"What was that?" I cried, staggering to my feet and helping Iroh to his as alarms blared above our heads.
"We're under attack!" he shouted. "My tea was on the top of the ship and now it's been wasted."
I pulled his arm as the door to the meeting room burst open and Zuko came out. "What's going on?" he asked, breathlessly.
"We're under attack," I informed him, and he motioned for me to follow him.
"I'll stay here," Iroh drawled tiredly, leaning on his arm which was on the wall. I left him and we started running through the Fire Nation ship, leaping up stairs by fives. Zuko added the extra fire burst from his fists as he jumped, nearly burning me.
"Careful!" I yelled, cutting through the fire and jumping ahead in front of him. He stopped at the metal door leading to the outside of the ship where the battle was taking place. Another jerk rocked our ship and I grabbed Zuko's arm for support. "What's happening out there?" I asked.
"I don't know," he said through clenched teeth as he tried to open the door, "I'm in here with you." Suddenly, he took a step back and smashed his foot against the door. It budged a little bit. "Help me," he grunted as he pulled back his foot and smashed it again. I turned to my side and kicked the door with all the strength I could muster.
"Should we firebend it off?" I asked, sweat beading on my forehead as another boom tilted the ship sideways.
"Try it." He nodded, stepping back.
I closed my eyes and channeled my energy like a current through my body, up my arms and down my legs and took a deep breath like Zuko had been showing me for the past few days. Suddenly, with a loud shout that added a little more strength to the fire, blue and red flames erupted from my fists and I turned and with one final kick of fire, the door flew off its hinges. With a satisfied smile I turned to Zuko who blew smoke off his two fingers, and he cracked a hah-you're-not-really-all-that-awesome smile and burst out the unhinged door.
I rolled my eyes and followed him out.
What I saw gripped my heart. With fear.
Three Fire Navy ships were harboring ours, shooting large flaming rocks at our ship.
"We have to stop them," I yelled to Zuko, who turned to me, his jaw set.
"How? Don't you see? there's three of them and one of us."
"I'm not blind. All we have to do is try." I turned away from him and ran, kicking fire at whoever came in my way. An enemy was propelled backward into the sea by another fireball, and I turned to my helper, finding it to be Uncle Iroh. I grinned and he gave me a thumbs up, and I felt an explosion rock our ship again.
Then I saw fire-pult himself across our ship and onto the enemy ship.
"Go help him!" Iroh yelled. "I'll handle them here."
I nodded and ran, pushing myself off the edge of our ship and boosting myself up by the help of my hands and fire.
Catching up to Zuko, I threw another guard off his feet and into the water. If only I could waterbend.
How would Zuko react? What if he took me as Avatar instead of the real one? I hadn't earned Zuko's full trust yet.
Zuko sent to fire-blades that could cut off anyones head at two more oncoming guards who decided to throw themselves overboard automatically, and I high-fived Zuko. He was actually smiling; like a real smile, and I could tell a few second later that he acted against his will for the high five.
"You know," I told Zuko as we stood back to back, "We can make this a game. It'll be really fun."
"What do you mean?" he asked, punching fire at random enemies. I winced as I through a fireball and the guard smashed his head against the floor with a crack.
"Whoever gets the most people overboard gets to . . . Hmm . . ." I pursed my lips, thinking. "Gets to . . . oh, I know. Whoever gets the least people overboard has to tell their deepest, darkest secret to the other."
Zuko's lip twitched. "Is that a challenge?"
I jumped and sent a roundhouse fire kick spiraling towards a guard with an axe who flew off the ship. "Yes."
"Then it's on."
We jumped through the air, kicking, punching, slicing, cutting, when suddenly wide metal plank was dropped onto the ship we were on and another wave of Fire Nation guards came running in.
"I'm winning, by the way," I yelled at Zuko as I jumped, dodging the swipe of a sword. Fire was bended at me and I cartwheeled away.
"How many do you have?" he called.
"Thirty-five," I replied, doing a handstand and twirling my legs in the air sending a mini red fire tornado towards a group of them. "Nevermind, now it's forty!"
"I have fifty," Zuko replied, his hands holding two long firewhips as he smashed another group overboard. "Make that fifty-six."
I snorted and did a round-off, landing hard on my feet as a sword sliced through the air where my waist was moments ago. Zuko was winning. Suddenly, Zhao appeared, a wicked grin on his face. Our ship; Zuko and Iroh's ship tipped over on its side.
"Uncle!" Zuko yelled.
"He'll be okay!" I pushed Zuko back, when suddenly, Zuko turned and saw his enemy.
Zhao.
Zhao walked towards us, smirking. He raised his hand and all fighting stopped. The guards retreated onto their ship, leaving us with Zhao.
"Well well well, we meet again, Prince Zuko," he said.
Zuko's eyes blazed.
"What do you want, Zhao?" he scowled, his fists engulfed in balls of hissing flames.
"Answers. Don't we all want them? Hand over the girl." Zhao's face turned into a scowl.
"She doesn't know anything," Zuko said in his low, dry voice. "Trust me on that one."
I glared at Zuko but then focused it at Zhao. "Leave us alone. We haven't done anything."
"Stay out of this," Zhao spat, and suddenly, he was thrown back off his feet, fire smashing into his chest.
"Don't you ever, ever do that again," Zuko said in disgust, smoke coming from his fists. Zhao got to his feet and wiped the corner of his mouth with the back of his sleeve.
"You'll pay for that," Zhao said, setting his foot on the ground and punching out fire. Zuko jumped over it, when I noticed something weird. There was a girl standing on the edge of the enemy ship; the one Zhao had come from. She had a smirk on her face, two girls standing next to her on either side. I gulped with sudden realization of who they might've been.
"Azula," Zuko breathed.
