Zhao grinned madly as he held up the bag containing the weak Moon Spirit as it twitched its dying throes. His destiny was within his grasp; 'elation' felt like an understatement of his personal feelings on the matter.
"I… am a legend, now… I will be called Zhao the Conqueror! Zhao the Moon-slayer! Zhao… the Invincible!"
"Really?"
And now the whole spirits-damned day was ruined.
He spun around in his position in front of the Oasis, turning around to face the owner of that hated voice.
"You," he snarled, and his four firebending guards leapt into offensive stances, observing at the newcomer with a healthy wariness.
Zhao made the mistake of underestimating the Avatar during their first encounter because he wore the face of a child; stupidly, he had forgotten that the Avatar was a being that was reincarnated over the course of thousands of years, so of course he's older than he appears. He's more powerful, more experienced, and more deadly.
The Avatar raised an eyebrow. He was expressionless, aside from that, which was unnerving because usually he laughed. It was a horrible little laugh, and he laughed it every time that he trounced Zhao in whatever encounter they had. He had never been more humiliated in his life each and every time they met in battle.
But this face… It reminded him of someone…
"Me," he replied in an unbearably, mockingly calm voice.
The admiral answered with a fierce grin, for now he couldn't fail. "There's nothing that you can do now, Avatar," he said, holding up the bag containing his prize in front of his other fist, "I am going to kill the Moon Spirit, and end the Water Tribes once and for all. And there is absolutely nothing that you can do to stop me."
And he had stop talking as he hungrily looked for anguish, despair, something to crash down on the Avatars face…
And was instead rewarded with a blankness that was somehow worse than that damnable laugh.
"You know what? That is a terrible idea. It would shatter the balance; do you have any idea what kind of chaos that would unleash? I do."
Zhao snorted. "Of course you would say that. Well, your precious balance can–"
"I'm sorry, maybe I should explain," began the Avatar as he casually stepped forward. His guards tensed spasmodically at the movement, but didn't strike, for the Avatar looked at each of them in amusement before stepping back to where he was standing before. He continued, "You are about to kill the Moon. That is, the lover of the ocean."
Nonplussed, Zhao snapped, "I already know that! What's your point?"
The Avatar rolled his eyes, "My point, as you put it, is that, more likely than not, the Ocean may have a slight problem with that. And, last time I checked, the Fire Nation is an archipelago of islands surrounded by ocean," he paused, and then, nonchalantly, "Did I mention that the chaos would likely target the Fire Nation with prejudice if you go on with this?"
The Admiral was frozen where he stood.
"I wonder how well your military career will go if you deny the Fire Nation any chance to win the war at all… Forever."
Finally he was able to confusedly splutter, "Why do you care about that? You're the Avatar; wouldn't you want us to be destroyed?"
"No," he answered simply, and the Avatar sat down in the grass in front of them, completely at ease in front of five master firebenders, "I'm just telling you what the situation is in terms that you understand, Admiral Zhao."
And the corner of the Avatar's mouth twitched upwards in a vindictive smirk of victory.
You manipulative little demon.
Zhao's mind burst into a haze of rage, red filling his vision. For one, single, precious second, he completely lost it. He didn't care about the consequences anymore; if there existed any way at all that he could wipe that smirk from the Avatar's face, he would do it. So he thrust his fist into the fish's bag…
And suddenly found that his movements were frozen before he could call forth his fire.
The Avatar had his hand outstretched in his direction. His previously blank expression was now marred with a twitching eye and a visible flash of annoyance.
"You know, you are incredibly frustrating. Do you have any idea how much work it has taken to get to this point?"
Detachedly, somewhere in a part of his mind that wasn't drowning in terror right now, Zhao noted that his arms were moving decidedly against his will and dropped the bag containing the moon spirit into the pond behind him. His guards were frozen in place, being held back by whatever horrendous witchery the Avatar was working upon them.
"You and your temper are impossible! I try to talk you into doing the right thing through your own free will, but nooooo…" complained the Avatar, bitterness seeping into every syllable, "You just had to go nuts and decide to throw all of creation into chaos just because you wanted to show me who's boss."
He was standing, ranting and raving and waving his arms about, and the five firebenders in the oasis moved in synchrony with his arms in a sort of macabre dance.
Now the Avatar pointed a finger at Zhao, cold, inhuman rage burning in his storm-gray eyes, "I consider myself to be a fairly level-headed guy, but congratulations, Zhao! You've become a bigger pain in the neck than even I thought was possible. With that in mind, admiral…"
And a gratuitous grin stretched across the child's face, even as Zhao felt his throat begin to close from some kind of outside force.
"Did you know that blood is mostly made out of water?"