Chapter 39: Duel
That night Madara came back into his room with a thoughtful expression as he had learned many things from his talk with Tui and La.
The elephant in the room was obviously his compatibility with Susano'o, he would be lying if he said that he wasn't tempted, who wouldn't be? But the spirits won't just gift him that much spirit water for no reason, and he won't just steal it from them either, it's just not worth it because although the spirits didn't know how Avatar Wan fused with Raava, he did. Worst case scenario he would just use the portals.
Talking about portals, he was very pissed. His plan was to stop Unalaq from ever trying to team up with Vaatu, and prevent the whole season 2 of Avatar Korra from becoming a thing… the issue here is… Harmonic Convergence would happen with or without Unalaq, trying to stop it would be trying to stop nature from following its course… Impossible.
'I need to prepare for that… the opening of the portals is the source of seasons 3 and 4 of Korra... If I manage to stop it from happening a lot of headaches could be avoided… But at the same time… Can I really stop it? What can I gain from letting those portals open?'
After he reached home, he took his shower, using his firebending to heat up the water because this is the fucking North Pole, and went to sleep.
The next day was a cloudy day with a few snowflakes falling from the sky.
A big crowd was situated on the waterbending training grounds, the exact place where Katara and Pakku fought in the series, in the middle of the grounds two people faced one another, Pakku and Kaliya.
Pakku assumed his stance, an example of a flawless waterbending combat stance, that prioritized the flow of movement, Kaliya on the other hand… Made a stance that shocked everyone, even Madara and Lei.
"Hey, isn't that…" Madara said.
Lei nodded "It seems she learned more than just regular waterbending… What a creative woman…" he chuckled.
((The music I was listening to while writing this was Strong and Strike – Naruto OST, so that will be my soundtrack recommendation))
Kaliya stood with a horse stance, prioritizing stability, her stance prioritized a strong foundation and not flexibility like a waterbender.
She smirked "Come, old man, I will show ye how wrong and outdated ye mindset is."
She took one step further and stomped the ground with strength, moving her arms and preparing for the fight. When she did that everyone noticed right away what movements those were.
'EARTHBENDING STANCE?!'
Pakku was shocked, but he couldn't help but grin 'This girl…'
Waving his hands, he instantly sent two water whips towards Kaliya who just smirked and stomped the ground with her back foot, raising two ice pillars and blocking the whips.
Shifting her feet, she started sliding around Pakku, sending sharp icicles that formed on her fingertips towards him relentlessly.
Madara was shocked 'She is imitating my shuriken throwing technique!'
The old man was forced onto the defensive, he pulled water from the fountain and created a ring of water around himself and used it to redirect the icicles to protect himself.
"That's all ye have after a decade, old man?" Kaliya shouted while creating a ramp of ice and jumping to evade a low water whip that came from Pakku, then she moved her hands and detached the ramp from the ground and sent it flying towards her uncle.
Pakku wanted to take advantage of Kaliya being in the air, but he was forced to block the massive ice ramp that came flying towards him like a boulder 'This girl is not lowering her guard…' his eyes were narrowed and he calculated where she would land, and thinking she would continue to circle around him on ice, he prepared a trap a few feet ahead of the place where she would land.
Kaliya saw her uncle's frown and grinned, she did a spin in the air and came crashing down on the ice floor like a meteor, but what caused Pakku to be gobsmacked was that she didn't continue to slide, she just fell on the ice and was swallowed by it.
Whistle "Damn she really is fighting like an earthbender," said Lei.
Madara smirked "Waterbending Masters preach about flexibility, but all of them follow the same stance… Kaliya took the term 'flexibility' to a new level, managing to incorporate other bending styles and stances into her waterbending… What a genius."
Pakku kept looking around trying to find her then suddenly felt his ankles being grabbed, before he could react, he was pulled down and trapped into the ice, with only his head left out.
Madara's sharingan instantly activated 'Is that… Double Suicide Decapitation?!' his eyes narrowed towards Kaliya who emerged in front of Pakku's exposed head.
Before she could take a step forward, Pakku rotated and turned the ice around him into water, emerging from the hole surrounded by a cloak of water and tentacles he engaged her again.
The battle kept going, Pakku was trying his best to keep up with Kaliya who switched between waterbending and earthbending stances freely, displaying creativity and talent above her peers.
For ten minutes they kept fighting with Kaliya only being hit twice while Pakku was already breathing heavily, not only was he already old but he was also forced to keep a constant output of chi to block and counter Kaliya's unorthodox bending.
It didn't matter how Pakku tried to strike, she had an answer for it.
Finally, when Pakku lost a bit of his focus due to exhaustion, Kaliya closed her left fist forming an ice gauntlet around her arm, shifting her feet she propelled herself towards her uncle at extreme speed with the help of her bending.
Pakku tried to step backward but Kaliya instantly closed her other fist, which froze one of his feet, making him lose his balance and fall to the ground, when he opened his eyes, he saw Kaliya inches from him with a bloodthirsty smile and a stretched arm covered in ice.
"This is the end!" She shouted and punched with all her might, Pakku couldn't even raise a defense at this point.
BOOOOOOOOM
Pakku sweat dropped when he saw Kaliya's toned arm right beside his head, an inch away, her fist was swallowed by the floor and many sharp ice blades formed all around the battlefield, he could only gulp imagining what would be of him if she really aimed for his head.
The surroundings were silent, even the Chief was speechless, he never imagined that someone would use earthbending combat stances and movements as a waterbender.
Madara and Lei smirked.
Kaliya took a deep breath and removed her fist from the ice and stood up. "I won." She looked at her uncle with a victorious grin but didn't help him to get up.
Pakku who was still shocked came back to reality and nodded with a proud smile. "Yes.. and you did it wonderfully." The other masters came down and used their bending to get rid of the spikes, returning the training ground to a flat sleek surface while one of them helped Pakku back up.
Kaliya planned to fight like this since she was on the airship, she wanted her actions to display her ideals, and how outdated and limited the current Northern Water Tribe was, their own bending style preached freedom, creativity, and flexibility, but all of them used the same stances like any other bending, she wanted to display how much they were limiting themselves due to their current mindset.
Pakku who got up couldn't help but stretch his back. "To think that you merged earthbending movements with waterbending to be able to fight like that… I never heard of anyone doing it before…"
Kaliya snorted "Of course not old man, I created it myself! Water can change shape and form, so why should I be limited?" she grinned.
Pakku's and every other waterbending Master's eyes went wide after hearing that question, they never really considered that!
Even the Chief stopped in his tracks when he heard it. 'Water can change shapes and forms… ' it may sound very obvious but for people who got trapped following the same mindset for hundreds of years, it was very hard to think outside of the box.
Kaliya turned away from them and walked toward Madara and Lei.
"Boss, I'm done with this place… Let's go back home."
Madara could only shake his head with a smile.
The trio turned around and started leaving the area, they already achieved everything they wanted here anyway, staying one more night under surveillance was annoying for all of them. They left the crowd behind without a shred of courtesy, they didn't care anymore.
As they walked Madara turned to Kaliya.
"Those movements…"
She shrugged "What? We live in the Earth Kingdom, obviously, there's plenty of earthbenders around to give me some pointers."
He sighed exasperatedly.
"I'm talking about your throwing movements..."
"Oh, that? I've been watching ye training for a while… I tried to do it with some ice darts but it's hard to achieve that amount without a proper environment… Thankfully it was snowing today as well…. Otherwise, it would've been a very close fight." she grinned and looked up.
This revelation shocked Lei, and his reaction didn't escape Kaliya's eye.
"What's up, Jackie? I know that the way I fought isn't suitable for anywhere else but here… The environment here is perfect to fight like an earthbender… That was one of the Boss' first lessons remember? Everything can be used as a weapon… Even the environment and the weather!"
Lei could only gulp and accept defeat, in terms of creativity he was leagues below Kaliya. 'If we fight here… with unlimited ice and water at her disposal… I won't be able to touch her' he stared at her.
Suddenly he felt a strong slap on his back, he even stumbled forward and almost fell to the floor, looking back with resentment in his eyes he spotted Madara's snarky grin.
"Don't be depressed Jackie, every single bender has places which give them advantages and disadvantages."
Lei nodded but got curious. "What about you Mr. Uchiha? Which place gives you a disadvantage?"
This question made Kaliya curious as well.
Madara touched his chin and adopted a thoughtful expression thinking hard on that question.
"Hmm… I think … The spirit world"
This raised Lei and Kaliya's eyebrows.
""Why?""
Madara just shrugged "Because I learned that people can't bend while in there"
Kaliya and Lei instantly stopped in their tracks.
Madara kept walking for a few feet until he noticed something and turned around, just to see both Kaliya and Lei adopting his favorite deadpan Saitama face. 'Oh… I'm so proud…!' he grinned at them.
Lei's eyebrow twitched at that grin. 'Are you telling me that the only way for you to have a disadvantage is to remove your ability to bend?!'
Kaliya on the other hand raised her eyebrow as she saw Madara's sarcastic grin '..He looks good when he grins like that..'
They resumed their walk until they reached their airship, but they were welcomed by a palace maid that walked toward Madara.
"I'm here under the Princess' orders to deliver this to you." She took a fist-sized vial with some glowing liquid inside and handed it to Madara, who smiled politely and accepted.
"Tell Princess Yue that we will meet again if fate allows us."
The Maid nodded and walked away.
"Hooo… Did ye and the Princess have an interesting encounter?" teased Kaliya, with Lei listening to it while pretending to not care.
Madara just chuckled. "Yes, you can say that… Why, are you jealous?"
Kaliya snorted "As if! Doesn't matter which girl ye settle for, I will always be ye second in command."
Lei choked. 'This damn barbarian always likes to rub her position in my face…' He eyed her with resentment.
Madara laughed loudly "Aye Aye, no one can replace you Kaliya."
She just smirked "Aye… Good luck finding a girl that will accept that Boss"
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
KojiSan
KojiSan Hello there! i guess i'm a bit late today but hey... >_> i was having fun playing some MMOs and stuff... XD i regret nothing!
I'm here to deliver this chapter and also add some details that might've triggered some questions on yall, first is Kaliya's combat stuff, well... i know the North Pole is not a huge block of ice lol but the Training/Arena where they dueled was built with ice just like the rest of the city, this part in specific because it just makes sense, they can clean and reconstruct the arena easily with bending if its fully made of ice.
Second is how abrupt they left the Northern Watertribe, Kaliya didn't like staying here, neither did Madara.... Madara hated being watched like he was a criminal, and Kaliya didn't want to stay a single minute after concluding her business, there was no other reason to come here other than facing the ghosts of her past and she did it, so they left... they were never welcomed there in the first place.
There's also another reason for that but next chapter will explain.
BTW one of the reasons of my delay other than me enjoying my day XD was that i actually had to research quite a bit about waterbending >_> idk why but it was tough, there's not many waterbending combat when compared to the other 3 bendings, i mean they fight but usually is just the basics (water whip and such) so to have a "Master Level" of fight it took me a while to research stuff.
For now, i hope yall enjoyed my chapter... i'm not that sorry for the delay XD i was having fun! D: so... stay awesome you beautiful sausages, and see you in the comment section :D
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