Iroh shows off his mad firebending skillz as he faces off with none other than the Avatar! Don't worry, the funny didn't die, it's just more action-y this chapter. Okay, a LOT more.
I don't own Iroh, because Iroh is too cool to be owned.
Ch 2
I look out from the deck to the island pointed out to me as the one the Avatar was occupying.
I had already cleaned Zuko up and placed him in his room. Some of the soldiers had tried to rouse him, but were unsuccessful. The men do not know his sleep is drug-induced, so I am hoping to keep that a secret. Mostly in the interest of self-preservation. Zuko will likely sleep through the entire night. And right when we had stumbled across the Avatar, of all times...
After making sure Zuko was taken care of, I debated on whether to pursue the Avatar. Whether we capture the Avatar or not, Zuko will be furious for sleeping through it...and his anger will be much worse if he discovers I had drugged him. I pray for his ignorance. I suppose I could let the Avatar go, swear the men to secrecy, and Zuko would wake up none the wiser...but, however much I would like to avoid his anger, a chance to relieve my nephew from a exile is much more important.
I decide to tail the Avatar and give the command, setting our ship in motion. As the ship increases speed, I groan at the folly I have landed myself in. Still, I am not going to miss out on an opportunity to ensure my nephew's return to his homeland. Hopefully he will forgive me.
Hopefully.
We reach the island and anchor offshore. Taking smaller boats, the men and I reach the beach of the island. I give them the order to split up and comb the area. Things will go much smoother if we manage to take the Avatar by surprise.
My group and I search through the wooded area of the island, scouring bushes and any crevices for signs of travelers. All seems quiet. I begin to wonder if perhaps my men were seeing things when they "spotted" the Avatar, when a small, furry creature drops down from above and lands at my feet. White fur, dark belly, large green eyes, and long ears. I do not recognize the species of the animal, though it looks familiar. It chirps at my feet as I stare down at it.
"Why, hello, little fellow! What are you doing around here this time of night?" I coo sweetly to the fuzzy mammal.
It screams.
And screams.
"Momo? What's wrong, boy?" I hear a young voice off in the distance. The Avatar and his companions? I look down at the creature scampering off. Little monster!
We chase after it, and find an encampment with three young people standing in alert. They spot us and attempt to run, but the noises created by the creature alerted other scouting groups to their position, and are surrounded.
I squint in the darkness. This is the first time I have been so up close to the Avatar and his companions. They are just children! The oldest boy must be a year or so younger than Zuko, and the other boy...the Avatar...is even younger than Zuko when he was banished! I feel a little twinge in my chest.
I signal my men to capture the Avatar's friends. Hopefully, with his friends already taken, the Avatar will surrender quietly and we can avoid a conflict. But, much like the rest of today, things do not go according to plan.
The Avatar uses his wind powers to create a flurry to confuse my men, then sends a powerful wind blast to punch a hole in the back part of the circle and escape. Heh. Just as Zuko said he would...
We chase them through the woods until we reach a field and open fire. They are able to dodge most of the attacks, as we are not seriously trying to harm them. No sense in injuring children. I order the men to focus on apprehending the Avatar's friends, but the Avatar is using all his powers to keep us from approaching. The older boy retaliates by flinging a strange blade at us. It knocks one of the men on the head and splits his helmet in half. Had he not been wearing one, it would have been his skull.
The bent weapon curves its path and glides back into the boy's hands. Ah, that is why it is shaped so. He makes another throw, and this time it spins viciously towards me. I duck, and as it whistles mere inches past my head, I discreetly blow a blast of hot air on it. The blade whizzes back towards its owner, as it did last time. But this time, as it lands in his hands...
"OW! Hot! Hot! Hot!" He juggles his weapon like a hot potato.
Using the confusion created by the older boy's yelping, I hurtle a fireball to separate the Avatar from his friends. The blast knocks them in opposite directions. "After them!" I shout to my men, pointing to the Avatar's companions. As they advance, the Avatar rises to stop them. I create another fire blast to keep him occupied.
"Run!" the Avatar shouts as he deflects the attack.
His friends begin to make for the woods, but the girl stops and asks, "What about you?"
"He will be fighting me," I answer, placing myself in front of him. Unable to delay any longer, his friends flee into the woods. "We'll come back for you!" the older boy hollers as they disappear into the brush.
"Capture them," I order, "I will take care of this one." The men hesitate, then rush off into the woods, hot on their trail. I turn my attention completely to the Avatar. His young face is angry and worried. This child was the threat to Ozai's rule? It seemed a bit unfair, fighting a child.
"Out of my way!" he shouts, trying to intimidate me. I stand unmoved.
"If you want to help your friends," I call, "you will have to go through me first, little one."
He snorts and charges. Rushing forward, he brings out a staff, and leaps upwards at least ten feet. As he descends, he brings his staff down to strike me. He gapes as I catch it easily in one hand. I swing my arm around, and the Avatar, still holding onto his staff with an iron grip, follows. I bring the staff downwards brutally, the Avatar along with it. He hits the earth hard with an "Oomph!" and relinquishes his grip.
As he staggers to his feet, I thrust forwards, poking him forcefully in the chest with the end of his pole. He stumbles backwards onto the ground, and I give him two sharp "whaps" to the head. This is what Zuko has failed to capture so far? I am going to have to create more rigorous drills for him when I get back.
The Avatar uses an air blast to propel himself backwards and put some space between him and myself. I see...he is not a close range fighter–too open to attacks. Well, he about to find I am also an excellent long distance combatant. "If you want your stick back," I call, waving it in the air, "you'll have to take it from me."
The Avatar frowns and sweeps the ground with his foot in a low kick. An arc of wind whooshes forward to knock me off my feet. Using the staff as leverage, I am able to jump over the attack. The wind knocks the staff out from under me, but by that time I am ready, and land easily on my feet. I smile at the Avatar, waiting for his next attack.
He breaths in deeply, then makes a swift movement with his hands, sending a powerful blast of air to overwhelm me. Most people consider using fire as a shield in this situation a foolish thing, much like "pissing in the wind", but a skilled firebender can create a condensed and extremely hot flame to super-heat the air. And when air is heated...
It rises.
I observe the Avatar is surprised to see his attack deflected upwards. He looks back at me, nervous. I believe he is beginning to understand what sort of firebender he is dealing with. Repeating the same hand motion, but more forcefully, the Avatar sends another blast of air, this one more powerful than the last. However, simply adding more strength to the same attack is not enough to defeat me.
I am very surprised when I find myself nearly being knocked off my feet. My shield of flame manages to heat some of the air up and away, but the force and amount of wind has tripled, and it is taking all my energy to stay upright.
I outlast the attack, much to the Avatar's shock and dismay. However, I am panting slightly from the effort it took to resist his assault. He is much more powerful than I originally thought. If I am to fight him without resorting to seriously hurting him, I will need to get within close range again. An idea enters into my mind, and I smile.
Placing my palm face down into the ground, I create a spark. With a shout, I radiate out a ring of fire across the field. The grass is dry, and good for burning. As the ground becomes alive with fire, I use my bending skills to halt the flames at the edge fo the field–no sense in burning a perfectly good forest.
In order to avoid being scorched, the Avatar uses his wind powers to keep himself aloft while the ground below him is eaten by flames. As I expected him to. The effort to propel the wind-ball holding him up is expending most of his energy and concentration. He will be unable to make any air-attacks so long as he has to maintain that ball. I casually walk across the field towards him, the fire I created parting way so I may pass. Soon, I am not ten feet from where he is hovering. The boy struggles to maintain the ball, but is starting to slip.
I use his staff to make several swats at him, as though he were one of those colorful paper candy containers I have seen children break open during celebrations. But the boy is a wily one, and deftly evades my swings. Eventually I tire of this, I prepare to make a mild fire attack to bring him down. My plan is stopped as the Avatar creates a large whirlwind of air, which quickly forms into a narrow cone shape. A tornado. The flames in the field are extinguished by the ferocious wind, and I am thrown backwards by the force of his air current at such close proximity.
I was hoping to avoid having to hurt the boy by going easy on him, but since he proves to be more difficult to capture than I had originally estimated, it seems I will have to be a little more rough.
I feign knockout.
The winds eventually die down, and the Avatar looks at my limp body. Seeing me "unconscious" he begins a cautious approach towards me. As he makes a tentative reach for his staff, still in my grasp, I make a grab for him. He is too quick for me, unfortunately, and manages to escape my reach. He ducks and makes another grab for his staff when...
BOMP! The Avatar flies backwards.
I pat my gut. I always knew it would come in handy for something other than storing meals.
Looking down at the sprawled Avatar, I pause...how long has this fight been going on? Too long. I shall have to finish this now.
I take in a deep breath–as much air as my lungs will take. Aiming towards the Avatar, I exhale furiously. Wrathful white flames flare from my mouth as I breathe out. The Avatar uses his wind to protect himself from the intensity of my fiery breath, but he is being overwhelmed by the heat and strength. It is taking all his energy not to be burned. Hopefully he will wear out soon, and I can overcome him quickly.
But, much like the rest of today, things do not go according to plan.
I am startled out of my attack as I feel the Avatar's staff knocked from my hand. Looking over, I see the older boy and his sister standing at the edge of the clearing. The bent blade the older boy threw whizzes back into his hands. If I had not been holding the staff as I had, the weapon probably would have struck me. Realizing I was forgetting myself, I turn back to where the Avatar was, only to find him gone. Whirling around, I see him reaching for his staff. I let out a belch of fire, but he nimbly evades it, and grabs his staff. He flips over me, landing two sharp "whaps" on my head as he did so, and races towards his friends.
My men come rushing out of the woods, closing in on the three. What have they been doing this entire time? Not that I was one to chide...
As we closed in tighter, we saw the girl wave her arms frantically in the air. Puzzled, I look up, only to see a massive furry beast descending very rapidly upon us. "APPA!" the girl yells as loud as she can, "SIT!"
We scatter to avoid the crushing weight of the beast. The beast lands with a ground-shaking THUD, and three children hop on. The animal launches itself into the air once more, and the men and I are stunned for a moment such a heavy thing is capable of flight. We attack them, but the beast is rising too quickly, and the Avatar manages to deflect our fire-attacks with some crafty airbending.
They fly off into the distance. Further pursuit is impossible–our rowboats are beached on the other side of the island, and by the time we board the ship, the Avatar will have put a comfortable distance between us. I heave a sigh. It seems they have eluded us once more.
There is a pause. "Prince Zuko will be very angry when he finds out about this..." one of the soldiers murmurs morosely, reminding me of my sticky predicament.
"If he finds out..." another muses out loud.
A long silence.
"Not a word," I sigh, and the men enthusiastically agree.
Whew! I have a new respect for the writers of Avatar–writing Fire/Air fight scenes are HARD! Much more difficult to write than the other fight scenes I've done...It took me, like, ALL of math class to sketch out that battle. :P Anyway, hope you enjoyed it! Next chapter, Iroh will try to talk his way out of Prince Zuko's wrath. And that's MUCH harder than capturing an Avatar. The guy just can't get a break...