Chapter 41.4- And so the Dragons Danced

He hits like a train, I thought to myself as I felt my body crash through the previously unyielding stone that had made up the wall behind my desk. I flipped in the air and spread my heat all around my body before I managed to stab my hand into the ground and arrest my momentum.

“Well, that saves me the trouble of suggesting a different venue” I said as I pushed off the ground and slammed into the old general as he crossed the hole in the wall he’d punted me through. Even moving as quickly as I was, Iroh still managed to react on time and grabbed a hold of the knee that I wanted to rearrange his face with before he tossed me out of the room and into the hallway with one push. Fuck. I guess that answered the question of whether that was fat or muscle under those flowing robes. I took a deep breath in and before I could send a lance at Iroh, I was forced to abandon the attempt and draw up a fire shield that did a good enough job of preventing Jeong-Jeong from blowing me up.

His attack still sent me sailing through the air up until the end of the hallway. Looking at the pathway of destruction, I could tell that Toph and Toji hadn’t held back much in fighting their opponents. I could see the direction they had taken and consciously chose to follow the opposite route. The garden wasn’t far from here, I thought, burying the pity I had for whichever poor sod would have to fix this mess when the Fire Lord finally chose a governor for this place. I jumped backwards and turned and began to run, making my way for the garden.

“Are you running now, boy? Where was the brave man who wanted to fight” I spun around the corner, pausing for a second and allowing two more to pass before I heard his heavy steps approaching as he chased me down, before I pushed off against the corner I was hiding behind to nail him in face with a clean hook. He stumbled backwards, one step, two steps, and I stomped on his left foot with mine to hold him while I tried to punch his head off.

Showing why he had been given his epithet, the Dragon of the West, breathed out an inferno in my face with no warning. I rolled backwards, allowing the fire to miss me before I was forced to keep running as a wave of rolling flames threatened to cut off my route to the gardens. I mimed the motion for lightning generation and smirked as Iroh abandoned the attack he was preparing to stand in front of Jeong-Jeong. Feignt successful, I turned and kept running for the gardens.

I could feel the heat of their venemous stares as I finally arrived at a window overlooking the garden and jumped straight in. I rolled and took up my position near the middle.

“Done running, boy?” Iroh asked.

“Running? I wasn’t running from you. I just wanted to face you somewhere worthy of a painting” I replied with a shrug. I couldn’t fight in confined spaces as well as others could and had no doubts that both experienced veterans would be ready for that. Instead of dealing with that, I’d moved the both of them to a venue I’d been sparring in for months.