The Lunar Warrior [ATLA FF]

Book 1: Water | 41 | Liberation II

His screams were drowned out by the rest of the battle. But they were not the screams of fear as most others had done, it was rage. An indignant rage sprung from the fear he refused to acknowledge that he'd felt in the face of this... this child!

"RAHHH!" The soldier blasted Ayaan with his fire, instinctually using it to create distance. The water tribe warrior avoided it, feeling the tingle of the fire just a hairs breath away from his skin.

The soldier couldn't believe that he let his thoughts wander like that. He was fire nation! A higher class than any of these lowly, peasant scum! How was he letting this... this child get to him like this?! A peasant! A slave! It was an atrocious breach in his sense of pride.

'What gave me the right...?'

"I gave myself the right!" He bellowed, masking his fear with arrogance as he lunged at Ayaan. A blaze of flames went to the left, followed by a fist to the right. Despite his initial shakiness, the soldier was decent in battle.

The clash of metal rang out, spear meeting spear in a series of quick and precise motions. Left, right, above, and below. A sweep just above the floor. Counter, block, parry. Ayaan was pleasantly surprised that this scumbag was a very decent fighter.

As he'd suspected, the fire nation soldiers here were much stronger than the ones he'd faced before.

"I am an elite!" The bender shouted, blasting him with another fist of flames, "I don't need to explain myself to a lowly slave!"

He thought that maybe Lee had been exaggerating when he'd answered him. This boy, sure, was trained well, but so was he. It did not matter his stature or his weapon. He could take him, he was proving that now with their continuous exchange of blows.

But his thoughts stopped cold when he saw his face.

'He's... smiling? Why is he smiling?'

Ayaan was smiling. No, he was laughing. He wasn't afraid of him at all. He wasn't cowering at the fact that he was strong nor did he bat an eye at his show of bending.

'The prince's fire bending was much more than this, but...'

But this piece of garbage wasn't a bad fighter. In fact, he was much better than the ones Ayaan had previously encountered. Unlike his fellow guards, he did not insult the spear he wielded. He knew how to use it well, and was putting up a fight with Ayaan with it despite how different it was from his own.

The boy found a vicious smile growing on his face. "Finally."

The sudden barrage of devastating hits earned pained grunts from the firebender, the battle between them shifting dangerously. "What the─"

"A stronger prey."

He finally had someone he could fight a little more seriously with, something he'd been missing for weeks. As a person that loved to train, that loved getting stronger, this was an opportunity he could not let escape.

'Maybe I should thank Katara.'

It was then that the fire nation guard realized his gut hadn't been wrong.

This wasn't a child.

This was a monster.

•───────•⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☾☼☽∘∙⊱⋅•⋅•───────•

Now that the coal had been released and the earthbenders' will to fight was ignited, absolute chaos ensued on the prison rig. Almost everywhere one looked, coal was being lifted, condensed, and launched, used as a defense against volleys of flying flames and metal blades.