Percy Jackson: Defender of Dreams

Avatar: The Last Airbender - 4

— Several days earlier —

I couldn't quite tell if it was just in my head, but Zuko seemed a lot more skilled when he was fighting his crew members than when he sparred with me. I knew that I made him nervous, but his movements were jerky and predictable, and the fire from his fists felt weak compared to when he was blasting Leo that first day.

I motioned with my hands, bringing a stream of water up from the ocean. I was careful and controlled, knowing that my full strength would kill any opponent with a single blow. Getting hit by anything at mach 1 would be pretty fatal, I would say. But who knows? I'm no expert—maybe there's something that won't kill you even if it hits you at the speed of sound.

I was imagining something along the lines of a marshmallow when the stream of water fell to the ground and I realized I lost focus. I sighed in frustration before trying again, all while avoiding Zuko's firebending. My training here only allowed bending attacks, so I couldn't just hit him. 

I flicked my wrist gently and the water responded, smacking him hard enough to knock him on his butt. It was utterly graceless and I'm sure I looked as awkward as a toddler that just learned telekinesis, but it still worked.

"That was so bad," I stated, looking at my hands in disgust. "I thought it might feel more natural in actual combat, but all I did was dodge until I could get off a lucky shot."

Zuko grumbled in response. "What?" I asked.

"You did fine," he snapped. "You beat me easily, and I'm not so unskilled to be an easy opponent."

"You are way better than me, what are you talking about?" I said, rolling my eyes. "Obviously my dodging skills were on point, I'm not saying it was a bad fight. Did you see that bending, though? It might have been powerful, but it was about as skillful and precise as a blind child in an earthquake."

"You're gonna eat those words," Leo said, snacking as he watched. "I can feel it."

I rolled my eyes and ignored him, then helped Zuko to his feet. "Why didn't you dodge that?" I asked cautiously. I didn't want to insult him again, but the attack wasn't exactly subtle.

"What do you mean?" he asked, raising one eyebrow. I wished I could raise only one eyebrow at a time. Well, his other eyebrow wasn't exactly—

I chided myself, getting my brain back on track. "I'm not good enough at bending to be sneaky. You should have seen that attack coming from a mile away."

Zuko shrugged. "You don't dodge in an Agni Kai, it's a test of strength and control. Your opponents attacks are nothing, and you have to learn to neutralize them with your own."

"Huh," I said, surprised. "Well, real life isn't an Agni Kai. If you fight someone informally, they aren't just going to sit there and take it. If you can see that someone is going to hit you, don't just wait for it. Dodge it, block it, stop it, anything, and only take it if there's no other option. You can't only focus on attack power."

Zuko nodded sharply. "Again," he said, settling into his stance. This time, he seemed to move completely differently. When he attacked, he'd fall into one of his solid, aggressive firebending stances, but otherwise, he moved fluidly. He defended and evaded flawlessly, and I found myself hard-pressed to keep up with my only offensive weapon still so clumsy.

I kept trying to hit him with a wall or tendril of water, but Zuko was never in the same place for long enough for me to get the water there. I found myself grinning; this was a real fight. Zuko wasn't the most skilled opponent I'd fought—that spot goes to Annabeth—but he was good.