Alright , I'm just gonna get this out of the way ... this is in fact a filler chapter .
*Gasps ! *
I know , I know , I have disgraced my honor as a writer and deserve nothing short of seppuku . But I needed a sort of buffer between some of the serious and depressing stuff in the most recent chapters . That and assignments have been up to my neck , so sorry if updates seem a bit slow now . I'll try my best to keep updating this story to the best of my ability .
Now about this chapter , we actually do in fact get some serious scenes with Ty Lee here but nothing too major and a short scene at the end with Azula learning about a new type of weapon with Kazumi . Hope you all enjoy !
With that said , let's get this chapter started !
Since joining the Kyoshi Warriors , Ty Lee had to go through a lot of training . Specifically with weapons .
Granted , Suki admitted that Ty Lee was already pretty well-trained for a non-armed combatant but Suki still felt the need to be fair to some of the other girls and have Ty Lee learn the essential weapons and tools of the Kyoshi Warriors .
Ty Lee didn't complain , she was actually quite excited to learn how to use them .
The war fans that the Kyoshi Warriors used took more than a little while to get used to , but soon enough Ty Lee was able to get the hang of it . The retractable shields were pretty basic and Ty Lee just needed to learn how to pull it out and retract it at a moments notice to block attacks .
The real problem came from the Kyoshi Warrior's third weapon : The sword or more specifically the katana .
Which was probably the reason why Suki was kicking her butt right now .
" Ah ! " Ty Lee cried out as she fell flat on her bottom , dropping her wooden practice sword in the process .
" You okay Ty Lee ? " Suki asked as she offered a hand up , barely a scratch on her or her makeup .
" I'm fine , thanks " Ty Lee said as she took the hand up .
" You were doing better than last time " Suki said in an effort to cheer her up .
You mean I lasted a few seconds longer than last time ?
Ty Lee thought but she didn't dare say it out loud , she'd rather keep it in . The young acrobat already knew that she had some serious problems with getting in touch with using a sword .
Ty Lee pouted a little as she picked up her sword " I just can't seem to get the hang of it , you know ? Like it just doesn't feel right ..."
Suki looked at her curiously " What do you mean ? "
" Like ... I just don't like carrying a sword around ..." Ty Lee admitted " Because its ... used to kill people you know ? "
Ty Lee confessed that she had some reservations with using a lethal weapon like a sword . With the war fans those were easier , because they weren't designed to kill people with a single move . Before she joined the Kyoshi Warriors Ty Lee had based her entire fighting style upon attacking her opponents non-lethally and taking them down in the least painful way possible . Hence why she put a major emphasis on learning chi-blocking above everything else.
Ty Lee didn't like hurting people , much less killing them .
" I get what you mean Ty Lee , I don't particularly like the sword too much either ..." Suki said sympathetically " But don't worry too much , for the most part we just carry the sword as a kind of last resort . We usually just rely on our war fans to fight most of the time "
But at the same time Suki knew that knowing how to use the sword wasn't without its own uses . She knew that she almost managed to skewer the former Fire Princess when she was first captured .
" Okay ..." Ty Lee said still a bit unsure .
Ty Lee was still thinking about the events of last week when she had heard with Mai a couple of citizens bad-mouthing Zuko . And the thought still lingered ... how many more people thought like that ?
" Ty Lee ... are you okay ?" Suki gently asked .
" Its nothing Suki I'm just ..." Ty Lee tried to brush her off but in the end she couldn't bring herself to lie " I was just ...thinking about something that happened last week , when I went out with Mai ..."
" Did something happen ? "
" Not so much happened as heard ..." Ty Lee clarified " Me and Mai heard some people saying some ... bad things in regards to Zuko as Fire Lord ..."
" Loyalist of Ozai ? " Suki said a bit startled .
" No ... they didn't sound like they were particularly loyal to Ozai " Ty Lee explained " But they certainly weren't happy with Zuko's style of leadership and the rising in taxes and such ..." Ty Lee had a look of concern on her face " I'm just worried that ... some people might try to ... Zuko ..."
Kill him .
Those words went unsaid by the two young girls .
Suki could understand Ty Lee's concern , a lot of people certainly weren't happy when Zuko became Fire Lord , Zuko had said so himself just a while ago . There was a reason for why Mai had requested Suki , Ty and some of the other warriors to become Zuko's elite bodyguards and help protect him from assassination attempts .
And honestly ... it wasn't just the Fire Nation Suki had been concerned about .
Lots of people in the Earth Kingdom still held a lot of hatred and contempt for the Fire Nation and by extension Zuko . She knew that there was still a lot of pushback for allowing Fire Nation people to stay in the Earth Kingdom .
Even Kyoshi Island ... Suki's home now had a dislike for Zuko , since he had been the one to burn their homes to the ground in search of the Avatar . Suki had only managed to forgive him after seeing how much Zuko was genuinely trying to make up for what he did . Unfortunately a lot of people back home didn't see it that way and still were quite reserved to the idea of letting any sort of Fire Nation presence on the island .
So how did Suki manage to get a small group of Kyoshi Warriors to protect Zuko ? Some of which had been imprisoned by his crazy sister ?
Answer : She personally hand picked the ones to protect Zuko , sisters who weren't imprisoned by Azula or were at least somewhat civil towards Zuko despite his past actions against Kyoshi Island .
Suki still couldn't forget the look of betrayal on some of her sister's faces when she agreed to become Zuko's bodyguard . The ones who had initially followed her off of Kyoshi Island to fight in the war and got imprisoned by Azula weren't particularly happy with her .
But it was Suki's choice and she had to live with it .
And as the captain she needed to be strong for all of her sisters . Especially Ty Lee .
" Hey , its going to be okay Ty Lee ..." Suki said in a comforting tone " I'm sure Zuko can handle whatever comes our way ...and we aren't alone either . We have Aang , Katara , Sokka and Toph and so many others to help out ... " Suki gave the acrobat a comforting smile " So don't worry about it ... whatever this is , we'll all get through it , okay ? "
" ...Okay Suki " Ty Lee seemed to have cheered up a bit at that and even managed to smile a little .
" Alright , now let's get back to training . Your forms still need a bit of work " Suki said as she got back into stance with her wooden practice sword .
" Ready when you are Suki " Ty Lee said , holding her sword up again .
The two girls clashed again . But this time there was a sense of comradery between them .
Ty Lee really did hope that things would be alright ...
" Azula , I want to try something different today ..." Kazumi suddenly out of the blue as she carried two of the practice swords outside .
" Oh ? "
" I want to try a different sword type today I mean " Kazumi clarified as she tossed one of the wooden swords over to Azula which the Princess easily caught . It was then that Azula realized that the wooden sword that Kazumi had handed her wasn't her usual practice sword . It was too short to resemble that of a katana and it was much lighter as well .
" Which kind ? And what is this sword ? " Azula questioned .
" The short bladed type " Kazumi answered simply .
" Oh , I know what these things are ..." Azula commented . She should have known that these were short swords , the kind that assassins and spies use in place of traditional length blades . But Azula was slightly confused " But why short blades though ? I thought we were learning about katana's ? "
" Short blades have certain advantages over longer swords that most people don't know about " Kazumi explained " One of them is their obvious light-weight but that decrease weight allows for much faster and quick attacks to be performed . Of course dealing heavier blows is more difficult for short blades , but they still have the advantage of being able to inflict multiple attacks at once "
Azula hummed , that did sound like a pretty sweet advantage . One that honestly matched up with her fighting style a bit more than a katana . She always did like overwhelming her opponents before they even knew what hit them .
" Okay , so how I do this ? " Azula asked as she held onto the sword with a grip with both hands as she took stance .
" Well firstly , you would probably be better off holding the blade with one hand to move quicker " Kazumi instructed , carefully taking her hands and moving one of Azula's off the grip " Secondly , try to increase your center of gravity but keep your legs a bit spread out so that you can move about quickly . Remember you're not holding a regular length blade anymore "
Azula nodded and adjusted her stance .
" Alright , now try taking a few swings with the sword to get a proper feel for it " Kazumi advised .
Azula took a couple of test swings with the much shorter wooden blade , this time though she heeded Kazumi's advice and did not treat it the same way as a katana . She took a couple of horizontal swings followed by a downward slice , moving her feet a bit with each strike , keeping herself nimble every time she delivered a strike .
Azula had to admit that Kazumi was definitely right when she said that shorter blades definitely gave a bit more freedom when it came to movement . The blade itself was much lighter which meant that Azula could deliver much quicker strikes than that of longer wooden sword .
" Very good Azula , you learn quickly " Kazumi complimented with a smile .
" You were right , this definitely feels lighter than the regular length swords " Azula commented " Though I wouldn't really say that its better than the regular length swords ..."
" That's true I suppose , it would be a mistake to label a certain type of sword better or worse than the others " Kazumi mused " One simply has different advantages than the others ..."
Azula nodded at how true that was .
" Now how about some actual sparring ? " Kazumi said as she picked up her own wooden sword , a similar length to Azula's .
" Ready when you are ..." Azula smirked as the two wooden swords smacked against each other .
Azula felt at peace when she was training with Kazumi .
Sorry if this chapter wasn't exactly up to the usual standards , but I was pretty rushing to get this chapter done you know . And that this chapter was mostly just filler that wasn't completely pointless with the addition of the Ty Lee scene .
I do promise that the next chapter we will be getting back to our good ol' emotional , depressing and intense stuff that I think we all have dearly missed . So I hope you all are excited for it !
:)
With that said , I'll see you all in the next one .
Angel Out .
