Sorry the update took so long. I usually would update faster but this was my first fight scene and I just couldn't find the right words. It still leaves me a little disappointed in my efforts. There really isn't any fluff, just a big fight.
Whatever, like I said, this is my first fight scene, and I hope it is alright. I just imagined what a fight in my Kung-Fu class would look like (mixed in with some magic-y special effects) and I tried to put it to words. I hope it came out ok.
Unless the definition of "ownership" changed over the past few days, I still don't own Avatar.
Ch.12
There was fear in the Fire Nation soldier's eyes. He knew it was unlikely that he would make it out of this. Aang had entered the Avatar State, and was prepared to beat the man to a pulp.
Aang simply stood there, his eyes glued to the soldier, with Katara's request ringing in his ears. Aang would not kill him but, damn it, he would suffer for what he did. The man had restrained her, interrogated her, insulted her, and threatened her very life. He would pay for what he did to the Avatar's greatest love.
The soldier was waiting for the Avatar to make the first move, but Aang just stood there, and it was making the soldier nervous.
"Are you a coward? Attack me! Now!"
Aang simply raised his glowing eyes, so they would meet with the eyes of the Fire Nation soldier. Aang didn't say anything. He barely even moved. But with the expression in his eyes, no words were necessary. His eyes were full of anger. Rage. Hatred. Disgust. And most of all, pity. The man did not know what he was in for.
"I'll give you one another chance. You have the choice to return to your vessel. If you value the use of your body, you will take that chance." The voices of Aang's predecessors backed his own.
"I will not leave. The others have tainted their honor by retreating. I won't do the same."
"You dare speak about honor? You were about to savagely kill a defenseless girl. The girl I love. What honor is there in such an action?"
The soldier remained silent.
"You have no honor. The Nation you fight for has no honor. It lost it when Fire Lord Sozin ascended the throne. And it remains lost with Fire Lord Ozai. This is your final warning. Leave in peace now and you might go through life with the full use of your limbs."
Still no response.
"Very well. If you refuse to value your life, you might as well strike first" Aang stood at ease, waiting for the soldier to attack.
--------------------
Katara was walking along the sandy shore, constantly looking back to make sure she was alone. The Fire Nation ship was not too far off, but all the soldiers had to know better than to try to take her again. She turned around for a moment, wondering what Aang would do to them. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the group of soldiers walking towards there ship. But she also saw that their leader wasn't there with them.
Poor son of a bitch, Aang's gonna destroy the guy. I can't believe how angry Aang was. And it was all because of how he feels for me. Even if the odds seemed immensely against him at the time, he'd do anything to keep me safe…
Katara decided to go and wait by the camp, because she figured Aang was right. She didn't want to see what was about to happen.
--------------------
The soldier remained still.
"I'm waiting for your attack, sir" Aang was still standing at ease, trying to coax the attack out of the Fire Nation soldier. "You know, fire bending is a positive jing style. Wouldn't it be against your 'honor' to await the first strike?" Aang spat out the word honor as if it was the most vile and putrid word in existence.
The soldier was gritting his teeth. He knew that the Avatar was simply trying to get him to attack by getting him aggravated… And it was working. Firebenders are known to have short tempers. "Fine. You want me to throw the first punch? Then fight fairly and let the child be the one I fight. This is because he loves that girl, so this is because of him."
Aang's consciousness must have heard what the soldier had to say because, slowly, the glow of his tattoo's and eyes began to diminish. Once Aang was back in control of his body, he stared back up at the soldier, with almost as much, if not more, hatred than he had before. "You wanted a fair fight, now you've got it. But I guarantee you, you still don't stand a chance."
The soldier just smirked. "You wanted me to throw the first punch?" He was getting into a battle stance, hands extended outwards, ready to blast fire towards the young airbender. Aang airbended his staff up off the floor and into his hand, ready for the attack. They circled each other for a few moments, looking into each others eyes, anticipating each others movements. "I guess I will then!"
The Fire Nation soldier punched his hand foreword, sending a ball of fire hurling in Aang's direction. Aang easily deflected it with his staff, spinning it in a clockwise motion, sending the fireball flying off towards the left wall. The soldier quickly jabbed 3 times, sending 3 smaller, yet faster, fireballs hurling at Aang. He charged towards the 3 flaming balls swinging his staff down overhead until it was barely an inch from the ground, causing a powerful blast of wind that cooled the fire, and the 3 balls simply disappeared. With his staff so close to the ground, he jabbed it into the dirt, and wedged it up quickly, casing dirt and rocks to fly upwards. Aang used his earthbending to mold it all together into a giant mesh of rock and dirt, and hurled it towards the soldier.
The soldier strafed to his right, swinging his left leg upwards and then downwards, creating an arch shaped blast of fire that met with the mesh, causing it to disassemble, and once again became nothing but dirt and lumps of stone. The soldier took a strong step foreword, planting his right foot on the ground in-front of him, and pushed both fists foreword, creating streams of fire that shot towards Aang. Aang also planted his feet on the ground, and then he uppercutted with both his fists, creating a small wall made of broken rocks and gravel to appear in front of him. It served to shield him from the flames until the soldier returned to launching fireballs at him. Slowly, Aang's protective barrier began breaking away. Before anymore damage could be done to his wall, he punched the wall hard, and made all the rocks that created that wall fly towards the soldier. He expertly dodged every one of them, and then ran towards the young airbender. He jumped up into the air, and kicked a few fireballs towards the Avatar. Aang bended a dome-like barrier of air around him, and the fireballs dissipated as soon as they touched the surface.
The soldier looked up. He was sweating heavily. He moved his sight to the Avatar, who was standing there, his staff at his side, and didn't even appear to be out of breath. Aang could have easily won the duel in the time they had been fighting, but he was holding back for some reason.
"My offer still stands. But this is your final warning. If you return now, you will leave unharmed. If you refuse, I promise you, I won't hold back anymore."
"Nghnn…" The soldier grunted, still trying to regain his breath. He knew that he would loose, but he still refused to back down. He eyed the Avatar, and pulled himself into another stance.
Aang only lowered his head and sighed. "If you refuse to be saved, then I guess I have no choice than to fight you. But I promise, you WILL suffer for what you did to Katara!"
Aang began taking in air, clearing his mind of his thoughts. He dropped his staff on the ground, and focused on his breathing, clenching his fists. He looked up at the soldier, who was awaiting his attack. He quickly jabbed with his left, and followed through stronger with his right. The soldiers' eyes widened. He didn't know that the Avatar had learned how to firebend yet. He ducked out of the way of the incoming flaming orbs. The soldier swept his leg in-front of him, sending an arch of flame towards Aang. Aang slammed his foot on the ground, causing a boulder to jump up, and kicked it, sending it hurdling towards the soldiers' attack. The boulder was destroyed on impact, and the flame dissipated into nothingness. Aang turned around, remembering that Katara had left him her waterbending canteen. Using his airbending, he ran at full speed towards the canteen which was on the floor. He picked it up as he ran past, and kept running towards the wall he made earlier to trap the soldier with him. He ran up the wall at an angle, bending the water out of the canteen at the same time. From the ground, the soldier was shooting fireball after fireball at the Avatar, each missing just slightly as it scorched the wall Aang was running on. At the apex of Aang's run up the wall, he froze the water into dozens of shards and icicles, and launched them at the soldier on his way down.
Using the same leg sweeping motion, the soldier created large blast of fire in-front of him, creating a temporary barrier of fire that would melt the ice on contact. As the soldier was busy blocking all the shards, Aang created a final, large icicle that he sent forward. Using his airbending, he blasted a powerful gust of wind behind it, speeding the icicle towards the soldier. Just as the soldiers' barrier of fire began to disappear, the larger icicle came at him with great velocity, and, before the soldier could react, it tore a deep gash in his upper left arm, rendering it nearly useless.
"Ahhh!" The soldier cried out in pain, grasping his left arm with his right hand, blood running through his fingers. Once on the ground again, Aang punched a larger fireball towards the soldier, which impacted his chest, leaving a hole in his shirt and charred, black flesh. The soldier fell over backwards, landing on his back, writhing in pain. Aang's evil side smiled a bit. It was time for revenge.
"You kidnapped her!" Aang yelled, launching a smaller boulder at the soldier's arm wound.
"Ahhh! No! Avatar! Stop!" The soldier yelled nearly incoherently, grasping his arm in pain.
"You had your chance to leave, but it was against your 'honor'! I told you that you would pay, and now you will!" Aang was yelling as loud as he could. "And this one is because you tied her up!" Aang threw another boulder at the soldier, this time hitting his burned chest.
The soldier coughed up blood. "Nghnn..! Stop..!" The soldier tried to yell, but the wind was knocked out of him.
"This is because you hit her!" Aang threw a boulder at his right, undamaged arm, this one with much greater force than the ones before, completely smashing the bone of his lower arm.
The soldier didn't even have the energy to yell in pain, so he lied there, gasping for air, choking on his own coughed up blood.
Aang approached the soldier, with a look in his eyes that no words could express. It was as if he felt disgusted to even have the soldier in his presence. Aang walked over to the soldiers' left side, and slowly stepped onto his deep gash, and slowly applying more pressure.
"And this is for insulting her!"
The soldier screamed out something unintelligible, just shouting, hoping that it would relieve the pain.
Aang took a step back and earthbended an enormous boulder out of the ground, holding it overhead, ready to drop it onto the Fire Nation soldier.
"And this will be because of all the pain your Nation caused her! Her mother's death! Her father going off to war! The destruction of her tribe! And of her sister tribe! For having to leave her home to teach me waterbending! For always being in harms way! For never having a true place to live! For only being able to bathe when we find a river or lake! For fighting a war she shouldn't have to! For killing soldiers that she never even met! For making her life a LIVING HELL!" Aang was about ready to drop the boulder on the man, but he heard Katara's voice in his mind.
'Okay, I'll go. But please! Don't kill them! No one deserves to die that way, no mater what they have done!'
Aang's eyes widened, realizing what he had been doing, and he just froze.
The soldier looked at Aang, wondering what had happened. "Avatar! Do not dishonor me! You won the fight! Now end it!"
Aang remained there, frozen in his place, unable to think of anything else other than what Katara had said to him earlier. What am I doing? This isn't like me… Why was I about to kill him? Katara was right…
"Go on, Avatar! Do it! DO IT!"
Aang sighed, and dropped the boulder behind him. "And that was because she wouldn't want me to. That's the only reason you are still alive." (A/N Stole those last couple of lines from The Bourne Supremacy… Sorry Universal Studios…)
Aang bended the four walls down, and made his way up the beach.
Wow, dark ending for this chapter. There really wasn't much room for fluff, so, to my fellow fluff lovers, I apologize.