship was a maintenance hatch near the back of the ship. It looked like a dark tunnel to nowhere, but I started to climb. Thinking about Shen climbing the ladder made me dread reaching the top. Nothing was going to stop him from getting what he wanted, not even if he had to hurt himself. The hatch was still open when I got to the top of the ladder. Somehow, the wind wasn't as bad as it was on the catwalks below. The view was impressive though. We were circling the lower ring of Ba Sing Se. Nasty clouds were gathering above us. Toward the front of the airship I saw Shen and Azula. She had regained enough feeling to sit up, and he had taken the bandages off his hands.
"Shen, stop it! It's over!" I yelled.
He turned around. His face looked torn between confusion and rage.
"You! I don't . . . What happened to Nohi? And Coal? Where is Fang?" He cried.
"I took care of them. You're the only one left!"
"No, this has to be some kind of joke . . ."
Azula seemed just as angry as Shen, only she couldn't move. Really, they were the last two people I wanted to tip toe the top of an airship with.
"Let Azula go!" I demanded. "And don't even think about stomach bending!"
He held his hands out and glared at me. I was close enough to jump over and strike him before he made a move. But that didn't bother him.
"Didn't you hear the weather prediction this morning?"
As if on cue, it began to rain. The nasty clouds above were storm clouds. I looked up in disbelief as water started to drench every inch of the airship. Shen looked to the sky and laughed hysterically.
"You're going to wish I used stomach bending on you," he said.
I wasn't over. I don't know why I was surprised.
-Next Chapter: The Ice Storm Over Ba Sing Se