Chapter 51.1- And so the Dragons Danced

He was a one-trick pony, but it was a damn good trick. I tracked the arc f explosive for as it came towards me and darted to the side. It hit the ground, exploded and pushed me forward. I called my flames into being, green as the trees around the estate I’d grown up in, and forced them to form a circular shield in front of me. The next explosion clashed against the shield and the shield held.

“And our Fire Lord has finally called upon his flames” The announcer called. I smiled. This guy thought he had a good chance, and maybe in a world where I hadn’t spent my teen years messing around with Maki, he might have. I knew how to track the distortion of air that came with his arcs of concussive power, and there was nothing subtle about the way he would take two steps forward and push out his head before firing from his third eye. I practically skated across the sand with my flames acting as jet boosters behind me.

I staffed my run to the side, dodging two more blasts and then I was upon him. I could see flashes of the fight he had with Aang and his team in how he fought now. He had been a foe beyond their abilities when they met him, but I was far from awed in person. His metal arm blocked my kick with ease but that as only the first step. I pushed further, forcing hum to take a step back. The shock on his face brought me no small amount of joy. Yes, fool. I am your better.

His other arm lifted with a punch that tasted naught but air. Heat cursed through my very being. I stamped down on the ground, causing a small explosion and sending sand everywhere. He had the good sense not to scratch at his eyes but could do little to stop himself from blinking. I dug a fist into his side with all my strength and he staggered. I had him. I felt it, that feeling that I hadn’t felt since I put Aang in the dirt. A fight. His head snapped forward. I jumped over him in a front flip, a perfect mirror of the one that I had executed earlier. But there was no explosion. It was a feint. I barely managed to cross my arms in front of my chest as a metal foot smashed into it and sent me flying into the sand, skating backwards along it. I stared at the sky for a second, while feeling my back begin to smart. Yeah, fighting shirtless here was a bit silly— even if it was tradition to fight thus. Sparky Sparky Boom Man definitely wasn’t following that rule.

I pushed myself up, executing a perfect rising handspring that would have made a table of judges preen. Yet, all my technical perfection went unmentioned as Sparky Sparky Boom Man— henceforth dubbed sparky sent another arc of concussive force. This one, I blocked with another shield of verdant flames.