𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗖𝗜𝗧𝗬 𝗚𝗜𝗥𝗟 | zuko

15: CONFLICTS

"He wanted to meet you.  You'll love him, he's so perfect," said Kyra the next afternoon, pulling me through the streets of the Fire Nation Capital.  She wanted me to meet Hakan, arguing that he had asked to meet me.  Of course, I went, yet she was still pulling me by my arm every 

"I'm coming, Kyra, you don't have to drag me."

"You're going slowly! I --"

"Shh," I said, pulling her back.  "Look."  I had stopped in the middle of a street, where someone was looking us up and down.  

"That's 'em," he said in a deep voice.  He was very muscular, and was surrounded by two guys who weren't too much smaller than he was.  They were all smiling.

"Um, sorry, who are we?  Who are you?" questioned Kyra coolly.  She was scared, but you could only tell if you knew her.  And I knew her all too well.  She was going to start something.

"I'm Dezao.  And you're Earth Kingdom peasants," he said, smirking.  "Lowlifes who live in the lower ring of Ba Sing Se."

"You should watch your mouth, Dezao, because I could crunch you into a million pieces with a single blow, and I won't even think twice about it."

Dezao scoffed.  "You couldn't take a pebble from the ground."  He nodded, and the two cronies stepped forward, one toward each of us. 

"Watch me!" Kyra yelled, and she kicked up a rock from the square just as the cronies started attacking.  Dezao stepped back just in time. 

Seeing as I was unarmed, the crony nearing me smirked in success, as he thought I would be easy to knock out.  But I was good at evasion, and I ducked under a fruit stand and went into a small alleyway.  Two things sat there -- an empty table, and a long, wood staff.  It was a little dingy, but seemed adequate if I had nothing else to defend myself with.  Kyra was fighting all on her own, fending off the two cronies by pushing them away over and over again, still not knocking them out.  

I formed a plan.  Standing up on the table, I took the staff and held it sturdy on the ground.  I jumped from the table, still holding the staff, and as the staff tilted the other way, I fell with it, right in the middle of the scene.

One of the men sent a punch my way -- I blocked his arm with the wood staff and he took his other arm under it, and I turned the staff vertical, blocking both arms.  He backed away to come around behind me, but I turned and backed up, to jab him in the stomach with it.  He came back around toward me, and I tripped him, and as he stumbled I had a chance to chi-block one of his arms.  So with one lazy arm, he continued to try and hit me in the stomach, and it wasn't working for him.  His arms were his main strength. 

So I took my chances to take out the other one.  He seemed to know this was my goal, and he tried to trip me with his foot, but he wasn't as light on his feet as I was.  I used the wood staff to do the same move that I had done from the alleyway, only I jumped from the ground this time.  He tried to get around, but I just jumped again and chi-blocked his second arm as quick as I could.  He tried to come toward me with his foot, and he was an inch from my leg before a rock came up diagonal from the ground and pelted him in the stomach, knocking him backward and unconscious.

I smiled at Kyra, who had taken out the other crony just before.  "Thanks," I said, out of breath.

"They might've been easy," said Dezao, stepping forward from his spot in the corner of the square. "But I won't be, Earth kingdom peasants."

Then he spat.

"You're asking for it, then," I said slyly, evading the first attack.  He was a firebender.  He punched his fist, spewing a shot of fire, which I ducked under.  And just as he went toward Kyra and me, who had come closer together, Kyra made a chopping movement with her hand that propelled him backward, just before he made his move.  And as he fell to the ground, she trapped his hands in rock right as he touched it.  But he broke away with a blast of fire.  

I hadn't noticed before, but there was a crowd of people watching.  And now, in the back, it looked like it was splitting, letting someone through.  But I had no more time to watch.  Kyra had created a shield for herself out of rock, which she used to block any incoming attacks.  It was as if she could sense Dezao before he came toward us because just as he assumed a stance to send another fire punch at us, she kicked up from the ground and a rock sent his arm all out of whack.

"ARGH!" he said.  Kyra's attack made him angrier than he already was.  It seemed his arm was broken, because now he was only using his legs and the other arm.  Kyra surrounded us with a dome of rock.  

"Can you chi block him?" asked Kyra, out of breath.  "If I hold him for long enough?"

"I can only do arms, that's all I was taught," I replied. 

Kyra sighed.  The dome was then crushed by Dezao's foot.  Kyra pulled us out of the way just in time.

The cut in the crowds was more visible now, and I was barely watching as I dodged Dezao's attacks.  I was small, and he was getting frustrated with how easily I evaded him.  

Someone came out of the gap in the small crowd.  Most of the people were bowing.  Dezao stopped attacking, realizing who it was.

"What happened!" Zuko yelled.  He turned to Dezao.  "What do you think you're doing?"

Dezao didn't look like he liked Zuko. "Putting the Earth Kingdom peasants you let in here in their place," he said stubbornly.  Kyra and I stood offensive Dezao still, while Zuko stood in front of one of the four streets filled with a few people.  Two guards stood a meter behind him.

Zuko looked extremely angry with Dezao.  But he came toward us.

"Are you alright?" he asked calmly, putting his hand on my shoulder. 

"We're fine," I said.  

He nodded and turned back to Dezao.  

"What are you doing attacking innocent people?" 

Dezao didn't answer.

"Your Fire Lord asked you a question!  It's in your best interests to answer!"

"You will never be my Fire Lord," said Dezao, and he went into an attacking position.  Zuko readied as well, but a slight nod of his head sent the two guards behind Dezao, tying up his hands and taking him where he would be taken to prison.

oh, how I love fights

yet how horrible I am at writing them

molly ♡