Still don't own LoK!
A week later, Iroh, Toph, and Kailee were anxiously approaching the palace of the Fire Lord. Even though Iroh had lived here throughout most of his life, he wasn't nervous for himself. Rather, it was for Kailee that he was nervous for since he wasn't sure whether or not his parents would accept her since she was not only a nonbender but an outsider as well. She didn't even know her own past, which wasn't good for her health or to help her win his parents over. Toph, however, was anxious about what would happen.
But right as they entered the arena, they found Iroh's parents collapsing from Tarala taking their bending away. Iroh surged forwards angrily from the roof and landed cleanly behind Tarala, with Toph and Kailee on either of his sides. He snorted fire out of his nose and recognize the arena at once as the point where Zuko had fought Azula. He realized now just why Aang had taken him into the past just before healing his bending, and this was the reason.
"Tarala!" he yelled, and she swerved around to hit him. "You won't be Fire Lord until I'm dead!"
"You're hilarious!" Tarala laughed maniacally.
"And you're going down!" Kailee yelled.
"You're a fool! You have no bending! You don't even have a clue who you are, you pathetic worthless lump!" Tarala yelled, "But if you want to see your precious parents writhing until they're dead then by all means come forward to attack me."
"I challenge you to a one on one Agni Kai!" Kailee yelled, and Tarala tilted her head in interest.
"Kailee, no, she's just trying to bait you," Iroh hissed, "she took your bending once, she'll do it again. If she sees any sign of her losing, she'll cheat! She's just trying to separate us! I lost to her on a few occasions, and you admit that you need help to fight her!"
"I know," she said narrowing her eyes. "But something's different about her. Something's off, and I need to do this. This way, nobody else will get hurt. I'll need you to back me up."
"You're not even a bender!" Tarala cackled as Iroh's parents made a scramble for the arena walls for refuge. "You don't stand a chance!"
"Fine! You and your bloodbending versus me and my weapons!" Kailee yelled, and Tarala laughed.
"So be it! The final battle between the two of us cousins! Just like it was destined to be!" she cackled.
"He's in the Fire Nation!" Sayuri said triumphantly as Leila the Shirshu leapt off of Appa's back. "We'll need to track him quickly so he doesn't get thrown into prison."
"No, we need to go to the Fire Lord's palace," Korra argued, "My gut's telling me to go to the Fire Lord's palace."
"Right. We'll head there and see what we can and will find," Sayuri nodded. "After that we'll see if we can track this Kailee person."
"Yip yip!" Ikki yelled and Korra leapt onto Leila's back.
"Sorry, but I feel like I should come with you," she said to Sayuri.
"That's fine," she said calmly, "But be warned, her saliva will paralyze you."
"Something tells me that will come in handy," Korra nodded.
"I'm sorry it has to end this way, cousin," Tarala said taking off her traveling cloak.
"No you're not," Kailee yelled back, "It was your father who took away my bending and memories ten years ago. It was your father, Amon, who killed my parents while his Equalist supporters destroyed City Hall and tried to kill everyone that was left of Avatar Aang's friends. It was your father who tried to destroy Avatar Korra in revenge upon Avatar Aang, and it was you who took away General Iroh's bending and memories while you attacked his ship eight months ago!"
"Oh! So you do remember what I lectured your little Prince about! How cute!" Tarala sneered nastily, "I want so badly to hear of all my accomplishments from your tiny little mouth. Go on, continue and I might spare you!"
"You took away General Iroh's memories and bending that night! You used bloodbending to channel blood onto his brain so he couldn't remember who he was, and left him barely more than a rabbit! It was me who nursed him back to health and had to tell him what all I knew about him and from his past and reputation! And it was you who killed the Bei Fong family in Omashu! And it was you who took the bending of thousands of people in the town that Iroh and I were living at while setting a rabid firebender loose to terrorize the city and to make sure that Iroh and I would get chased out for something that we didn't commit!"
"You give yourself no such credit," Tarala cackled, "Have you forgotten that you yourself are a monster? Or do I need to remind you that you… no, no I think I'll save that for yourself. It's time I finished what I started all those years ago! But since you can't have an Agni Kai without a firebender, I want a battle with your precious little Prince Charming and all – and I do mean all – of his toys!"
"I accept your challenge!" Iroh yelled pushing Kailee back into the safety behind the pillars. "Kailee, stay where you are! Toph, don't intervene unless I get killed!"
"Iroh, no!" Kailee, Toph, and Iroh's parents yelled in unison.
But Iroh dodged Tarala's bloodbending with firebending. To his shock, she wasn't bloodbending him yet at all. But the fight was a desperate one, and Iroh knew that it was only a matter of time before he would be forced to firebend again.
"What's the matter, Tarala?" he taunted as she attempted to waterbend him but to have him dodge yet again. "Too scared of the law to use bloodbending outside of taking people's bending and memories away?"
Tarala let out a scream of rage in a fit, but Iroh was faster than her in that regard. He sent out a wave of fire, creating giant cats from the pillars of flames that surrounded the arena. Try as Tarala might, she could only attack them one by one, and even then, the cats would all defend each other with their tails.
But Tarala saw through this, and snarled as she sent a wave of water behind Iroh and rushed water over the entire arena and sent ice down upon it, encasing all the cats and herself. He was frozen, like Azula, and struggled for breath. Tarala let the ice drop and melt, but only once she was over behind Iroh with one hand on his chest and the other on his head to retake his bending away.
"It's almost a shame to take your bending away," she sneered, "But I've had enough of your petty little games. I don't know how you got your bending back without coming into contact with your precious Avatar Korra, but it's time I once again purged you of your impurity. And this time, I won't stop at just your memories up until that point. No, this time I'll go much farther, so far that you'll be a vegetable for the rest of your life. Well, if you survive that is."
Before Iroh could make another move, Tarala began bending the blood in his brain and skull. He tried to keep in the pain, but try as he might, it erupted throughout his every fiber, and he let out a yell so filled with agony that even Korra could hear it from where she and the others were on the outskirts of the Fire Nation's Palace. He yelled until he saw black splotches in his vision, and then everything went black, and the last thing he heard was a woman screaming out the word "Iroh".
Oh noes! Poor Iroh! Ooh, wait, this is the final part of the installment! What do you think will happen?
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