Chapter 20: Chapter 20: Thrill of the Fight
Xisheng did not sleep particularly well the night before the fateful duel between himself and Azula. That was mostly because he did not know when exactly she was going to initiate the fight. Were they going to fight after getting stopping for the evening? Or was the fight supposed to take place before they left for the day? Needless to say Xisheng's uncertainty and anxiety on the matter made it difficult for him to rest that night. Never mind the fact that it was kind of chilly that night and he slept outside with a sleeping bag.
Even so, he did manage to get some rest that night, and as always, he woke up at the crack of dawn, which was the usual routine. He didn't know if Azula wanted to fight him before driving for the day, but in case she didn't, he knew it would just irritate her further to have their trip delayed. After all, their destination was still a few days away, and time was wasting.
As Xisheng stepped into the driver's cabin of the Overlord, he took stock of his current state. The intense training he had put himself through over the past week had guaranteed that his muscles were sore. The chi-blocking he had enacted on himself had actually done some good in relieving muscle tension, but it didn't make up for a week's worth of intense training. Or maybe he just didn't have the knowledge to take care of all that fatigue.
Xisheng also had many painful bruises on his arms and legs, a result of the nature of his training. He had already theorized a few ways to counter that drawback, but he hadn't had time to try any of those theories out. Too busy ensuring he could use it to properly attack at all. And of course, he hadn't slept particularly well. This all totaled up to him being a bit worse for wear, but he had fought truly grueling battles with far less rest during his tenure on the Line.
He was banking on Azula being unprepared for his new techniques. He already knew he couldn't take her in a head-on fight with no underhanded tactics on his part. The element of surprise was his greatest chance at landing a blow on Azula's impervious guard. Granted, he had surprised her before and failed to land a blow, but that had been with traditional firebending. If he managed to surprise her with something completely new that she couldn't possibly predict, he had a chance.
That said, if it somehow fell flat, Xisheng would go for plan B: push beyond all pain to accomplish what he wanted. Even if he had to plow right through an inferno to make it happen, he'd find some way to land the blow he needed. He had never truly fought to his limit with Azula before: she always ended the sparring session before he truly reached his limit. Xisheng knew how it felt to be at the limit of physical ability: he had reached a point before where his body simply had no more to give, where it was impossible to even raise a finger, never mind fight. But that instance had been on the field of battle. Azula had never pushed him that far. If it came down to it today, she'd be surprised at how much he had to give.
But hopefully it wouldn't come down to that. If all went well a battle of attrition wouldn't be necessary.
"Er, Gohan…"
Broken out of his thoughts by the voice of Ty Lee, Xisheng glanced over his shoulder, shovel of coal halfway to the Overlord's engine. The anxious look on the acrobat's face made it clear why she was here: Xisheng was just glad that he hadn't wasted any of the coal after all.
Returning the fuel from which it came and laying down the shovel, Xisheng stepped out of the Overlord, swiftly laying eyes on both Azula and Mai. Xisheng imagined the presence of Ty Lee and Mai was due less to the fact that Azula had invited them to watch and more to the fact that Xisheng had warned them that this was happening today. He wasn't surprised that they wanted to witness the outcome of this fight.
As for Azula, she stood with arms crossed, an expression on her face that could have easily been displeasure. And yet, Xisheng felt that it was more consternation than anything else. The furrow of her brow was more akin to the face she made when contemplating a problem, rather than being angry or displeased.
He had no way of knowing that Azula was in the midst of regretting this entire scenario. She was still trying to find a way to undo all of this without actually invalidating her own words or ultimatum. A troubling conflict of personal pride and desire, to be certain. Of course, she was not going to admit any of this to anyone other than herself. For now, appearances had to be kept.
"Lieutenant: I trust you're ready?"
Perhaps she could find a way to make his inevitable defeat seem valiant enough to rescind her punishment? Or maybe she could pretend it had been a test this whole time, and she had never intended to get rid of him, lie though it may be. Or perhaps it was just a matter of coming off as a gracious and forgiving leader...
"Princess, I will win."
Startled out of her musings by Xisheng's determined tone and unflinching gaze into her own eyes, Azula could only admit that she had not expected such an answer. Suffice to say that Xisheng had proven relatively mild-mannered in her experience with him, though he often revealed his harder edges. Something about this wasn't the same though.
Prior to now, Xisheng was... reverent. His mannerisms, speech and gaze were always submissive towards Azula, giving way to her whenever the need arose. She was someone he didn't challenge or disrespect. But his gaze now looked on her with a certain steel: as of right now, she was nothing more than an obstacle. A hurdle to be overcome in order to achieve his own desires and ambition. Contrary to what one might think, Azula actually found the notion admirable. It reminded her of one of the things that had stood out to her when Xisheng asked to be her pupil: his fighting spirit was unflappable when the things he valued were on the line. A normal soldier wouldn't dare to even dream of laying a hand on the Crown Princess, even if she ordered it of them. Xisheng on the other hand looked very determined to knock her clean on her ass.
It was kind of attractive, honestly. Azula hadn't really given those dual colored eyes of his enough credit before: they were truly striking when he mustered such a determined and stern expression. Then again, he'd never leveled such an expression at her.
Suddenly, Azula didn't care that much about solving the mess she had created. That could come later. Now she truly wanted to fight.
"Is that so? Let's hope your skill has somehow increased dramatically enough to match your bravado."
Instead of giving a response, Xisheng took up a fighting stance, prompting Azula to do the same. Knowing the inherent risks of standing too close to a duel between Firebenders, Mai and Ty Lee made sure to put a considerable berth between themselves and the combatants. If she were actually paying attention, Azula would have noted that this was the most anxious expression she'd seen Mai muster in a long time. Maybe even since the whole 'Zuko getting banished' incident.
Instead, she took note of Xisheng's stance. It was exactly the same as it always was, making use of a wide stance for stability and arms positioned in the perfect places to react to both high and low attacks. It was a useful stance to be sure, but he'd already found it useless against Azula many times. She certainly hoped he had more to bring to the table than a slightly touched up version of his old skills.
Unfortunately, his initial attack didn't inspire confidence. A straightforward gout of flame came her way, blinding the Princess for the brief moment it took to take control of the attack and dispel it. By the time she did that, a wave of fire at ground level was at her toes, forcing her to jump backwards. Two fireballs came from the left and the right, perhaps hoping to take advantage of her lack of mobility while airborne. Unfortunately for Xisheng, she didn't need to move out of the way, as her arms were more than capable of intercepting those attacks as well.
By the time she landed on the ground again, Azula was already feeling a bit dismayed by it all. Did Xisheng really think he could win with this?
But looking at his expression, the soldier didn't seem worried by the futility of his attacks thus far. If anything, it seemed like he had expected it. Even so, his next few attacks were just as obvious and straightforward, with two wheels of flame brought forth by kicks and a third fireball behind them. The first two attacks were caught and dispelled with ease. As for the fireball, Azula was so irritated with Xisheng's approach that she simply sidestepped it. Had he really gotten her hopes up for this?
"Lieutenant, for such a bold statement, this is truly pathetic. You're going to win? With this?"
If her barbs had any effect, it didn't show on Xisheng's face as he ducked low, sweeping another curtain of fire at Azula's feet even as he threw an uppercut for a vertical slice of flame. But that wasn't all he did. The soldier pulled his other fist back, a motion similar to the one made when charging another attack. But something about the motion was different, and Azula was certain she had seen it before...
In a moment of realization, the Crown Princess snapped her gaze behind her, noticing the fireball she had sidestepped earlier returning from whence it came. He was recalling the missed attack for a pincer strike. Apparently he wasn't above utilizing the techniques of Earthbenders. The real question was whether or not he had planned this out, or had simply taken advantage of an opportunity that Azula had unwittingly created.
Even so, it was ultimately just an attack from two directions, and Azula was more than capable of dealing with that. Anything short of a four-way strike was useless against her, as two arms and a leg could take care of anything less: at least if the strength of those attacks was at Xisheng's level.
Two walls of blue flame erupted from her hands to block their orange counterparts, and knowing how much Xisheng loved to close the distance during these moments of obstructed vision, Azula launched the one facing him in his direction. She had little doubt he was in the process of rushing her, so this would cut his plans short.
Such was the plan, anyway. Azula quickly shifted her expectations as Xisheng's body emerged from the azure inferno, unperturbed in its lunge towards her. His forearm, coated in orange flame, covered his face as best it could, aiming to counteract her own. While he had no hope of overpowering her whole attack, if he focused his power in one spot he could at least overcome her strength in that precise location. Clever.
More clever still was this reckless strategy. Azula knew that Xisheng loved to dodge. It was the best way to stay unharmed, after all. She hadn't expected him to simply force his way through an attack at the cost of his own health, as she was sure he'd suffered a few burns under his armor: it was made to withstand much weaker flames than her own.
Point being, Azula wasn't ready to react. By the time she was raising an arm to defend herself, Xisheng's own fist was past her elbow. With his weight and momentum, she had no chance of stopping him.
And yet, he didn't hit her. Instead, he latched onto her shoulder, thumb driving painfully deep into her flesh. What he aimed to achieve with this, Azula had no idea. By the shocked expression on Xisheng's face when she grabbed his forearm with the arm he had targeted, it clearly hadn't worked as intended. That being the case, this didn't really count as a 'blow.' He'd just grabbed her.
Apparently he had reached the same conclusion, as Xisheng swiftly cocked his free arm back to throw a punch, grit teeth and steady glare an indicator that he intended to release it with full force. Unfortunately for him, Azula had recovered her balance by now and had already been halfway to unleashing a bending strike, and she was particularly miffed that, had he just thrown a punch instead of whatever he had been attempting, Xisheng would have gotten the better of her.
Before he could attack again, Xisheng felt the explosive force of a powerful firebending blast in his diaphragm, his vision obscured by a glorious blue for a brief moment. That moment ended as he was sent hurtling backwards, smoke pouring from his charred and cracked armor. Flying through the air, Xisheng struggled for air as his abdomen constricted from the pain of the impact. There was an agonizing heat spreading throughout his torso. He thought he might have heard Ty Lee call his name in worry, and maybe a gasp from Mai. Couldn't be sure with the way his ears were ringing.
Even wounded as he was, Xisheng pushed through the pain enough to make an aerial recovery, flipping around to at least crash into the ground with his feet instead of his back. Not that it mattered anyway, seeing as how Azula wasn't pushing her advantage. She was glaring at him from afar. He got the feeling she wasn't angry at him so much as she was at herself for slipping up.
Xisheng was likewise angry at himself: he had totally failed to consider something important in regards to chi-blocking: Azula was a lot smaller than him. Every human being may have had pressure points and chi paths in identical places, but the exact position of those places would change slightly based on the person's body type. Xisheng had only practiced chi-blocking on himself thus far, and his narrow field of experience showed in the fact that he had failed to paralyze Azula as intended. Hitting a pressure point was exact: being even slightly off the mark rendered the attack pointless.
Distraught as he was, Xisheng now appreciated Ty Lee's martial skill even more.
It wasn't lost on him that he could have won already if he had just punched Azula, but Xisheng figured he still had a chance to do that. Chi-blocking may have gone out the window, but he still had his real trump card. He could catch Azula off guard again. Would probably hurt though.
Fueled by the adrenaline of battle and an unfaltering desire to win, Xisheng charged forward, aiming to close the distance for melee. He always did that when he was going all in while fighting Azula. She knew that melee was his last ditch attempt to beat her. Xisheng knew Azula viewed it as an act of desperation, and that was what he was banking on.
From the sidelines, the audience of two had very different expressions. Ty Lee had tears streaming down her face. She hated seeing her friends get hurt and she had seen the look of immense pain on Xisheng's face as he had gotten blasted by Azula's last attack. Moreover, she knew Xisheng was making another attempt, and he would probably get hurt again. Was this really the result of her just wanting to advance her relationship with a guy she liked?
As for Mai, she was scowling, and far more prominently than she had at any point since Omashu. Practically speaking, the outcome of this match was looking more and more bleak. Gohan had squandered his one chance at winning, and it was unlikely that he would get a second shot as golden as that one, because Azula would be on her guard now. She had no desire to see another person she actually liked forcibly evicted from her life, so being unhappy was a given. And on that note, she wasn't particularly pleased with the injury Azula had inflicted on her opponent.
And yet, Gohan's expression as he closed the distance to Azula wasn't one of fear or trepidation, or even pain. He had that determined gaze of course, but the most noticeable thing was the set of his mouth: a smirk of all things, or maybe a half crazed smile. In immense pain and looking at a bleak immediate future, that lunatic almost looked excited by the battle.
Maybe it was a sensation only a true warrior could really grasp.
Now mere feet away from his target, Xisheng realized that he really was excited. Even with his current state, he was confident that he could best Azula. And the idea of defeating a warrior as prodigious as her was exhilarating. He wanted to win for a great many reasons: but right this moment, he wanted to win to prove just how 'middling' his abilities really were.
Before now, he'd never considered the actual possibility of beating Azula, even in something as simple as landing a single strike on her. But the fact that she had been at his mercy, even if he hadn't made the most of it, revealed new possibilities. She wasn't an impossible challenge. She wasn't an insurmountable wall. For the first time in a long time, Xisheng felt the drive to improve not because it would further his duties or his cause, but simply to prove his might.
Azula could have just blasted him with huge infernos of flame, but she didn't. It was the same as with all their sparring matches: she liked to prove her dominance over him even in something he should have had a huge advantage in, being a much physically stronger, heavier and taller individual.
So he closed in, and threw his first punch. Azula dodged it, as expected, and returned the favor with a kick to the back of his knee. That put him on the ground, but hardly slowed his momentum, as the soldier used his new position to swing the back of his fist at Azula's midsection.
This attack was caught in her own arm, with the other swiftly pressing down on his shoulder blade, forcing Xisheng's face into the dirt. A disgrace to most, but an opportunity for this soldier. He reached his free arm around over his own shoulder, grabbed Azula by one of her pauldrons, and yanked her over his head while simultaneously rising from the ground. He was bigger and heavier than her, so she had no chance of resisting.
Even so, the young girl displayed just how truly ridiculous a foe she was, as she used her own legs to brace her landing. With feet firmly planted and a grip still on Xisheng's body, she had prevented herself from being slammed into the ground, and thus was not hit. The sort of bridge-like pose looked extremely uncomfortable though.
Even though she had held onto his body, Azula hadn't managed to keep her grip on his shoulder, so with that arm free Xisheng grabbed her by the belt and flung the much smaller girl away from him. It was an action he would have never dared considered in any situation prior to now, but now he didn't care. He was going to win. The end was in sight.
With her much lighter weight, Azula flew pretty far, but she nevertheless managed to land on her feet. But even with such a great recovery, she wasn't prepared for Xisheng to be in her face again the moment she looked back in his general direction. He had gone from slow and methodical to relentless. Even Azula found herself struggling to do much more than react. Thinking of a strategy several steps ahead was out of the cards until she could breathe for half a second. She was kind of regretting letting him get this close when keeping him at bay indefinitely would have been plausible, but it was too late to rescind her hubris now.
In fact, she barely had time to do anything other than block as Xisheng unleashed a flurry of punches on her. In mere seconds her forearms had absorbed ten strikes, and they were awfully powerful strikes at that. She could feel the numbness in her arms already. But even so, Azula wasn't worried. These punches were strong and she was on her back leg, but she was fast enough to intercept them without trouble. She just needed a moment to regain her balance...
Her arms were moving into position for the strike she knew was coming next on reflex. Xisheng had clearly lost all sense of strategy and was just attacking relentlessly in the hopes of getting lucky. Her quick reaction time was more than enough. And yet, she noticed something wrong with the next incoming strike.
It wasn't that it was an unexpected one. In fact, it was the exact punch she had predicted to be next, coming from the exact angle she had expected. But it was moving faster than any of the punches before it. Much faster. Xisheng's fist was past both of her forearms by the time Azula realized something was wrong, and by the time she noticed the surge of flame seemingly erupting from Xisheng's elbow of all places.
What she thought after that was a mystery. What Mai and Ty Lee thought probably included a great deal of expletives as they watched the Crown Princess of the Fire Nation spiral through the air, launched two dozen feet by a bending powered fist to her regal face.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Shadow0Fire
Shadow0Fire Hey everyone, really sorry about the long delay in an update! Unfortunately, Hurricane Helene kind of slapped my area to hell, and I was without power or internet for like, ten days. Things have mostly calmed down now, so we should get back to more regular updates with little trouble!
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