AUTHOR'S NOTES— and enter Zhao. I would have called this one "Southern Air Temple, Part 3", but there really is no Southern Air Temple at all in this chapter. So, this is what you get with my miserable title skills.

AVATAR: THE LAST FIREBENDER

BOOK 1: WATER

CHAPTER 3-3: OLD FRIENDLY RIVALRIES

Coast of Southwestern Earth Kingdom, afternoon

Azula and her company docked their ship at an Air Warrior controlled port a couple days later. The going was slow because of the heavy damage that their ships sustained, and the morale in Azula's company was pretty low. However, this changed soon as she saw a Water Tribe ship docked in the harbor. Azula recognized it, and she smirked. One of her associates asked her what it was.

"It looks like we'll be running into our friend from the north," Azula smirked in response, "we'll dock here while we organize repairs and costs."

Azula's fleet landed in the harbor, and just as she expected, there was a Water Tribe man that signaled to her as they landed. Azula glided down to meet him, figuring her troops would take care of the rest of the landing operations.

"Chief Zhao," Azula smirked, "it's good to catch up with you again."

Zhao, the Water Tribe man, grinned in response, but also seemed to be surveying Azula's fleet.

"What happened to you?" he laughed, "your fleet got ravaged!"

"If it weren't for the knowledge I obtained from the matter," Azula replied, keeping her cool, "it would have been infuriating."

Despite her fury towards Xilingshi, the Avatar, and her brother and uncle, Azula kept her calm surprisingly well. Zhao seemed interested in what Azula was about to say.

"I crossed paths with the avatar," she told him, "and I figured that since I ran into you, that we could turn this into a little game—what would you think of that?"

"What are the parameters of this game?"

"For glory, really; the victor is the one who first captures and defeats the avatar. Do not let his age and size fool you—my band of idiots learned that the hard way."

"You know," Zhao noted, again eyeing Azula's damaged ships, "I could leave you in the dust completely if I wished to take your offer of pursuing the Avatar. I know exactly where you were over the last few days, and your information in regards to the Avatar was really all I needed."

"But would you really do that to little me?" Azula cooed, sliding up to Zhao. While Zhao was at least twice Azula's age, he admitted in his mind that the 18-year-old definitely had some charm. This was more because he knew Azula and how he operated, and he knew that she was playing one of her games, and that he had taken her bait, hook, line, and sinker. Besides, he saw little threat in a 16-year-old boy, Avatar or not. He figured there were just some parts of the story that Azula did not share, and although he was right, it was not the parts he thought they were.

"Then let us have a duel over it," Zhao suggested, "just a friendly spar. Surely an airbending prodigy such as yourself could beat an old man like me. If you win, my crew and I will wait a day or two for you to make your repairs. If not, we leave without you."

It was not so much Zhao's eagerness to risk being bested by a teenager as much as it was his indifference to Azula's goal of defeating the avatar. His alliance with the Air Warriors was not so much because of their ambitions, but rather, it was because they were winning this war.

"I'd love to," Azula agreed, her smirk widening, "when and where?"

"The arena at sunset," Zhao replied, pointing off behind him towards a large stadium. "in the meantime you should probably arrange your ships to be repaired. Even if you do win, I'll only wait so long."

"of course," Azula agreed, and that was that.

the arena, sunset

News of Zhao and Azula's duel caught the interest of soldiers from both crews, and so Water Tribe warriors and airbender women crowded the sidelines to see how it would end up. A few of them even made bets on the outcome as Zhao and Azula took their stances.

"Fight with honor and accept defeat with grace," the officiator told them, and the gong sounded. Azula wasted no time in launching attacks. Zhao used several slow but effective waterbending defenses against Azula's deadly air slices, but it was clear that she was pressing her attacks, and this caused him to continue stepping backwards. Zhao brought up huge tendrils of water to block the aerial attacks. This proved dangerous, as some of the airbending moves had enough kick to them to distort some of Zhao's water.

Azula continued her attacks, jumping and launching herself repeatedly at Zhao, diverting his attacks in the process. Zhao suddenly countered this objective by redirecting one of his diverted attacks back at Azula, and so soon Zhao had the upper edge.

Time passed, and Azula defended swiftly, so Zhao cranked up the power and energy he put into his moves. Whips of water and discs of air were exchanging places, and even a little blood from both Azula and Zhao was drawn. Zhao nearly knocked Azula over, but she caught herself mid-fall and flipped onto her hands and launched a spinning kick towards Zhao's face that knocked him down. Seconds later, Zhao found his face directly in front of Azula's fist. He was at her mercy.

"Very well," Zhao shrugged as Azula stepped back and let him up, "you've got three days."

"You've got less than three seconds," she warned and threw an attack at him directly after her statement. This was not an attempt at a sucker attack—just a test of Zhao's reflexes. Zhao blocked it and crossed his arms, smirking.

"You really do play games with all your allies, don't you?" he laughed,

"That's one way to put it," Azula replied coyly, "but there is a bit more I should share with you in regards to the avatar and his company. They are heading northward, most likely to your tribe. Chief Iroh was with him up until"

"That's what I needed to know," Zhao nodded, "I'll even help you hook up some repairs for sharing that piece of information."

Zhao was the chief of the Northern Water Tribe, while Iroh was the chief of the Southern Water Tribe. Azula smirked as she returned to her ship. Gaining allies for her seemed ever so easy.