Disclaimer: Refer to Ch.1
Chapter 7: Fight with a Phantom
It had been just over a week since they arrived at the temple, and the group had settled in fairly comfortably. They'd had to make a flight to the nearest village for supplies after the first few days. They'd also worked on clearing the courtyard with Aang and Toph's earthbending. They had created a moderately sized fountain pool along one of the walls for when Katara and Aang worked at waterbending. They had also started working at repairing the walls that had crumbled, but that was going very slowly.
It was morning of their tenth day at the temple, and they were just walking out from breakfast. As Aang was mentally preparing for his training session with Iroh a cloaked figure came up over a pile of rubble from one of the walls. The person stood there on top of the pile, and then raised his arm to point at the twelve-year-old boy.
"Avatar," He called out, "I wish to see how far your training has come! You have one of the greatest firebending teachers in the world, but has he been able to teach you how to fight like a firebender? Show me your skill!"
With that he jumped from the pile straight at Aang, flame starting to form about his foot. He was coming down to fire stomp his opponent, but Aang's reflexes managed to let him jump back in time. As soon as he came down the person threw forward both fists, sending out a large fire blast. Aang, still moving back, leaned back with the jump, the flame passing mere inches away. He continued into a flip and landed on all fours. As his hands hit the ground he generated a wave of dirt, pushing it toward his attacker.
The man let his cloak slide off, revealing a bandaged face, covering all but his right eye and lips, and tattered clothing. He reached down for the swords at his side. With a loud shout he drew it into a vertical slash, a strong flame trailing after it. The movement caught the wave head on, and the others watched as it was split, passing to either side of the man. His movement continued till his sword was split in half, becoming two.
As he rushed at Aang he shouted, "That was pitiful! You're going to have to do better!"
The others watched as their friend dodged the flashing blades. Katara had tried to move forward to help Aang, but had been stopped by both Toph and Iroh.
"What do you think you are doing? We have to help him." She said in confused anger.
"Cool it, Sugar Queen. Aang might get a bit roughed up, but he'll be alright." Toph said without facing her, a habit that that still kind of ticked Katara off.
"Toph is right. Consider this a test for him, for them both. I can guarantee you that serious harm is not the intent of this. This is a one-on-one match, we cannot interfere." Iroh agreed. There was a tone to his voice though, one that was of worry, happiness, pride, and surprise.
Sokka was oblivious to their words as he was shouting at Aang. He would cheer at the hits his friend struck on the man, and would boo at the hits Bandage Face, as he had dubbed him, landed. As all of his concentration was on the fight, there were a few things he did catch. One was the fact that Bandage Face wouldn't hit Aang with the blade of either sword. So either he didn't want to kill Aang, or he wanted to do it slowly. His mind was also going through a list of firebenders that could have found them, and at that thought Sokka burst into a run toward the walls to check for enemy troops.
Bandage Face brought his blades down in a cross slash, and Aang jumped over him, landing a few feet behind his attacker. As he turned, Aang shot a blast of fire straight toward the man, who still had his back to him, though he had been looking over his shoulder. The man turned swinging the swords in an arc deflecting the blast to the side. Almost immediately, Aang moved to create a large current of air. With a quick crossing motion of his arms a powerful spiraling gust shot out, and his opponent kneeled down, stabbing the blades into the ground. Unfortunately, try as he might he couldn't hang on, and was thrown back hitting the ground twice before sliding to a halt.
Aang rushed forward, and using the hilts as a vault, he flipped in the air to come down with his own fire stomp. Bandage Face seeing this back rolled leaving a trail of fire from his feet. As Aang landed he bended a large stream of water from the fountain pool, and sent it hurtling at the man. Seeing this he spread his arms out to produce two large wings of flame, which wrapped around him as he brought his arms forward.
Iroh gasped, "The Wings of the Dragon, it's a powerful defensive technique. How did he know it?"
A slight mist formed as the water was evaporated as it was about to touched the flames. As the last of the water vanished so did the wings, and Bandage Face dropped down, performing a roundhouse fire kick. As the flames approached him, Aang also dropped down, this motion raised a small barrier in front of him. It exploded upon impact, its debris mixing with the mist to form a near impossible to see through cloud around him.
"Where are you, Avatar? This isn't the extent of your abilities. If so, then you have no chance of defeating the Fire Lord, not even his daughter, and everything you've done will be in vain!" Bandage Face called out.
"That will not be. I must defeat him." An eerie multiple toned voice sounded.
The cloud of dust was quickly pushed out in all directions, unveiling the young boy whose eyes and arrow markings were glowing bright. Aang had entered the feared Avatar State. Katara again tried to move to aide her friend, but was again held back. Even Sokka had stopped his search to gaze back at the glowing boy. They watched as his opponent apprehensively moved one foot back to begin his flee, but he tensed and moved it forward again, falling into a ready stance. He would face this ominous challenge head on.
Aang lifted his hand, creating a tall wall of fire. He then brought the other hand forward in a hard punch. The wall moved quickly, barely even skimming the ground as it passed. The man's one uncovered eye closed, and he relaxed, focusing everything he had. As the wall was about to he strike raised his arms. The wall wrapped around him, making a kind of dome. That dome burst, and as the flame dissipated the man was again protected by flaming wings. These were different then before. Where the first had been dragon-like, these resembled a bird's, and most distinctly these consisted of white flames.
Now Iroh's words were in a disbelieving awe. He muttered, almost at a whisper, "How can this be? I can't even perform that technique, and if he goes on much further than this he'll die."
As the man extinguished the flames he teetered for a moment, and Aang began the movements to fire a bolt of lightening. Bandage Face realized what was going to happen, and dashed forward. He made it right as Aang's hand was moving forward. He lashed out, grabbed the hand, moved his chi through his body, and pushed the lightening out over one of the other walls, scaring a flock of nearby birds. A high arcing kick from the man followed, but Aang dropped down, arms back preparing for one last powerful blast. He wouldn't get the chance as the man's hand, flames licking at the edges of it, came up swiftly as his leg went down. The strike caught Aang in the gut, knocking the air from his body, and the glowing faded as he was raised up about a foot off the ground. He was quickly let back down, and quickly fell into a laying position as his opponent fell to his hands and knees, gasping for breath along with Aang. The others had made it to their sides before either could begin to rise.
Katara helped Aang to a sitting position. He smiled at the now standing man as he said, "You know, I think this is the first time I've ever fought a phantom…or even really met one."
"You realized, did you? Then I guess there's no need for this." He replied, and reached for the bandages. There was a gasp from either water tribesmen as he lifted the wrapping to reveal a scar over the left side of his face, Prince Zuko.
"It can't be, it just can't be." Katara whispered, shaking her head in disbelief.
Sokka, recovered from the fish-like face he was giving, and shouted, "What the heck is going on here? YOU ARE DEAD! We saw the lava, you fall into the chasm, and there was nothing left. I repeat, YOU DIED!"
Zuko smirked, "That's right, but lets just say that I can't rest peacefully in my grave while my father and sister continue this war." As Iroh approached him, he bowed with a smile. "Uncle…"
Before he had a chance to straighten up there was a quick swat to the back of his head. He stumbled slightly and stood back up with an angered glare, but Iroh remained calm as ever.
"What was that for?" Zuko shouted.
"That was for the years you took off my life from all the worrying I did about you. While I am glad you took me to these fine people, I am upset that you would go out on your own again, leaving only a note for me." Iroh replied in an authoritive tone.
"Uncle please, the note explained why I left. I…" Zuko's attempt to pacify his uncle was cut off as the old man pulled him into a hug.
Zuko was near frozen from shock. True it wasn't the first time that the retired general had done this, but Zuko had long since lost any comfort in these situations. The fact was the hug his uncle had given him before the attack on the Northern Water Tribe had been the first he had since his mother's death. After a few moments he awkwardly returned the gesture.
"Lu Ten sent a message for you. He wants you to know that he misses you, but you'll all be together again someday." Zuko said softly, and Iroh's eyes watered over. Zuko stepped away so that he faced Aang, who was still sitting on the floor. He bowed low to the boy before him. "Avatar, I offer you my allegiance to end this war, if you will accept it."
Aang stared at him for a few moments with a look of confusion all over his face before he said, "Um…yeah, ok. I have to ask you one thing, though, why attack me like that?"
Iroh stepped up and answered, "I believe my nephew wished to see how far you had come in your training. I would suggest that you consider this a sparring match, and with him here you can now truly have a sparring partner for firebending. Lets face it, my old body can't exactly keep up with you, even if you are older."
All this time the others stood there and watched, as their once greatest threat became a member of their closely-knit group. Sokka was at first obsessed with the fact that apparently he admitted to dieing, and that would mean that Zuko was a ZOMBIE. Toph was taking it all in stride. Ever since her first meeting with Iroh, she had felt a fondness for the old man. He was the first person to truly treat her with respect without concern of her disability. She could sense unapparent things about people through the way they moved, and had always felt conflict when Zuko had been nearby. Now though, some of that conflict had been quelled. She was happy for him for that. Katara looked on from Aang's side as she began to heal his bruises and small cuts. She had mixed feelings about all this. She used to despise the fire prince for his persistent hunt of her friend, but at the same time she respected his determination. Her respect had begun to grow after learning more about him, but she still felt a weariness around him.
"Now if you all excuse me, I think I'll take a note from your page, Uncle, and go take a hot bath." Zuko said as he started off for the steps to the bedrooms to fetch some clothes.
Katara called out, "Wait, what about your injuries? I can heal them if you want."
Zuko turned back with a rather confused look. He asked, "How?"
"Watch." She answered and raised Aang's arm that still had a small cut. "My waterbending is capable of healing, but I thought you knew that when you brought Iroh to us."
Zuko had been watching as she formed water about her hand, and with it glowing the wound disappeared. He had a look of astonishment as he replied, "I'd heard of the rumors, but I thought that was all they were. I simply remembered that you said you could help him."
"So you agree to let me help you?"
"Yes. I'll just go get a change of clothes, and meet you over by the fountain." He said off handedly as he walked away again.
As soon as he was out of sight, Sokka yelled, "How could you agree to heal an undead monster like him? He'll probably try to eat our brains tonight!"
Toph snatched the front of his shirt to pull him down to her level, and said, "Hey, numbskull. When he said he died, he wasn't being literal."
Iroh gave a small half smile as he agreed, "She right, but I have no doubt that he had an experience with the spirit world."
Aang stood and commented, "He certainly seems less…cranky?"
"Not to mention arrogant, obsessed, homicidal, rude, spoiled bratty, and whatever other words described him." Sokka added.
Iroh simply said, "I think he has begun to come to terms with a bit of his past. He's acting more like his self before the banishment."