Book 5 Thunder Chapter 17: Do What You Want (Cuz a Pirate is Free)

Cannon fire is never a good thing when one is unprepared. It is also quite messy. With the gunpowder and ignition of said gunpowder, it gets messy, real quick. Especially if it's two Fire Nation ships with fire-benders on them fighting each other. Only with out the cannons and the gun powder.

"We need more fire power," Zuko shouted over the blasts of fireballs zooming overhead.

"What's going on?" Iroh, followed by Eclipse, Ara, Fayt, and Billy, got up on deck. "You've just interrupted our game of Pai Sho."

"And I was winning," Fayt leaned up on the side of the ship's tower only to fall over due to impact on the side of the ship.

"This is no time for games uncle," Zuko snapped.

"At least tell us then, Prince Zuko," Iroh had his hands in the usual in sleeves position. "Who are we up against?"

The enemy's ship swung over, hitting Zuko's ship almost tipping it over. There was a calm after everything had settled. The calm before the storm. Fire Nation soldiers came aboard the ship sending fireballs in their quake.

"Ara," Zuko turned to them. "And the rest of you. I need your help."

"Well duh," Ara crossed her arms.

"I'll help you find your friends if you get these goons off my ship."

Ara looked back at Eclipse, who nodded. "Alright. But no more sleeping in the holding cell."

Zuko snorted detestably, until he watched some of his troops be thrown into the sea. "Fine."

"And we get your room!" Billy bounced.

"Alright-wait!"

"Let's go!" Ara dashed off to fight.

"Fayt," Eclipse was about to follow their fiery friend. "Go untie Hiei. He'll want to kill something, it's better them than us."

Eclipse and Fayt threw a mock salute to each other before parting. Eclipse pulled out her own sycthe as if from thin air and joined into the fray. Fayt was already heading back toward the doorway leading down when blue flames shot past her.

"Going somewhere?" Azula blocked her path.

Before she could respond, Fayt had to dodge a few other blue fire balls from the Fire Nation princess.

"Easy now," Fayt snapped after a relatively narrow dodge between the two. "I've just been given orders to release the captive."

"Who is it?" this caught Azula's attention. "The Avatar?"

Fayt jumped back a few feet. And chuckled. Silly human. Fayt steadied herself before becoming a lighted being and slipping through the deck.

Azula was stunned for a few seconds. "Damn!"

She looked around feverishly for her attacker, then realized that she wasn't coming back up. Azula made her way to the unguarded stairwell door.

There were splashes as Fire Nation soldiers under Azula's control were sent off the ship.

"That takes care of them," Zuko said while dusting himself off.

"Oi!" there came a voice from overboard.

Iroh looked over the edge. "Oh dear."

Iroh quickly grabbed a conventently placed rope ladder and threw it over board.

"Uncle!" Zuko snapped before he looked over the edge himself.

Fayt made her way up the rope ladder. "Thanks uncle."

"What were you doing in the water?" Zuko inquired. "I thought Eclipse told you to untie the bound one?"

"I fazed through too many levels," Fayt said shaking some water off. Before Zuko could get an explanation, one of the soldiers on his side had came to Iroh and spoke to the retired Dragon of the West.

"Those were Azula's men, Zuko," Iroh warned his nephew.

"I knew that," Zuko replied calmly.

Ara gasped. "You're calm!"

Zuko glared at her. "We need to find Azula and get her off my ship. Your part of the deal is not done with yet."

"Aye, aye, captain," the three girls said sarcastically.

~Meanwhile...in the Interior...~

"The new Avatar must be around here somewhere," Azula had grown into a stead pace of walking after she realized that she wasn't being chased.

She opened the door to the holding cell.

"Well it's about damn time," Hiei had been down in the holding cell since the beginning of the skirmish between the ships. Due to the impact of the battle, he had fallen over, still bounded to the chair. "Wait, who the hell are you?"

"I'll be the one asking questions here," Azula had walked and kicked him in the gut. "Where's the Avatar?"

"I don't know who you think you are," Hiei winced at the kick, fury in his eyes. "But I am not one to mess with."

"How cute," Azula bent down close to him. "You're over confident."

Before he could react, she lightly kissed him on the lips.

~On deck...~

"Zuko," Iroh was about to open the stairwell door. "Do you honestly think that Azula would go down there?"

"Yes," Zuko was no longer calm. "Now open the door, Uncle. We've wasted five minutes arguing about this!"

"Certainly nothing horrible or traumatizing could have happened withing those five minutes," Eclipse seemed a bit peeved by this. She had wanted something to happen.

There was a slight rumbling coming from below deck.

Zuko was about to ask for the door to be opened in his "polite" manner, when, as if on cue, Azula opened the door and gingerly stepped out of the door way with a mischievous smile across her face.

"You," Zuko dramatically pointed. "Off my SHIP!!"

"With pleasure brother," Azula smirked and went to the ramp that led to her ship.

There were hasted footsteps coming up the stairwell. With in a few seconds of those outside of the stairwell hearing them, Hiei showed up in the doorway.

He seemed flustered and quite disturbed. "Get the hell back here so I can kill you!"

"I'll never forget you Hiei!" Azula waved back to him as the ship departed."

"And how the HELL do you know my name!?" this only confused and pissed Hiei off even more. The sword was out and ready for blood.

"What happened?" Eclipse asked, slightly worried about what happened, but mostly curious to what it was.

"She-she," Hiei stammered. "Kissed me."

There was a slight silence amongst them.

"Wait," Fayt spoke first without thinking. "So Azula was coming on to you?"

Something in Eclipse twitched and she let out a slight mix between a scream and a gasp. She then pushed Zuko off the ship.

Iroh was a bit confused. "Why did you push him off the ship?"

Eclipse had calmed down slightly. "Well, I was going to jump. But then I decided not to, then realizing that someone had to go over board for dramatic effect."

"That makes sense," Ara and Fayt said in union as they held the rope for Zuko to climb back up.

"Azula was looking for the Avatar," Zuko obviously pointed out without thanking the girls. "Where's Billy?"

There was a metallic thumping sound coming up from the stairs.

Billy came out of the stairwell wearing a bandanna and an eye patch. "Ar, I'm a pirate!"

There was another slight awkward break in the conversation.

"Prince Zuko," random Fire Nation soldier #34 walked up to them cautiously. "The original Avatar has been sighted in Omashu."

"Finally," Zuko sighed. "Set our course for Omashu."

E17: Fin.

A/N: Yay, finally found the notebook this chapter has been sitting in. And there's also good news. This is the last chapter written in that blasted, tathered, old spiral. So that means, I won't be losing what I wrote again! Hopefully I'll have the next chapter up by next week (though I wouldn't cross my fingers if I were you dear reader, I have term papers due before Spring Break). So until next time patient readers, bye! And thanks for being so patient with my scatter brained, losing things self. ^_^

btw, If you're keeping track of the chapters, I just can't count. I'll try to get that all fixed sometime...maybe that'll be my Spring Break project...more on the to do list...