Chapter 22

"Hah!" Aang shouted, punching forward as a lick of flame erupted from his knuckles, flickering an intense shade of red as it came into contact with the water that made up Katara's shield. It expended itself pointlessly as the outer skin steamed from the heat but otherwise remained intact.

This meant that Katara had the opportunity to retaliate against Aang, as his attack had left him unbalanced and not able to continue his motions swiftly. Well, in comparison to how quickly the pair normally fought if they were able to use all their abilities freely.

Not here though, as with determination in her eye and grit in her teeth, Katara punched forward herself, hitting the shield that covered the top half of her body in the center to push it forward, the limited amount of water covering her fist in the caricature of her real one that was five times its size.

It only covered up to her wrist, but it didn't stop her from smirking as Aang's eyes widened in at first surprise, and then resignation as he prepared himself for the blow, which he took straight to the chin as he was sent backward, flying through the air before he flipped over with a burst of wind, his feet planting into the hardened earth as he skidded slightly before coming to a stop.

"And I believe that's game!" Feng yelled from his position as spectator and referee, calling out the clear victor of the fight and making Aang groan while Katara cheered, but not because Katara had scored a hit. When they had first started these little bouts of these, after the first couple of exchanges Aang would resort to moving around the battlefield, taking advantage of his speed to duck away from the Waterbender's attacks.

This kind of defeated the purpose of the exercise, causing Feng to get Toph to indent a 10-meter circle around the sparring area, one that, if crossed, would give a point to the winner, and the most recent blow Aang had taken was the third of the day for the boy.

"Again, seriously? I thought I was doing better that time," Aang sighed as he walked back into the circle, pausing a few paces from Katara as he bowed in the customary Air Nomad way, one hand clenched in a fist against the open palm of the other, bending hallway over at the waist.

Katara returned the gesture before straightening up, a confident smirk gracing her features as she flicked her hair over her shoulder, causing some of the sweat she had built up to flick away as well, numerous rivets of it covered her tanned, uncovered body.

Nothing indecent of course, but with the weather turning warmer and facing a Firebender, Katara had needed to shed some of the layers she wore. This had forced her to exchange her blue Water Tribe dress with the emerald green clothing of the Earth Kingdom, a sleeveless top that left the bottom of her midriff exposed, and a knee-length skirt covering her legs.

Luckily for Aang and Feng, the temperature control that came with their element left them able to stay in their normal outfits.

"I guess I'm just…too hot to handle," Katara replied almost snootily before her mind caught up to her, realizing what she had just said as horror dawned on her face, her eyes widening as she brought a hand to her mouth.

"Oh…oh no…"

The girl's clear horror was enough to cause an outburst of laughter from the peanut gallery, Feng and Aang both finding amusement in the event even if it may be the onset of more bad jokes assaulting their ears.

"I don't know," Feng teased, Aang having no chance to do so as his gaze was caught by Katara's lithe form, his eyes trailing over her as a dazed expression appeared on his face, his cheeks reddening. Luckily for him, Aang had Feng covering for him. "That sounded an awful lot like a pun. A bad pun, in fact, and there's someone who would be very interested to know this little fact."

Even more horror dawned on Katara's face, something Feng had no idea was possible, but that quickly changed as her face turned to stone, marching up to Feng and grasping him by the collar, pulling him down to her eye level.

"If you do, I will tell Sokka that you want to be tutored in the art of comedy. That you are ashamed of your current ability to tell jokes which is why you never laugh at his." Katara pointed a thumb at herself before twisting it back around to face Feng. "If I'm going down, I'm taking you with me."

Feng blinked for a second before he hastily nodded, putting on an air of innocence as he held his hands up in surrender. "Ok, ok. Sokka won't hear anything from me. I swear it on my hair."

"Good," Katara nodded firmly before snapping her head towards Aang who was still looking a little red. "That goes for you two Arrow Guy."

"You d-don't have anything to worry about from me, K-Katara, I'll keep my lips shut."

As amusing as it was to watch the bot stutter out his reply, what with him still being easily flustered by such things, they were out here in the hot sun for a reason.

"Quiet down guys, we still have to discuss the spar." Because frankly being flustered by so little action was kind of embarrassing for the mythical figure that was the Avatar. He should be long since used to it by now seeing as he's been diving over and over into those past memories of his, and Feng kind of doubted all of them were celibate. "First up, congratulations on winning Katara, it was well earned."

The girl preened.

"Now, as to how it actually went, I'm pretty sure the two of you can tell me. If you would be so kind, Aang?"

"What?" Aang asked a little dazedly before shaking his head. "Right, yeah, okay. How it went, hmm…I'd have to say that my attacks were kind of lacking, especially for Firebending. Even when I could get them off in between Katara pelting me repeatedly, she could either block or evade most of them, and it's something I'll need to work on."

"I don't know, you got me a few times there," Katara interjected, sticking a leg out to help highlight the singed part of her skirt. Feng remembered her getting that one, Aang had performed a low kick that had spouted a wave of fire that had flown across the ground.

Naturally, Katara had dodged it easily by jumping immediately before the attack and rolling over it horizontally, coming down on one leg to move into a water-bending kata, one that had left Aang off the balance before she had taken the opportunity to push him out of bounds. To be honest, Feng didn't blame him for losing that one, he had been pretty impressed with her slick move as well, even if her skirt had gotten caught by the attack.

"I think you're both right, to be honest. Yes, Aang is correct in that his attacks need work, seeing as he's still a touch worse than the average Firebender in the Military, but even with your limited practice with the element, you're still pretty creative with it. I don't really remember any Firebendes pulling any circular attacks as you did, for instance. All the examples I can think of were pretty straightforward."

"I am?" Aang blinked, only to be elbowed in the side by Katara as he nodded, hiding his puzzlement. "I mean, yes, of course, I am."

Feng fell silent for a second, staring at Aang until he broke under the pressure as he slumped his shoulder.

"Ok, I have no idea what you mean. Compared to some of the moves I have stored up here," Aang replied, tapping his forehead arrow, "I'm downright limited in just what I can do, in the attacks I can use. If I had to put it into comparison…I'd say I'm only halfway out of the beginner stage for Firebending."

"The beginner stage?!" Katara and Feng echoed in shock, surprised at the admission. "But you're as skilled as some of the weaker Fire Nation Soldiers I've faced over the years, and they would have had years of training!"

"Yeah, what he said!" Katara agreed.

"And that may be true," Aang acknowledged with a dip of his head, "but compared to the standards of everyone in my head, that's where I'm at. Well, in the number of moves and creativity of how to use them at least. I'm certainly not as…forceful as most other Firebenders nowadays."

That…that was quite interesting, actually, and it cottoned on to what Feng had told Azula so those weeks ago, that Fire bending had transformed into something ugly, exchanging passion for anger. one hundred years of war would probably do that to an element, where they stripped away all the fancier and multi-purpose moves in exchange for the most deadly and vicious.

Feng suspected that they may have tried to keep these moves alive in the civilian Firebenders, but if most of them were drafted, as the generations passed…these limitations would stick. Less finesse, more power.

"So…once you're done training with Firebending, would you say you'd have more control and finesse with the element than today's Master Firebenders would?"

Normally, Aang wasn't one for boasting, but in this case, after a moment's pause to think, the boy hesitantly nodded, a fact that made Feng smile.

"Well, that's perfect then, just keep focusing on that, because to be honest, I can't see you ever depending on Firebending as your primary element. You're just too…" he trailed off as he tried to think of the correct word to describe the boy.

"Non-confrontational?" Katara suggested, making Feng nod.

"Yeah, that'd work." Even if pansy would be just as good. "Firebending, even with the older style that you use, seems to focus on harnessing your emotions, feeling them freely and without restraint, taking joy in the element of Fire itself. While you are free, you don't really let your emotions run wild like some other Firebenders I've seen. As for taking joy in your element…"

"It's a little hard when it's caused so much pain for me and everyone who is depending on me," Aang replied with a frown, grimacing as he clenched a fist, the force of it shaking his arm slightly even as Feng nodded.

Yeah, that was exactly it. Aang, and Feng for that matter, had just seen too much damage be done with the most bombastic of the elements. Combine that with his little jaunt with Jeong Jeong and it was no wonder he was a little afraid to use it, to embrace it as other Avatars might have. If Feng was being honest with himself, he didn't think he'd be able to take joy in Firebending if he was in Aang's position either. Luckily, he didn't have to.

"Then it's a good thing you can wield three other elements as well, isn't it?" Feng smirked, earning a hesitant smile from Aang even if he was still looking a little down. "At this stage, it's more important for you to know just how Firebending works, its strengths, its weaknesses, and being able to predict just what attacks your enemy are using before they unleash it. Aside from that, you can always use it as a distraction as a bright light normally draws the eye."

Even if it would be a waste of its potential.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Aang replied, sounding happier as he listened to Feng's words.

"I am," Feng said confidently, as he did for his next words. "But that makes it double as important to master both Waterbending and Earthbending if you're going to fall behind in Firebenidng. Especially if you can somehow work in using multiple elements in unison to coordinate your attacks. For example, you can also create condensed air, right?"

"You know I can, why do you ask?" Aang replied in confusion, not quite getting it in a way that showed his age and general nativity.

"He's saying you'll be able to light it up by yourself as an attack rather than a defense. You can act proactively against the Fire Nation...right?" Katara said the final word meant for Feng as she turned to look at him with a raised brow.

"Correct." Feng grinned as he crossed his arms. "In fact, why don't you try it out now so we can see what we're working with? Katara looks about done, to be honest."

Even if she was trying to hide it, Katara's heaving breaths were more than enough to expose her true feelings on the matter. They had been sparing for almost 30 minutes by this point, and the entire time Katara had only been able to draw water from the air, never a water source, which made the action far more tiring for the girl than normal.

The limited water had also made her have to think carefully about just how to use it, but after a month of practice with it, she was getting pretty good at it.

But she was still tired, which is why Aang looked at her with concern and worry. "You are? I'm sorry, I didn't notice. Should we have stopped earlier for a break?"

"It's fine Aang, I wanted to keep going," Katara soothed the boy's worries, "and I doubt that I'll be given a break on a real battlefield. If anything it's good to practice like this, that way I can both find, and push past my limits in a safe environment. Now do as Feng said, and show us something cool."

Her words seemed to do it as Aang nodded, taking a couple of steps away from the pair as he couched down in a bastardized Earthbending stance, the customary one used for the Air Fortress technique as air gathered in front of him.

Unlike Feng, he could only create a partial shield in front of himself rather than fully surrounding him, but it was enough as once the boy had the air gathered, he turned sideways as he rested on his backfoot for support, pushing into the ground as he rotated first at the hip, transferring the motion through his torse and eventually his arm, and finally punched at the air shield in front of him.

This caused the shining area of air to ripple as it combined together, swirling into a single large column of air that shot forward, feeding itself on the remains of the shield to keep propelling itself forward, gusts of wind being given off by the intense level of swirling wind in it.

Just before the last bit could leave his reach, Aang jerked as he pushed his other arm forward, also in a fist, but this time it was the spark of fire that came out of it, a jet merely the size of his arm leaving it due to how quickly he'd had to switch elements, but the heat provided did the trick, licking at the tail of his air missile with explosive results.

While at first, only the very tip was set alight, a chain reaction followed that quickly shot down the field, moving faster and faster as the heat increased, going so hot as to scorch the earth as massive crack filled the air, forcing the teens to cover their ears in pain even as their hair and clothes were pushed back by the wind generated.

At the same time, they just couldn't look away as the largest burst of flame the teens had ever seen soared into the distance, moving far beyond where the column of air had until it finally lost cohesion, evaporating into the air as silence replaced the sound of the explosion.

None of them knew what to think about what they had just seen. While they had each expected something impressive, they hadn't expected the two elements to combine quite as well as they just had, and this was just with Aang in his normal state. If he brought out the Avatar state and tried again, Feng imagined that the results would be…catastrophic.

"…Maybe tone it down a little next time?" Katara suggested as she rotated a finger in her ear, trying to clear out the ringing noise.

"Ya think?!" Aang retorted hotly even as he kept staring in the direction his attack had traveled. In a line over 100 meters long, the stone platforms were scorched, almost red in color even if it quickly faded away. "I can't use that against our enemies, if I do…they'll die!"

"Then just use it against their ships." Feng shrugged, pointing out that there was a difference between able to and willing to. "It's not like you have to unleash it on unsuspecting soldiers. Although I would be quite interested in finding out what you can do if you combine your fire with a wind tornado. Would it just cause the fire to go out? Or would you be able to create a firestorm?"

"Neither of those prospects sounds very good," Katara pointed out, which Feng acknowledged with a nod even as he shrugged.

"That may be so, but you can't deny that you wouldn't be curious."

She could not.

…

"The hell was that?" Azula asked herself as she turned her eyes to the distance, looking towards Ba Sing Se's enormous walls as she looked for the source of the loud crack of noise, only managing to see a faint glint of light in the far distance as she did. "Was that…Firebending?"

No, it couldn't be, that had to be impossible. There were no Firebenders in there, not unless there were…traitors. She scowled, could her Uncle and useless Brother be in there? It would explain why they had managed to dodge Fire Nation pursuit for so long, as it was one of the only places they couldn't look. They weren't exactly inconspicuous after all, not with that giant scar on Zuzu's face. That didn't matter right now though as she had more important things to focus on.

Like the sheer incompetence that plagued her forces.

"I'm sorry, could you restate what you just said? I'm having trouble controlling my inexplicable rage at the news of such incompetency."

The Sergeant standing in front of her was not unaffected by such vitriol as he swallowed, holding his metal helmet a little tighter to the side of his armor as he looked nervously upon the princess.

Now more than ever the Sergeant cursed drawing the short straw of the bunch. It had to be rigged, why else would he always draw it?

"I-I'm Sorry, P-Princess Azula, but w-we were unable to c-complete the m-mission."

"And why, exactly, is that, hmm?" Azula drawled intensely as she moved to her feet, stalking closer to the still-trembling man as she circled him, moving directly into his personal space in an intimidation tactic. "I thought I was pretty clear on what I wanted to be done, something that should have been quite easy to accomplish. Tell me, what was it I asked for again?"

The sergeant swallowed as his face turned pale, his visage whitening. "You o-ordered a group of t-ten soldiers to c-climb the wall in between the guard schedules. They were ordered to be u-undetected."

"Yes, that does sound like what I ordered," Azula nodded, her voice turning sickly sweet for a second as she finished her revolution around the man, stopping in front of her face as she tapped a delicate-looking nail on his breastplate. "Quite a simple task, really. And what actually happened?"

"We f-failed, Ma'am." Sergeant Dumbass said, as in Azula's mind, that described him perfectly seeing as she didn't know his name, not that she could be bothered learning it.

"And why, exactly, did you fail?"

It was here that Sergeant Dumbass sighed, his shoulder slumping slightly. "Because we don't know how to, Princess. Climbing rock walls, let alone flat ones like this, was never a part of our training. In fact, nothing to do with the Earth Kingdom was a part of our training, so the fact that we were a-assigned here was a surprise to all of us."

"Really, it wasn't?" Azula blinked, sharing a glance with Mai who just shrugged. "But I thought that Earth Kingdom Assault tactics were compulsory for all military groups to learn?"

"It would be if we were trained even five years ago." The Sergeant replied, shaking his head. "But ever since New Ozai was founded, all training was focused on Ship to Ship combat and flat ground. The only reason I even know this is because I asked."

Azula's brow furrowed as she considered his words. 5 years ago they would have been informed of how to fight such things, Spirits knows she was when she was younger before she'd outgrown such trivialities. Could that mean…

"How recently did you and your men graduate?"

"A month ago, Ma'am. This is all our first posting."

Of course it was, she sighed. She had requested reinforcements, but even her pull as the princess hadn't been enough to get actually good soldiers, although she could think of a reason as to why. That fool Zhao and his failed assault had cost them a lot of men, countless veterans from the war that had been pulled from all over the place to breach the Northern Water Tribes' walls.

The ones that hadn't gone down with their ships had been reassigned to defend the Fire Nations borders, leaving the newer recruits to occupy their Earth Kingdom territory. She even suspected why this was the case, and it was a legitimate reason, but it didn't make it any less frustrating.

"Well that's just peachy," Azula snarled as she stepped backward, moving over to sit in her seat as she reached a hand towards her armrest, only to touch nothing. "Here I am, trying to take the city of Ba Sing Se in my father's name, and I get left with the dregs of the army. The uninitiated. The useless ones. Even my friends here," she said, gesturing at the uncomfortable-looking Mai and Ty Lee, "would be able to climb the walls, and for the most part their civilians! What is the Fire Nation Military coming to if this is all they can muster." She sighed.

The Sergeant made to reply, his face a touch red due to the provocation, but perhaps it was due to the princess's reputation as tyrannical that he thought better than to complete the action. Instead, he closed his mouth and swallowed his retort, instead stoically bearing the abuse.

"I agree that is kind of surprising," Ty Lee nodded, a little subduedly, "but I wouldn't be so hard on them Azula. It's not like it was their decision to not be trained for such matters."

"I suppose your right," Azula sighed, acknowledging her point. "It still doesn't mean it's not annoying though. Would it kill them to even have a tenth of the agility you have? I don't think I'm asking for much here."

"I don't know," Ty Lee giggled, "When my grandmother taught me, it took a fair amount of focus for me to do anything other than fall on my face or be hit by what she was throwing stuff at me. It was only after a year or so of practice that I started getting good by her standards."

"Your Grandmother? I don't think I've ever heard you speak about her." Azula replied in confusion as Ty Lee's smile dimmed.

"That's because she died when I turned eight. It was one of the reasons I ran away to the circus. After all, she was more of a mother to me than my actual mother ever was. In fact, she taught me everything I know, from my agility to my Chi blocking skills."

"My condolences," Azula nodded, earning a smile from the normally bubbly girl. "Still, if she taught you everything you know, does that include all the teasing you do?"

"Of course!" Ty Le cheered. "Aside from my eyes, it's what I'm most proud of inheriting from her. I would have liked to have had her tall figure as well, but you can't have everything."

That's what she thought, a small part of Azula's mind thought. But that was enough about personal matters for now, she should probably go back to addressing that weakling who was still standing there despite being forgotten about.

"And you, Mai? How do you know how to scale structures as you do?"

"Because I believe in being competent, and a competent individual is well-rounded," Mai replied tersely, earning a proud nod from Azula.

"Exactly so, even my failure of a brother knew that fact, it's why he played with those little swords of his when he failed to complete the simplest of bending moves. Why, if he could do that, it couldn't have been that hard for you and your soldiers to do the same." Azula insulted the Seargent again.

"That…is an unfair comparison, my lady." One of her guards spoke up from his place in the corner. "If I may be so bold, the former Prince Zuko was both an Expert Firebender and a Master Swordsman at the age of 13. Not everyone is so skilled, so comparing the average soldier to him is not fair."

Azula scowled even as she stayed quiet, not able to deny the fact. Of course, compared to her own accomplishments Zuzu was nothing, but she supposed that compared to the average riff-raff that infect their military he did have some measure of skill, as limited as that may be.

"Yes yes, but being able to climb a simple wall is a little bit different than learning an entirely new weapon. It just plain makes sense to cover up your weaknesses like that with an alternate skill as Zuzu did."

This final insult to Zuko seemed to be the breaking point for Mai, as up until this point she had been stoically bearing the infuriation Azula's words had caused, but no longer.

"I'd appreciate it if you weren't so dismissive of Zuko, Princess Azula. He may not have been as skilled in Firebenidng as you are, but he is still your brother. You should not speak so callously of him." She snapped at the princess.

Ty Lee gasped as the other soldiers in the room jostled slightly, looking between the two black-haired girls with concern, and for good reason, as Mai was expressing a quiet fury, while Azula seemed half-ready to snap.

"I'll speak of my poor pathetic bother as I please, Mai, and I would like to remind you of your place. Despite being my friend, you are still only the daughter of a Fire Nation Governor, while I am the Crown Princess of our nation! If he didn't want me to speak of him like that, he shouldn't have spoken out against my father!"

Even now, the candles in the room around them flared up, increasing in size without Azula's notice until she saw the glimmer of fear in her friend's eye. Seeing this, Azula felt herself snap out of some of her anger to see the candles burning dangerously close to the satin fabric that made up the war tent.

'Replaced Pasion with Anger.'

'Just a weak girl.'

She was not just a girl, Azula snarled to herself even as she schooled her expression, forcing her will to cause the candles to shrink, the girl holding her emotions back. And what did he even mean, Passion and Anger? They were just the same thing. Still, right now she could do without either.

"My apologies, I let my irritation get away from me," Azula sighed, rubbing her eyes before she looked Mai in the eye. "I'm aware that you've always had a soft spot for him, but you have to remember, he was declared a traitor of the Fire Nation and is expected to be treated as such. I'll hold back on speaking about him like that though if it'll make you feel better."

"It would," Mai said icily, a fact that made Azula wince inside even as she turned her attention back to the Sergeant, who was regretting the fact that he was even born as he witnessed the outburst. The fact that Azula turned away like this though caused her to miss the glance that Mai and Ty Lee shared.

"Now, as for you…I still need my plan to work. How am I supposed to breach the walls with so few men if no one will let us in?"

"I could teach them!" Ty Lee exclaimed hastily from behind Azula's right shoulder, the girl bouncing forward. "I mean, I could teach them the climb the walls, it shouldn't be too hard as long as they have the right equipment." She placed a finger on her chin, her expression turning thoughtful. "Not…that I had any."

Azula found herself blinking in surprise as she looked at the most bubbly of their friendship group. She had not expected such an offer from the girl, but if she could do as she said then her plans would move ahead without hindrance. Well, with no more hindrance than there already was.

"Are you sure? It could be difficult trying to teach them?" Azula pointed out, not that Ty Lee was determined.

"I'm sure, it'll be fun!"

Unable to help herself, the edges of Azula's lips twitched upwards as she shook her head and leaned back into her chair. "Alright then, I'll leave that up to you. It should be fun watching them fail at least."

"Quite." Mai nodded, still acting a little frosty if a little calmer now, even if her steely gaze was still poised on Azula's back.

"Well," Azula drawled, finally addressing the soldier again, "you heard her, go inform the men. Tell them they're all going to learn how to climb walls. The best of the bunch will be the ones actually doing the deed."

"Yes, Ma'am." The soldier replied wearily, bowing at the waist before he took the offered opportunity to leave, glad to no longer be the focus of her attention as the flaps of the tent moved to let him past.

Maybe sometime in the next month, they'll even be worth something, Azula thought, although she was aware enough to not say it out loud. For as little as she cared about their opinion, anyway. No, few deserved the honor of actually being worth her time, like her friends beside her, and her father.

And, as much as she loathed to admit it, the Vengeful Oni. Their battle alone had shown that.

Getting up from her chair, Azula turned her head to address the curious looks of the room's other occupants. "I'm going to go do some training, it's bound to be a better use of my time than being here."

"Agreed." Mai drawled even if she stayed where she was, making no moves to follow.

"But Princess!" The Royal Scribe exclaimed as he held up a stack of papers. "There is still a number of items we need to go through! Rations, Equipment requests, intelligence reports!"

"Well, what exactly do we pay you for, speaking useless drivel?" Azula snarked without pausing her step, holding the tent flap open. "Do it yourself." She said dismissively, fully exiting a room of silent bystanders.

…

"Gahh!" Sokka grunted as he was forced to take a knee to the sternum, some of the air in his lungs being driven out of him even as he forced himself to stand firm, to not let himself be pushed back. Instead, he clenched his hand tightly around the grip of his club, keeping it in place to hold back Feng's war fan even as he used the other to swing his sharpened boomerang at him, seeking to catch him in the arm.

"Good!" Feng grinned, falling back to evade the blow as he lowered his leg, using it to pivot on the ground as he performed a low roundhouse kick, catching the Water Tribe boy in the legs as he was sent spawning.

"Oomph!"

"But not good enough!" Feng exclaimed as he folded up his two fans, using them as impromptu clubs as he brought them down on his friend's prone body, seeking to catch him in the stomach again to fully wind him and thus win the fight. That was the win condition, after all, being on the ground for more than three seconds.

Only, that is not what happened. Instead of catching Sokka unaware, the downed teen flexed his abdominal muscles to kick his legs upwards, folding over himself as he rolled backward and up and unto his feet, dodging the blow just in time to avoid taking the hit, while at the same time giving him an opportunity to retaliate.

"I wouldn't be so sure!" Sokka yelled, sounding just as excited as he tossed his boomerang in a seemingly random direction, using his free hand to strengthen his hold on his club, allowing him to wield the weighted metal stick with more finesse as he struck at Feng, performing wide, sweeping swings that kept him off balance.

Feng tsked in annoyance as he was forced to avoid exploiting another weak point in Sokka's stance, unable to get past the long reach of his club. It was at times like this that he regretted not taking up the sword like he had wanted to as a child, but the multi-purpose use of the fans had proven too seductive of a call, even if their short range was coming back to hurt him.

"You're going to have to do better than that!" Feng grunted as he crossed his closed fans to block a particular power blow from the boy, one that would have sent him sprawling if it had connected, but it now left him with an opportunity as he kicked at Sokka's knee, trying to break his stance.

Judging by the smirk on Sokka's face, he had expected this seeing as he lifted his foot at the same time, causing Feng's shin to collide with his boot ineffectively. It was not surprising seeing as he had used that attack on Sokka many times before.

There was a reason he kept using it though, as it left him open to take advantage of his flexibility by falling backward, to perform an arch as he kicked up with his other leg to take the boy in the chin. Sokka should have known this too, which was why he was surprised at the confident expression on the boy's face just before he could start the motion.

Why would he-GAHH!

Pain main itself known to Feng as the back of his head throbbed viciously, his vision darkening as stars made themselves known, his balance wavering just long enough for Sokka to make his move, leaping forwards with his elbow, taking Feng in the sternum.

Feng would have screamed, had he had the air left to do so. Instead, he simply opened his mouth in pain as he fell backward, collapsing to the floor as his fans fell out of his grip, grasping towards his aching chest.

"Haha, yes! Suck it, Feng!" Sokka cheered in triumph, raising his arms in victory after three seconds had passed and basically destroying all sense of decorum or style he had made from winning the fight.

At first, Feng had no idea just how it was that he lost, but after waiting a few seconds for his breath to come back, and his vision to stop being blurry, a quick glance at the ground behind him showed Sokka's boomerang laying innocently on the ground, shining in the sunlight.

Of course, how could he have forgotten the damn Boomerang, Sokka loved that thing to bits and used it at every opportunity he could. Just looking at it was enough for the back of his head to throb, a knot surely already swelling in size.

"Yes, yes, congratulations on your victory." Feng rolled his eyes as he rolled to his feet, picking himself up easily even after his beat down. "I wouldn't get cocky though, considering if I was using my bending, I would have destroyed you."

"Ah, but this was a no-bending fight, and I beat you! Mister Invincible Boogieman, and I won!" Sokka cheered, not caring in the slightest how true Feng's words were.

Now, Feng could have pointed out of the 24 spars the two boys had engaged in this past month, he had won 23, some of them quite easily, but he decided to let the boy have this one. It would be good for his confidence and help keep his jealousy in check because of the simple fact that he couldn't bend like the rest of their little gang could.

Each and every one of them was showing tangible proof of their advancement as the days passed, as almost half of their time to the invasion had passed since they had begun, with some showing more improvement than others (COUGH Aang COUGH). But for Sokka, his improvement wasn't nearly as fast as the others.

Yes, his physique had progressed quickly, even now he was straining the confines of his shirt with his increased size. Sokka had put a lot of effort into accomplishing this, making sure to consume lots of high-protein food and performing numerous strenuous workouts recommended by the Royal guards. But it was still slower than the others, and that fact can hurt someone inside. Can cause them to turn bitter, in fact, and it went to show just how good of a person Sokka was that he had never let that fact get to him.

So instead of bursting the boy's bubble, he simply replied to Sokka's earlier statement.

"I never said I was invincible, never even thought it actually. Why do you think I made sure to sneak around so much?"

"But your reputation kind of proceeded you, even if that was kind of damaged a little with the fall you took against the Fire Nation soldiers." Sokka retorted. "You have to admit man, your feats were kind of legendary."

"They were, weren't they?" Feng couldn't help but agree, feeling a swell of pride in his breast before he suppressed it, something that he made sure to do whenever he felt those feelings. Not for everything, but for his past as the Vengeful Oni, and what he had done as him.

He would never deny what he had done, couldn't really considering he had a permanent reminder of it every time he looked into the mirror. He also wouldn't deny that some of his actions had been helpful, ever well earned on the Fire Nations' part. But not all of them were, and that was something Feng regretted. He didn't dwell on it though, or at least he tried not to. Instead, he focused on both the present and the future, taking pride in what he was doing to help Aang bring peace to the world.

Like his bending for example, as with countless sparring with the other team members of Team Avatar, he could safely say he had mastered all the basic moves and had relegated them to the backburner for now. That wasn't to say that he wouldn't get any better with them, as like anything they could always be improved, but he had passed the basic benchmarks for ability and creativity of the techniques.

That had taken barely a fortnight after Aang and the others had returned from their little excursions, so he had next turned his eyes toward his three most troublesome techniques. Sure, he could have tried learning a different master-level technique, and he couldn't deny he hadn't been tempted to learn the Wind Tornado, in fact, he still might, but for now, he knew just what would make him most effective on the battlefield.

And that was techniques that would harmonize with each other, which was the Air Blades, the Air Fortress, and the Air Flow Sense, and for the past month and a bit, he had been working on all three in unison, starting with his Air Fortress, as that was the technique that frustrated him the most.

Trying to wrangle the mass of condensed air into something both usable, and unlikely to flambe him, had been an act of pure frustration. Every time he worked on it, it pushed his ability to control the air around him, forcing him to focus all of his willpower on it. Such arduous practice was paying off, as the more he practiced the technique, the more malleable it became. The shield covered him fully as it had months ago, but now he could form multiple layers around himself, having empty gaps in between the inner, middle, and outer layers. That meant that he was now able to keep himself protected without the risk of exploding himself. Much to his frustration, however, that was as far as he'd gotten.

Yes, he'd been able to perform the same action Aang had in condensing the barrier and shooting it off in one direction, just, you know, with less fire, but that was it. He couldn't do the same with mere portions of his outer barrier, not without destabilizing it entirely. This is why he switched to working on his two other moves when his frustration became too much, splitting his time equally in these sessions on both of them. Or in other words, for every 3 hours spent on the Air Fortress, he would spend another on the two other master-level techniques, which had shown more fruit than his other practice sessions.

He'd finished the air blades fairly easily, and once he managed to extract individual parts of his Air Fortress; he would be able to become a storm of blades if he so chooses. As for his sensing technique, it was…going.

As in, he'd managed to expand his range even further, encompassing a radius of about 100 meters when he could focus all of his attention which was more than far enough for Feng's standards. He'd also become more sensitive to objects impeding the flow of the air around him, allowing him to begin building up a mental map using just his element, but it was still rudimentary.

He'd get there though, for both of them. He was sure of it. Aaaaannndddd he should probably be focusing on what Sokka was saying. He got so testy when you tuned him out for too long.

"… it just makes me wonder what Suki is doing, you know? Like, do you think she'd like my new muscles? She seemed impressed enough last time she saw us."

Oh good, nothing important then.

AN: Lot of exposition in this chapter, sorry about that, but I kind of wanted to keep things moving along. The next chapter will be slower-paced, I promise.

In other news, what do you think about the direction I'm taking Azula? I'm trying to make her different than she was in canon, but I also don't want to make her too different if you know what I mean, otherwise, it wouldn't be Azula, you know?

Anyway, Thanks for Reading, Ciao.