"Before Sozin's ascent to power, Agni Kai were rarely fought to the death, but under the new regime, sparing an opponent had become viewed as an act of weakness rather than generosity."
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I stood at the top of the ship, shifting my weight from one leg to another. I was sort of nervous because I hadn't ever received proper firebending practice from a real teacher—or waterbending—not that I was going to use water today anyway.
We stood in front of each other, a large space between us. The sky was darkening, almost a reddish color and waves were crashing around us. Uncle Iroh was standing close by, an interested smile on his face. All the guards and crew members were watching, whooping and hollering until they got a glare from Zuko and quieted down.
There was no way I was going to make a fool out of myself here.
"Are you ready?" I yelled, cupping my hands over my mouth to amplify my voice.
Zuko just narrowed his eyes, his jaw set.
I wore the same clothes but Zuko had changed into a much comfortable outfit. I had also refused to take off my shoes because the metal floor was too cold, and Iroh had laughed at that, liking my reasoning and sensibility. Then Zuko had to come in and say I had no sense and I had an urge to slap him across the face with the tea in Iroh's cup, but I reminded myself not to use waterbending in front of them.
Iroh had said that we "quarreled like little children".
Zuko called Iroh the child.
I laughed at the thought and suddenly, Iroh yelled something and I looked up to see Zuko running towards me. I dodged it in the nick of time and did a forward roll, the flames brushing against my ankles.
"I wasn't ready!" I yelled, but I got no reply as Zuko swished his leg in the air and I, just barely, parted it with my hands so that I was safe in the center. "Fine. You want unfair, you get unfair," I muttered, scowling.
As Zuko stepped back with a triumphant smirk on his face, he stepped into a puddle of water that had washed onto the ship. I reached out and closed my fist as the water grabbed his ankle and he tripped onto his back, the water dispersing quickly. I stole a glance around me and saw that no one had noticed; everyone was laughing. Zuko got to his feet, right when I circled my leg in the air, creating a mini fire tornado and kicked it in the center, sending it spiraling towards him. He parted his way through it, clearly surprised. "Were you ready now?" I mocked, punching fire at him and ending with a high kick as a blast of fire shot at his face. He ducked and attacked, kicking blasts of fire which I managed to dodge, but very closely. I could almost hear everyone suck in their breaths from the watchtowers where they felt safe. Iroh was clapping.
As another fireball came flying towards me, I jumped onto my palms doing a handstand as the heat brushed my back, and then I fell back onto my feet again.
I created flame on my palm and circled him, breathing heavily. I didn't know it would be this tiring to fight against something other than a tree.
A cold breeze rippled through our clothes as we caught our breaths from different sides of the ship, and he attacked first. Running, he jumped and double-kicked in the air, followed by two punches and a roundhouse kick that sent fire shooting towards me faster than lightning.
Okay, maybe not that fast, but fast enough to challenge me.
I did a somersault in the air and landed on my feet, the fire missing me and shooting out into the ocean. They cheered, but were soon hushed by Zuko's menacing face.
Zuko was closer to me now, but he didn't attack.
"Who are you?" he said quietly, his eyes confused, his glare angry. He had two fire daggers in his hands, like he was threatening me.
"I'll tell you after the fight," I said, and without warning grabbed his arm and turned it behind his back, trapping him in an armlock. He groaned in pain.
Then with one kick on the back he fell face first onto the ground.
He flipped onto his back and jumped up, feet first, which was pretty impressive. Before he could get to me I leaped on the edge of the ship, teetering, catching my balance before I fell into the water, my arms flailing.
Zuko punched fire and I jumped over it, my foot slipping ever so slightly and a shiver ran through my spine. Iroh yelled something but we both ignored it as I did a handstand and smashed my legs into Zuko's chest. Taking my chance, I leaped back onto the ship and ran towards the center, earning the biggest cheer I'd ever gotten in my life.
Suddenly, I remembered a routine I'd been practicing for ages on trees back at the Northern Water Tribe. Roundhouse kick, punch punch, tornado double kick, spin, kick, punch punch, big tornado. I readied myself taking a deep breath and saw him doing the same. This was a dangerous move; last time I did it, I woke up finding that I'd been unconscious. I hope it worked now.
I started it. My leg flew up delivering a perfect roundhouse kick that exploded through the air with a snap, followed by two punches of fire, and I realized that Zuko did something similar, both sides' fire exploding in the center. I built up a small tornado with my other leg and kicked with both feet as I realized my fire didn't look right. It was flickering between shades of bright yellow and orange and red, and a different color that I sensed. I was probably just imagining it.
Zuko did the same move, which was odd, as the two enemy fires exploded in the center, wind blowing into our faces as we shielded our eyes from the bright, piercing light.
The next move was the air spin. I brought my legs and and flipped in the air, swiping my hands across the air send two thin blades of fire at his chest, but somehow it never got there because it ended up hitting it's twin from the other side.
Did he know the routine? He had the same moves shooting out at me, causing giant explosions.
I was starting to feel an energy buildup in my stomach and chest. The routine was too powerful, and I didn't know what disaster it would end off in. My fire was acting strange too; with each new move it would change hues turning electric blue at the base, which had never happened before.
I glanced at Iroh who had his forehead creased in worry for the first time. But I couldn't end off the routine now, the results could be deadly. I had to take the energy out or it could reach my heart.
I kicked and punched twice, Zuko doing the same, and this time my fire was mostly blue. Zuko had this fear in his eyes I'd never seen before in anyone. What was going on? I glanced at Iroh again who's eyes were wide, his mouth agape. The onlooking guards were bending over the rails, their helmets fallen off and their faces tight with fear.
I turned back towards Zuko, the rain beating on our faces, whose eyes were wild with anger. The energy in my chest was about to explode, I had to let it out.
Lightning flashed, thunder crashing, as the ocean went wild, throwing the ship this way and that, but not enough to throw us off balance. The last move was the big fire tornado. I started it, Zuko doing the same. I spun my arms and, balancing on one leg, the other leg up in the air turning a huge ball of blue fire in the air. Iroh started yelling as he realized what we were doing, but I couldn't hear him. Lightning was flashing and the guards were yelling from up above, but they were ignored. Zuko was turning his leg in the air and the fire tornados of red and blue were turning huge. I brought my leg back down, as did Zuko, and I brought my two hands in front of my chest towards the tornado whipping at our clothes, the flames licking the air, and pushed.
Iroh's face was frozen in fear and his hands were up, trying to tell us to stop, but it was too late. Zuko had kicked off his fire tornado.
Zuko's red fire came towards mine, and collided, and that's when all hell broke loose.
The explosion was so strong the metal pipes on the ship and rails rattled and doors flew off their hinges, and I was blown off my feet. There were cries and shouts of surprise, then, all I remembered was flying through the air and slamming into something.
Darkness.