.chapter twelve, the battle aboard the Zhanxian

Suyin barely budged as the vivid onslaught of crimson flares danced through the air, only to slam with stunning ferocity into the side of the vessel, sending it reeling in another direction. Scarlet tips licked Suyin's feet and clothing as the entire deck of the ship went up in spontaneous flame. She swore and turned around, giving the wheel a violent tug to put it back on track.

Through the heat-induced blur in the air, she was barely able to fathom with her eyes the seven or eight Firebenders on the opposite ship. She slowly made her way over to Zhanxian's rail, and withdrew Guofan as a security measure. The foes were staring her down furiously, and she heard a voice command them from farther down. Squinting, her heart clenched itself and skipped a beat as her worst nightmares were confirmed at the sight of the ship's captain and his right-hand man.

Lai…

She was brought back to her senses by a tremendous crash that shook the boat beneath her feet. A plank just wide enough for one person to walk across, but long enough for at least ten, had collapsed on the Zhanxian, the other end connected to the foes' boat. One at a time the Firebenders took wary steps onto the long slab of wood, and she didn't seem to be paying much attention to the fact that many other men, rolling out massive cannons, were also appearing now.

She made her way to the edge of the plank connecting the two seaworthy crafts and extended her wooden blade to the stomach level of the incoming assailants, all lined up in single file on the wood, although the closest person remained a good two feet away from the warrior.

"I'm warning you." She reached down into a holster on her hip, removing two shuriken interlaced between her digits, and held them to her side as well. "Turn back or you'll wish you never took a step off of dry land."

The Firebenders, in classic villain manner, obviously elected to continue their course, regardless of the danger they were in. When one of them took a step forwards and raised a fist in an offensive motion, eventually to summon flame, Suyin whipped her left hand like a bullet through the air and the projectiles dug themselves into his shoulder blades, causing him to drop his arms, numb, and scream, wobbling from side to side.

Just as he was about to fall off and into the gelid abyss that was the nighttime ocean, Suyin thrust a palm forward, sending him flying high above the rest of his cohorts and back onto his own vessel. The stunned others behind him had no time to react, and the woman made quick work of them too, sending them back to whence they came as well.

Returning to the Zhanxian, though, she was dismayed to see the fires spreading like, frankly, wildfire. The ship was soon to be entirely incinerated if nothing was done, but how to put it out?

Almost immediately though, she was cut off by the hissing sound of fire fading away into nothing upon contact with water- Sukai, worn from her previous engagement, was now standing and summoning water from the endless basin beneath them, using it to extinguish all the fire in sight.

Suyin sneered and relished the small victory, the glass sphere in her possession now growing a larger flame than before. This just might work out.

"Don't think I forgot that you tried to kill me." Mumbled Sukai as she dropped yet another load of liquid upon the fires behind Suyin. "This is what, the second time so far? I'm starting to lose my trust in-" Spontaneously, a shadow stretched behind the girl and Suyin tuned out, fixing herself on the growing silhouette of darkness that was in Sukai's likeness, but much longer than it should have been.

In a split second the shadow's shape changed from that of Sukai's to that of a man she barely recognized, then it materialized into a physical form, sprouting out of the ground with a blade in hand, falling down on Sukai from behind.

Suyin swore ran as quickly as she could, barely parrying the blow that would have ended Sukai's life. The girl cursed under her own breath as Suyin managed to see her foe clearly now in the light of the flame. She spoke first.

"It's been a while, Daoming. Looks like you've climbed the ladder, huh? Now you're Lai's bit-"

"I don't have any intention of fraternizing with you."

He vanished yet again, the weapon in his clutch falling to the ground with a haunting sound. "Sukai, watch out! He hides in your shadow and attacks from behind!"

"Regardless of what you might think," added Sukai, turning around quickly, "I'm just not THAT stupid." She drew water and formed, almost reflexively, a hovering ring of aqua around her body. Suyin looked down at her own shadow and saw nothing, then at Sukai's- where was Daoming hiding?

"Suyin, look!"

Sukai pointed at Hayate's unconscious, limp body sprawled on the corner of the deck. Suyin had almost entirely forgotten about him, and certainly wasn't paying attention to his growing shadow. When Daoming materialized behind the boy, Suyin was already on her way with her blade, Guofan, in hand.

"Ah, ah, ah." A chilling voice caused her to stop moving, despite the circumstances. "It seems we're still as hasty as we've ever been, aren't we, Suyin?" She shuddered in terror, then continued forward, realizing that Daoming was approaching Hayate now even more.

"I didn't recall ever having given you permission to move."

Tendrils of dark blue fire rose from the ship's deck and Suyin cursed, jumping high to avoid the grappling tentacles. In an instant, the feelers froze in place as ice sculptures, sharpened at every point but ever deadly.

"Your reflexes are still as good though, I must give you that…"

Another tendril shot up from the centre of the ones already created, and grabbed her by the ankle, dragging her down. At that point, it froze stiff and Suyin found that she couldn't move at all. She slammed Guofan into the cold once or twice, but it made absolutely no difference.

The tapping of footsteps behind her caused her to let out a grunt of frustration. She turned her head and saw the morbid visage of Lai Caizai- one she'd seen too many times before. He was strong of stature, standing up firm with a regal dahlia vest over otherwise normal Fire Navy attire. His eyes were thin and he squinted often, his malevolent hair tied up in a tight ponytail that trailed behind him. His mouth was bent in a cruel sneer.

"What to do with you…" He wondered aloud, reaching for a long sword at his waist. Suyin cringed as she heard the sound of metal on metal as he began to withdraw the sabre.

"Suyin! Hayate!" Sukai screamed, pointing at Daoming, who was about to slit Hayate's throat open. Suyin spat and pointed her finger at Daoming, farther away, releasing a thin stream of flame from the tip of her index, scorching Daoming's shoulder and making him drop his blade again, his entire outfit beginning to go up in fire. After a shout, the assailant vanished in a shadowy abyss once again.

Suyin was now more out of breath than Sukai'd ever seen her be. Yet, she was still amazed that Suyin had firebending abilities, however limited those seemed to be. The woman coughed and summoned fire again, severing the binds of ice that held her down. Lai seemed astounded as well, and didn't bother to recreate the binds.

Suyin inhaled then exhaled at a frantic pace. Lai laughed. "Looks like you're a Firebender after all. Makes the last, what, ten years, seem pretty pointless, no?" He extended an arm, and Daoming appeared behind the captain, kneeling.

"I apologize for my failure."

"Apology accepted, reluctantly. Don't let it occur again- ready the cannoneers."

Just as quickly, Daoming vanished again.

"Well, Suyin, shall we dance?" Suyin bit her lip, remembering all too well what Lai meant whenever he mentioned dancing. "You look as though you remember my signature!" Lai sneered. "It's almost an honour, and probably would be if I didn't loathe you quite so much." He picked up his weapon with his other arm and held it level with his outstretched palm. "Let us dance the blades."

He blasted forwards another onslaught of ice-fire, while flying forwards with his weapon extended. Suyin muttered a swear and dove to the side, narrowly avoiding the surreal flame, which created a divide between her and her opponent once it solidified. Behind it, she saw the distorted shape of Lai charging straight towards the ice, and she knew to be on her guard.

In a moment, the ice shattered in an earsplitting cacophony, and Lai pierced through, his sword aimed at Suyin's stomach.

Suyin parried, forcing his blade above with Guofan, then tried to kick Lai in the stomach. The man sidestepped and easily avoided the blow, bringing his own blade down at a forty five degree angle to her shoulder. She also managed to step out of the way, and this time swung Guofan to her right and sliced with a knifehand to the left.

Lai sighed and two walls of flame were erected around him. Suyin stopped Guofan right away, but let her hand continue flying until it cut through the fire at such a speed that the burn was practically unnoticeable. She managed to make contact with the side of Lai's neck and the man coughed up a clear liquid, falling to his knees.

Suyin sneered and used the opportunity to ram her knee into his side, sending him careening across the ship, but he slowly rose after hitting the railing. "You certainly haven't gotten any weaker, though, haven't you?" Suyin swore.

"It's funny how you still don't like to make Guofan touch fire, even though we all know that all that's going to happen is-"

"Fire!"

A cannon on the enemy ship blasted its ammunition with a deafening explosion. However, before it could even reach the Zhanxian, it froze solid in a sphere of water that Sukai contained it in, falling like a weight into the aquatic zephyr beneath. She looked back and chuckled. "I'll take care of this here- I don't forgive you, but I don't want us all dead either."

Suyin nodded and drew her wooden sword, walking up to the weakened Lai. "The mighty sure've fallen, right, teacher?"

Lai lashed out surprisingly, whipping his left arm through the air and blasting blue fire all around Suyin, completely encompassing her. She cursed and backed out just in time to not be entombed by the solidifying flame. Lai pushed himself up and ran towards Suyin, who just barely managed to block.

"You didn't think your superior would fall to you so easily, right?" Suyin kept pushing on her sword, blocking his. Lai laughed and, noticing her so focused, knew that she wouldn't be able to stop an easy attack. With an open knifehand, he thrust his limb straight into Suyin's clavicle, filling the air with a shattering noise as she dropped Guofan to clutch her injury. Her left arm was in such pain- she wouldn't be able to use it for a while to come.

He then kicked, hitting Suyin in the hip with the top of his foot. She was sent spinning in the air once or twice, and Sukai cried out her name from the edge of the ship. Regardless of her current feelings towards Suyin, she didn't want to see her impaled in such a grotesque manner. Sukai stopped attacking the cannonballs trying to blast holes in the ship and drew a mass of water that she blasted recklessly at Lai, who didn't see the attack coming and was hit hard. He was pushed to the rail, but managed, before falling off, to unlatch a grappling hook at his waist and use it to attach to his vessel and climb back onto it.

Suyin looked up and Sukai, who was gazing down at her a dozen yards away, looking distressed and worried. The swordsman's sight had been a bit blurry earlier, but was clearing up, and just as the world shifted back into focus she saw Daoming lighting a cannon fuse on the enemy's ship…

She tried to yell Sukai's name to warn her, but no noise came out- or at least, that's what it seemed like. The world seemed to go deaf as she just saw Sukai look at her inquisitively. She shouted again but couldn't hear herself- why was the world devoid of sound?

In that second, she saw a different scenario. The world around her was different; she was lying down on sand, grains filling her shoes and shirt as her arm, almost completely cut open, lay bleeding beside her. Noise was nonexistent now, too, and she saw a boy farther away looking at her, scared. He began running towards her, a green fire brewing in his cupped left palm. Then, shifting her focus, she saw a man with a bow farther away string an arrow. She screamed his name, but he didn't listen. She screamed again, and he just kept running. She tried to scream a third time, but the arrow had been released and its damage, done.

Reality returned, and she noticed the cannon's fuse getting shorter by the second. She shrieked, but like in the previous scenario, Sukai only continued towards the injured woman.

Suyin knew that she couldn't stand by, and tried to force herself up, but she was too injured- regardless of how she moved, she felt the pain in her upper chest. She screamed again, but this time her shout was drowned out by the terrifying sound of cannon fire.

She howled again as the deadly sphere left its home and blasted through the air, a path of smoke trailing behind it. Its aim was true and its accuracy, deadly- Sukai's head was only about the same size as the projectile, in any case…

Fortunately, it never quite reached its mark.

A wall of water rose and captured the weapon, halting it in its tracks, and it slowly sunk in the liquid. Suyin heaved a sigh of relief as a boy's silhouette began to grow, fuelled by the raging fires. Sukai turned around, surprised, having not even realized that she was the target of a cannon's blast.

"You didn't actually think I'd sleep through cannon fire, did you?" Kiro stood triumphantly with his arms outstretched, and water spinning viciously around his wrists and palms. Thrusting his limbs forward, Suyin and Sukai watched as he enclosed the weapon in a dome of water, then dragged it off the ship, shattering the rails of wood, and only hearing the faint crash as it landed in the depths of the sea, metres below.

Hayate slowly got up, groaning and clutching his head, watching the spectacle in front of him unfold. Kiro was destroying all of the cannons on the enemy ship, aided in every respect by Sukai, until there were none left. They both turned to Suyin, and Sukai tried to help her up, but she refused and, wincing, managed to pull herself upright.

"We have to get out of here now!" Sukai spoke in a menacing tone. Kiro sighed. "Your intelligence is superior only to your looks, and a genius you most definitely are not." He continued: "Of course we have to get out of here, but Suyin's arm seems pretty shot and she's the only one that can move this thing."

It was at this point that Hayate had crawled up and walked over to the group. Sukai was about to welcome him back to consciousness, but he cut her off. "You know, I'm not so sure about that. I might have another idea." Kiro looked unconvinced. "I'll believe it when I see it."

Minutes later, Kiro and Sukai were waving their arms frantically, moving the water beneath the vessel at amazing speeds, forcing the seaworthy craft forwards. The other ship, still distressed, didn't budge and distance was quickly being created. Between strokes, Sukai whispered just loudly enough for Kiro to hear her.

"Looks like Hayate actually had a good idea for once, hm?"

"What was that? I'm afraid I don't speak idiot."

Farther down the deck, Suyin held out the pendant glowing red with the shimmering flame inside that didn't stop growing. At this rate, she thought, he's at the bottom of the sea somewhere.

"Turn her right a bit, guys!" She shouted to the two new navigators.

Hayate walked near her now, approaching and kneeling down, staring intently at the orb that nestled the spark. "Hey, Suyin, what is that?" She quickly tossed it back in her pocket. "Just a good luck charm!" She responded, a sweatdrop created upon her brow. Hayate didn't seem convinced, but shrugged it off and sat down beside her.

They sailed on through the night.