Wandering Firebender

Eighty One: The Cave Of Two Flames

It was hard to tell how much time had passed until Elio finally caught up with Azula. It had to have been at least 10 minutes. Unfortunately for him, she was very fast, and even though she'd only gotten a small head start, it was enough for him to never close the distance.

But he hadn't lost track of her completely. Not yet.

"It's gonna take forever for the others to figure out where we are," Elio thought to himself. "I might be on my own here after all."

Now back on the ground, Elio slowed to a walking pace. His chest was getting tight from how much he was overexerting himself. He needed to breathe. And as athletic as Azula was, she likely couldn't keep up the pace either, he figured.

As long as he didn't lose her.

A piece of black fabric caught his eye, causing him to stop. Elio crouched down lower, carefully moving to his left and circling around while using the trees as his cover. He leaned over to look and saw that Azula had left her cloak on the ground. She had also set down a small sack on top of it.

Then he heard some movement in the trees above him. He looked up just in time to see Azula shooting a fireball directly at him. He quickly moved out of the way, hiding behind the tree closest to him.

"Can't I even eat in peace without you trolling behind me like livestock?" She said, jumping down and landing on the ground. She raised her hands up and started to advance, ready to attack again.

"You're the one running away and attacking me, Azula. If you stop this right now and come back with me willingly, we can end this whole thing right now." Elio said.

"So you can put me in a cage and take me back to my padded cell? I don't think so! I'm not a fool, Elio." Azula said, shooting a fireball at the tree he was hiding behind. Elio moved away from it and shot a fireball back.

"No, just lost." Elio retorted.

Azula attacked again, growling aggressively as she sent an arcing fire shot his way. He ducked under it. It struck a tree, sending splinters flying. The splinters smacked against the side of his face. He stepped forward and jumped into the air, twisting and sending a downwards fire kick her way.

Azula dodged the kick, moving behind Elio and blasting him in the back with fire. He yelled out as he was thrown forward. He fell and immediately pushed himself into a forward roll. He ripped off the outer garment of his uniform after it caught fire. He took two steps back from her.

"You know you can't beat me on your own. Why drag this out anymore? You don't wanna fight, right? Just let me go." Azula said again, speaking in her normal smooth tone this time.

"You expect me to just leave you? Let you hide away like a fugitive while you set the whole Earth Kingdom on fire?" Elio asked sarcastically.

"I hate that compassion of yours. It gets annoying fast." She said before attacking again.

She only got off one fireball before the two of them were suddenly surrounded by earthbenders, bringing the fight to an abrupt halt. "They must have seen the trees on fire." Elio realized.

"You two must be the reason for the distress message we received." One of them said.

"What a surprisingly fast response time. Tell me, did you ride here on animals, did we already burn those?" Azula taunted them.

"Don't listen to her, please," Elio spoke up. "My name is Captain Elio, and I'm here to-"

Elio was interrupted by the earthbenders suddenly bending all at once. Elio's eyes widened. He grabbed onto Azula right as she was about to attack. They created an enclosure around Elio and Azula; one made of solid rock without any light inside.