Happy St Andrew's Day for yesterday to any Scottish readers!
Responses to Reviews:
RonaldM40196867: I don't really mind, I like all the main six members of Team Avatar and could not choose between them.
Zigzagdoublezee: I'm still open to other suggestions, but as a name like "Gaang" for Aang's team and "Krew" for Korra's, I think "Yuad" works for Avatar Yue's team.
As Always, Please Review!
Yue had no time to think; she jumped, plunging towards the deck, managing to catch the icy pillar behind her and reshape it into a slide that gently caught her. She slid down it, landing with a splash in the water which still swamped the deck, ankle deep, as Princess Azula jumped onto the ship. The vessel she had been on slid past, carrying on into the mist.
For a moment, the two Princesses stared each other down. Then Azula began laughing.
Yue frowned.
"My apologies," Azula snorted, trying to contain herself. "But I am fortunate indeed!"
"Why?" Yue asked.
"My father has sent me to find you," Azula explained. "And I haven't even needed to set foot in the Earth Kingdom to do it. Looks like I will be Father's heir after all. The universe decrees it."
She smirked.
"My brother is not here to save you this time, but if you come quietly, I promise I'll be gentle."
Yue settled into a combat stance.
"We're not in the North Pole any more," she responded defiantly. "And you should remember where you stand."
She kicked towards Azula, and a stream of ice erupted and raced towards the Fire Princess, enveloping her feet in solid ice. Azula blasted herself free and shot a firebolt in return, which hit Yue's ice shield with a hiss of steam. Behind her, the door burst open as Katara, Sokka, Suki and Rinzen burst onto the deck.
Azula made a hand gesture, and several soldiers, headed by her friend in pink, began to flank around their fight and make their way towards Yue's friends. Then she advanced towards Yue, firing bolts of fire towards her. Yue managed to sidestep one, waved a hand to bring an arc of water up to block a second, and then sent the hissing, boiling liquid back at Azula, who ducked under it.
Meanwhile, Sokka and Suki drew their weapons as their opponent approached them, a confident, smug grin on her face. Suki swung at her with her sword, but she somersaulted clean over the strike and landed behind her, tapping her on the shoulder gently.
"Gotcha!" She smirked, before rolling out of the way as Sokka struck at where she had been with his club. Suki whirled to face her, but she was already gone again.
It took Yue a moment to register an odd detail about her opponent. For some reason, Princess Azula's flames were blue. But she didn't have time to focus on it, as Azula charged again, attempting to close the distance with a blade of superheated flame in one hand. Yue waited until the last moment, and then extended a hand to send water upwards, catching and extinguishing Azula's fire knife, then managing to raise her other hand just in time to parry Azula's punch.
Yue froze the water to trap Azula's hand, buying her a couple of seconds to retreat, open up the distance again, and launch a ball of ice at Azula's head. At the last moment, Azula's trapped hand glowed with an ominous heat and the ice burst, freeing her in time to roll away, kicking up more water as she went. A moment later, Katara appeared next to Yue.
"Need any help?" She asked. Yue just nodded. Azula saw that she was now outnumbered, but barely hesitated before charging back into the attack.
Suki and the other girl circled each other. Suki had her weapons drawn, the other girl was unarmed. That did not seem to worry her. She grinned again and charged, ducking under one strike, weaving backwards to avoid the next, and then quickly extending a hand to hit Suki's wrist and smack the next sword blow away. Suki growled in frustration. Why couldn't she land a hit on this girl?
"Who are you?" She couldnt help but ask. But the girl did not answer. Instead she attacked again, dodging round Suki's swing, coming up behind her, and launching a series of surgical punches at her back and arms. Suki's eyes went wide as her sword fell from her hand as her arm went limp, and then she lost control of her whole body and pitched forwards, the water rushing up to meet her. The last thing she heard was Sokka calling her name in panic, and then her head slipped underwater.
Azula charged at her opponents, shooting more fireballs towards them. Yue went one way, Katara the other, both bringing streams of water up to block the fireballs. Both streams swung around at the same time, meeting in the middle to form a powerful liquid battering ram which slammed into Azula's chest and knocked her backwards. She stood up, panting.
Sokka rushed towards the girl, club raised above his head, attempting to reach Suki's inert form. She cartwheeled away as he tried to hit her, allowing him to grab Suki's arm and pull her head up. She gratefully took a huge gasp of air as her face emerged again.
"What did she do?" Sokka demanded. But she didn't have time to answer before the pink girl was back. Sokka reacted too slowly, and more of the precision strikes slammed into his arm. With horror, he felt his arm go limp, and Suki again dropped into the water, with Sokka powerless to stop it.
Across the deck, three Princesses glowered at each other for a moment. Then Azula straightened up, and took a deep breath. She began to spin her arms, shifting her posture as a blue spark lit up between her fingers. Her face maintained a look of absolute calm as the power surged through her body. Yue's eyes widened as she realised what was about to happen. Azula had not thought this attack through. Water and electricity did not mix, and everyone on the deck was standing up to their ankles in it. She was about to fry everyone. Including herself.
Azula's eyes flickered open again and she extended her hand towards Yue, a triumphant smirk on her lips as she got ready to unleash a powerful lightning-bolt upon her opponents.