Avatar: Zuko X OC (Hana)

Chapter 5 - Zhao Appears

As Zuko and Iroh are talking the ship jolts violently almost causing them to fall over. "What?!" Zuko looks around startled. Then his gaze directs upward as the alarm goes off. "We're under attack!?" Zuko and his uncle quickly run to the deck and find another ship as pulled up alongside his ship. He clinches his fist in disgust as he recognizes the ship. "Zhao." He growls.

Iroh pinches the bridge of his nose. "I'm staying out of this one..." he exclaims walking the other way towards the office.

(For those of you who don't know Zhao is kind of like Zuko's rival in a way. He's the commander of the fire nation navy forces. He'll do ANYTHING to secure a great name for himself including slaying the moon spirit fish. This, in the series, was the reason he was banished to the fog of lost souls in the spirit world but for the sake of my story just pretend that hasn't happened ^.^')

"What have we here?" Zhao snickers with a small chuckle. "A little lost banished prince and his fleet of merry men."

"Zhao..." Zuko grumbles. "Why don't you go mind your own business?"

"I was." Zhao muses with a devious smirk. "We happen to be on the way to Ba-sing-se." he motions towards his ship. "Then who should we happen upon but the banished former fire lord prince." He smirks. "Tell me Zuko are you looking for something? Perhaps the avatar?"

Zuko's eyes widen. "You stay out of this! I can catch the avatar on my own!"

"That is a task better fitting the captain of the fire nation navy don't you think? Not something a teenager is capable of." Zhao smirks. "I will be the one to capture the avatar."

The two get in an argument and Zuko challenges Zhao to a duel.

During the beginning of the fight Hana appears on deck to see what the commotion was and sees Zuko fighting against Zhao. 'What's going on here?!' she wonders as it seems Zuko is losing the fight. 'Are they dueling?' she holds herself back watching as Zuko manages to turn the tables against Zhao. 'So this is what it's like to be a firebender.' She watches in awe as the two powerful benders clash in combat.

Zuko pins Zhao down and has the opportunity to end the battle with a fatal blow. Zhao taunts him but in the end Zuko fires a warning shot near Zhao's head and begins to walk away. "This is over. Get off my ship."

Zhao picks himself up off the ground enraged. "How dare you insult me!" as he attempts to attack Zuko from behind Hana gets in the way grabbing Zhao's arm before his attack can strike. "How dare you." Zhao growls.

"When your opponent has claimed his victory... you should be lucky to escape with your life." Hana protests glaring at Zhao. "Attacking someone while their back is turned is dishonorable."

Zhao growls and grabs Hana's wrist with his free hand. "And little girls should keep out of the business of men." He burns her wrist before getting pushes aside by Iroh.

"A man should not attack a lady." Iroh grumbles and looks at Hana who is now badly burned.

(To be perfectly clear Zuko's thoughts here take place is slowed down time.)

Zuko doesn't know what to even. 'She tried to protect me...' he stares at her as her knees hit the ground and the tears fall. 'She protected me and got burned...' is isn't until her other shaking hand manages to find her burned arm that he finally snaps out of his daze. He spins around towards Zhao. "How could you! She's just a simple girl!"

"She got in my way." Zhao grins. "Why does she mean something to you?"

Zuko is about to go back into combat when the voice of Hana stops him.