Chapter 9

Unfortunately, Katara's premonition about them getting found was right, but it wasn't as bad as she had thought. When Katara had been worrying, she has also been worrying about the Air Nomads getting raided because of her, similar to the way her village had [though it was not solely because of Katara that her Water Tribe village had been raided, but that's another story].

However, apparently The Order of the Avatar Slayer had keen Zuroc Sensei that was on par with the likes of Azula or her group. In fact, Katara's new captor was so stealthy that Katara did not even notice that she had been taken. Needless to say, it had been when she was sleeping [and about a week or two after her birthday], and unfortunately for Katara, she was a heavy sleeper.

She woke up bound at the wrists, the ankles, and at the mouth. She was being carried, but she could not tell where—she could only see things behind them getting smaller. She had no idea where they were, who her captors were, or where she was being taken, but she knew that they were definitely out of the Air Nomad Lands.

Katara had nothing with her but the clothes on her back. Incidentally, they were pretty much the only possessions she had anyways except for a few drawings, but she figured that Tenoko's crew still had those. Moreover, at this point, she was not too concerned about them.

Katara's captors were swift and tireless. Katara's ride was a bit bumpy, but again, there was nothing she could do about it other than waits the evening out—or so she thought.

This would be one of the few times when Katara's energy bursts came in handy—the invaluable type of 'handy'. Katara was used to being so hot, that it took her a while to also realize that her hands had been frozen, which meant that this group had at least one skilled waterbender in their midst, but Katara thought nothing of it. If it was a fight they wanted, it was a fight they'd get.

Incidentally, the 'fight' was provoked by something Katara could not help, and her captors had been warned by the leader, Ozuma, that she was prone to uncontrollable attacks, and that she should be treated with care. It was this reason that they had frozen Katara's hands in ice. However, not even rock could stop the might of Katara's unchecked bending energy. She could feel it coming, and would have warned the man carrying her, but she had a rope in her mouth, and so all it came out as was grumbling.

"Shut it," the man snapped bluntly, and nothing more was thought of it. However, that man only remained in alright condition for a few more seconds. After that, chaos erupted as Katara was blasted up, her bonds breaking [save the one in her mouth] from the force of the powerful, uncontrolled flames that were channeled out of her hands and feet. The man however, got the full blast of the flames, and was most likely killed on the spot.

The reason that Katara was never hurt as much as anyone in front of her when she had these 'chi-attacks' was simple: the flames blasted forward, which was why she was usually sent backwards.

Katara didn't exactly make a graceful landing, but she was on her feet before anyone could get too close to her, her arms flared. Fiercely spewing a bolt of fire from her mouth, the burned the rope there and was able to talk again.

The flames on Katara's arms case the young girl's face into high relief in the darkness that Ozuma's gang had been traveling in. Fire literally showed in her eyes [from her arms], and she looked furious.

"What does it take for you people to leave me ALONE!?!" she roared, taking a few steps back. A 14-year-old girl naturally wasn't too keen on fighting around 20 adult men and women, all of whom looked very skilled at what they did.

Katara didn't want to fight, but she also did not fear death, and she definitely did not want to be captured. After she had thought everything out, she figured that fighting would be her best option this time, and so with her stance ready, her arms flared and her warning given, she was ready for the onslaught.

"You're a kid," one of the women remarked, brandishing a knife, "surely even with crazy amounts of power like you have, you can surely not even have a dream of defeating all of us."

"I don't," Katara replied, "I don't fear death either. I am NOT going to be captured and used like a tool. I'm a living thing too. I have my own feelings, my own thoughts, and my own personality. I'm not just a fire-shooting machine. Learn that, and then get out of my life."

"You're a danger to this world, girl," Ozuma sneered, creating flames on his hands as well. He stepped towards Katara, and naturally, even though Katara was not afraid of death, she was still young, and this man looked to be older and more experienced. Moreover, Katara didn't trust any of them, (she didn't trust anyone, but especially not these assassins) and so she took a step backwards.

"I know I am," Katara replied, "so leave me alone and let me be a danger to myself, and myself only."

"And that's what makes you useful; Katara Altina II" he smirked, "setting you loose in a town could be devastating if we made sure it was the right conditions. If only you weren't so stubborn..."

"I've said it before and I'll say it again," Katara snapped, "I want no part in this war. I'm too young, and I want to be left alone!"

"And I want you for my group," Ozuma replied, "but it looks like we all can't get what we want, so I guess the strongest person will win."

"Very well," Katara remarked, "if it's a fight that you want, then it's a fight you'll get."

Katara knew that she was going to lose, but she wanted to take down as many Zuroc Sensei [Ozuma's warriors] as she could, and so, the battle began, and it was violent.

Katara knew that they would be fast, and so she used some defensive maneuvers that Azula and Tenoko had taught her to hold them off. There were benders of water, earth, and fire in Ozuma's group though, and Katara found it hard to hold them back. She launched powerful blasts of fire towards them, hitting one squarely in the face, and that man did not get back up.

Ozuma knew that a teenage girl's stamina would drain faster than any of his warriors, and so he let them go at her as they pleased. They seemed to want to take her on one on one, wanting to be the one who defeated her. However, Katara may have lacked control, but that did not mean she was easy to beat. She was violent when she was angry, and she was very angry at this point.

Katara's 2nd challenger was a woman, who used swift shards of ice to slash at Katara. The first blood was drawn as Katara was swiped across the chest. She clutched it and stared down for a moment, putting her hand to her wound. She pulled it back to find it red, and not from the fingerless glove that she wore, but rather, from her own blood.

She glared back at the waterbender, who was swiftly darting this way and that. Katara concentrated on her, taking steps to avoid her attacks, and trying to "lock on" to her with her next attack.

Eventually, she found just the right time. Launching her fist forward, she sent a flame the curved around, seemingly missing her opponent. Right as her opponent lunged towards Katara though, something hit her squarely in the back, and her eyes grew wide. She fell, face down, revealing a huge black mark that had blasted away parts of her back and much of the back of her neck. This had killed her, but the moment she died, another one came at her, this one also female.

She was accompanied by a man. Apparently no one had expected this girl to be able to defeat even one of Ozuma's soldiers, but she had already defeated three [the man carrying her, and the two challengers] of them.

These two were earthbenders, and very swift ones. They lacked power, but they linked their moves together in such a way that Katara was getting battered from what seemed to be every angle. She began bleeding in more and more places, and she knew she had broken something. However, in her fury, she spun around; blasting out an attack that no one knew she was capable of—red lightning.

Katara had been able to wield lightning from a young age because of the sheer amount of energy she possessed, but controlling it was even harder than trying to control her fire, and so at this point, while she was still in her young and unstable age, she only used it in desperate situations like this one.

She blasted it outwards in many directions, and not only did it blast right through the couple that was attacking her, but one of the bolts took out a total of 6 more of Ozuma's men.

Ozuma's eyes widened as a different bolt nearly singed his hair, but his swift reflexes and training in the art of combat had taught him a thing or two, and he had met and fought chi-dominant benders in his life before, and so knew how to handle them, though never had he fought one with such an extreme case like Katara's. Nonetheless, he knew that he would pick up the girl's tactics soon enough.

Katara was staggering to remain on her feet, having been rather nastily battered, and launching that huge lightning blast, which had surprised everyone, had done badly for her body's condition as well. It was obvious that the body of a 14-year-old girl was not designed to channel that much power, let alone in a single move.

"Had enough yet," one of Ozuma's fighters leered as he and his friend came at her; both of these men were firebenders, and seemed to be good with lightning. Katara grumbled and muttered something about having enough under her breath, but she persisted.

"Leave... me... ALONE!!!" Katara roared, spewing fire all around her in defense of her wounded self. The two firebenders were no match for the sheer force of the flame, despite the fact that they were able to successfully redirect some of them back at Katara, hitting her. She flipped head over heels and fell painfully on her face. By this time, she was bleeding all over, and had trouble getting up.

Nonetheless, she did. Blood from her nose and forehead dripped into her eyes and mouth, and yet she looked determined to continue. To see the stony face of the resolute young girl thrown into relief in the darkness, only Illuminated by a few torches that Ozuma's group had been carrying, and flames form the firebenders, was actually a rather chilling sight.

Katara could feel her ankles about to give way, and she knew that she had lost. However, she had taken 13 of Ozuma's warriors with her.

She decided to go for one more, for she could feel that she was about to drop from fatigue. She ignored the blood that was all around her, dripping from her battered form like water at this point. Aiming at a man charging towards her, she pointed both of her bloodstained arms towards the man and blasted flames that spiraled towards him like serpents. He was swift at dodging them, but the streams of flame were long enough to catch his face and feet, disabling him, where he fell to the ground and slowly died.

14 of Ozuma's 20-warrior group had been defeated here, but Ozuma himself was unfazed. These were not his elite men, but rather just some of his 'pawns', despite their skill. Either way, 2/3 of the group had been killed by a 14-year-old girl. Granted, said 14-year-old-girl was a powerful chi-dominant bender, but either way, it had taken serious effort to bring young Katara Altina II down.

Katara fell unconscious in a pool of her own blood, where Ozuma collected her and the rest of his group stood ready for orders.

"Carry on," he remarked, "Katara Altina II is in our clutches now, and so we have no other business here at the moment. Leave the dead."

They had no intention of letting Katara die though, and even though she was unconscious, Katara was aware of that. Nonetheless, she had been defeated, and she had seen it coming. She accepted her fate—for now.