Avatar The Last Airbender Fan Fiction ❯ Doppelganger ❯ The Blind Bandit ( Chapter 19 )

Suki, taken from the Japanese character `tsuki' means `moon'. That fact makes me laugh about the whole sokka, suki, yue thing.

 

“The Drill” was an awesome episode. The duel between Aang and Azula was hard-core. Easily one of the coolest fight scenes yet (besides Toph bitch-slapping all those earthbenders in “the blind bandit”). And the animation for the tunnel-boring machine was spectacular. I was in awe of the sheer mechanical animation for the whole thing. Truly, an awesome episode.

 

Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender, nor do I make money from this fic.

 

Doppelganger

 

Chapter Nineteen

 

. . .

 

I carved sharp letters into the stone plate that Ellen gave me to practice my acute earthbending on. She said my letters were getting better but… I don't know… my fours looked like nines.

 

I chuckled at my observation and looked up as Ellen entered the room. She was drying her hair with a towel and sat down across from me, crossing her legs. “You alright?”

 

She stopped drying her hair and covered lay the towel across her lap. “Of course. Why do you ask?”

 

I shrugged. “Just curious. You look kinda…” I gesture with my hand. “Off these days.”

 

Ellen giggled brightly. “I perrrfect!” She rolled her tongue playfully. Getting up with a bounce, the earthbender turned to leave. Just before she left the room, she held up a hand, as if remembering something. “Ah, before I forget.”

I look back to her. “Yea?”

 

“I'm gonna be leaving Ba Sing Se for a while. For about… a year or so.” I dropped the slab of stone I held with a thud.

 

“W-what?”

 

Ellen held her hands out in front of her in a pleading gesture. “Sorry. But I have some family business to take care of for a while. So I'll leave you here to train yourself until I get back.”

 

I blinked several times. “I… can't come with you?” Ellen arched her eyebrow.

 

“What, you want to meet my family?” She lowered her voice, imitating me. “Hi, I'm your daughter's vampiric lover. I am proud to meet the parents of the girl I'm am currently sleeping with.” She crossed her arms over her chest, laughing lightly. “Can you imagine that?” I scratched my neck embarrassingly.

 

“Point taken.” I started to laugh, and then stopped, having noticed something. There was a difference in her attitude… her presence. I almost didn't notice it. The feeling was hard to pinpoint; it was almost like it was a whole different personality.

 

Or a whole different life.

 

“Well, I'm gonna go to bed…” Ellen slipped the towel she wore off her shoulders, letting it fall to the floor. “Come in soon, I can only stay awake for so long.”

 

After she disappeared, I stared blankly at the stone slab on the floor. Two lives? There are two lives inside her? I blinked slowly.

 

What does that mean?

 

. . .

 

“Room seven, sir.” The innkeeper answered. Kyle held up a hand.

 

“Thank you.” With that, he gestured for Katara to go ahead of him to the room. “After you.” Katara smiled lightly and quickly found room seven at the end of the hall. Putting her hand on the door latch, the waterbender turned to Kyle and took a slow breath.

 

“Do I look ok?”

“Ok?” Kyle asked.

 

“Yea… no blood or anything? I don't want to scare anybody.” Kyle looked over the girl's face and gave her a small thumbs-up.

 

“No worries.” Katara smiled and gripped the door. Before opening it, she stared at the wood grain and swallowed.

 

“I have one request, though.” Kyle crossed his arms over his chest, listening. “Don't tell them… how I acted tonight.” She lowered her gaze to the floor. “I… I'm kind of embarrassed.” Kyle smiled, chuckling.

 

“Hey, don't worry about it. It happens to everyone the first time.” Katara blinked and looked up.

 

“Everyone? Even you?” Kyle's face tightened and he looked past Katara, towards the door.

 

“Even me.”

 

“But… you killed everyone when you first fed… didn't you?”

 

Kyle sucked his tooth and cracked his neck. “Exactly.” Seeing Katara's horrified face, he pushed past her and placed his hand on the door latch. “I expect you to never mention that again.” He muttered, opening the door with a loud squeak. Inside the room sat Sokka, Aang, and Zuko. Aang sat cross-legged on a bed, hovering a feather in the air with periodic tufts of air. Sokka twirled the blade that Kyle gave him around in small circles. And Zuko sat on the ground, his eyes closed, beside the fireplace.

 

When Kyle and Katara entered the room, random activities ceased and attention was turned to them. Sokka placed his blade on the table and waved minutely. Aang snatched the feather out of the air and jumped to his feat. Zuko opened one eye and nodded curtly.

 

“Hey guys, you have fun?” Aang queried. Sokka looked like he wanted to bludgeon Aang upside the head, but restrained himself.

 

Kyle laughed and kneeled down to Aang's height. “Oh yes, loads! She and I razed the town of all young virgins and small woodland creatures!” Silence settled in the room for half a minute. Kyle sighed and hung his head. “And again… my humor has been stampeded. Never mind.” Sitting down, Kyle exhaled deeply.

 

“So…” Sokka smiled and crossed his arms. “Is the Phoenix gonna make a comeback at the tournament… ya'know… get your title back?” Kyle arched an eyebrow at the boy and Katara sat down on the edge of a bed.

 

“Do you mean the military or the fighting circuit?” Kyle asked blankly. Zuko opened his eye, now listening.

 

“Aren't they the same?”

 

“Technically… I suppose. This isn't Ba Sing Se, but there might still be somebody here that might know about me.” Zuko blinked and turned his head towards the group.

 

“What are you people talking about?” Kyle received nervous stares, but he waved the question off.

 

“I was an officer at Ba Sing Se when the fire nation had it under siege.” Zuko's expression was as close to shock as anything else. “Yea… well, I ended up… disobeying my orders and am labeled as a war criminal in the earth kingdom military.” The firebender stared at Kyle for a time, then looked away and shut his eyes. Kyle scratched his neck and sighed. “As I was saying, technically, it is the same, but…” A smile crept up on his face. “It… might be fun to make an appearance… If any historians are in the crowd they would get a treat.” He clapped his hands together. “Alright. Fuck the earth kingdom and their war crimes!”

 

Sokka pumped his fist into the air. “Hear, hear!” Everybody else ignored his choice of language and nodded, smiling. “Tomorrow's gonna be a good day.”

 

. . .

 

Kyle stood in front of the entry desk, answering questions that the woman behind the stone slab was asking. “Very well, please fill out this information; can you earthbend?” Kyle nodded and was handed a slab of stone with letters carved into it. The vampire took the rock back to the group and sat down.

 

“Well let's see here.” He traced the words with his finger. “Name… age…” He chuckled. “Might have to lie… uh… weight… height… experience… blah blah blah.” He filled out the necessary information with acute taps in the rock and handed it back to the desk. Returning to the group, he sighed and cracked his neck.

 

“Well, I guess we have to go get seats.” Katara announced. Aang nodded and shifted the hat on his head, hiding his tattoo.

 

Kyle tapped the hilt of his sword. “Alright; I can't use weapons in the tournament this time around, so take care of them, will you?” Sokka and Katara nodded and Kyle handed his sword and knife belt to them. Turning to Aang, Kyle placed a hand on his shoulder. “Take notes.” He said with a smile.

”Yes, sir!” Piped Aang, snapping off a salute.

 

Kyle turned to Zuko and twisted his face into a thoughtful look. “And you… don't burn anything.” Ignoring the firebender's glare, Kyle whirled around and disappeared down the corridor to the competitor's area.

 

“Well!” Sokka clapped his hands together. “Lets get our seats!”

 

. . .

 

“Welcome one and all… to ROCK-SOLID BRAWL!!!” The announcer yelled at the top of his lungs to the cheering audience. “Yes, it's been over one hundred and fifty years since being discontinued, but low and behold, it's back and better than ever!” A loud roar erupted from the stands. “We have a dozen powerful fighters for you today, and some surprises!” The announcer held up two fingers for all to see. “First; the winner of the tournament not only wins the sizable prize of five thousand gold pieces and the title of Rock-Solid… but the champion of the widely-known Earth Rumble games is present to challenge the winner!” The whispers from the crowd grew to a roar of excitement. Apparently, this champion was a popular fighter.

 

“And next is an extra-special treat for you loyal fight-watchers.” The audience died down and the announcer lowered his voice for dramatic effect. “Some of you may have read about the tournament before it was shut down, and for those of you who study, prepare to wet yourselves. In the twenty-third Rock-Solid Brawl championship, there was a close final match between the ring champ, and a newcomer…” Whispers started to pick up again. “Yes, the legendary fight was between the beautiful and deadly Ein, and the Phoenix!” The whispered grew to full voices. “And determined to hold the title of rock-solid, is the Phoenix's namesake, his own great-grandson!” A thunderous applause and cheers followed his announcement.

 

In the stands, Katara leaned over to her brother. “Uh… do you think that he wanted to let people know stuff like that?” Sokka clapped and hollered; then sat down, shrugging.

 

“I dunno… but it kinda does seem like him, doesn't it?” Aang laughed and agreed.

 

“Yea. No kidding.”

 

Katara sighed and itched above her lip. “Ow…” As soon as she scratched, her mouth started to throb.

 

Sokka heard her moan and looked over. “You alright?”

 

“Yea…” Katara mumbled, gently poking her mouth.

 

“And that's it for pre-fight information… onto the matches!” The announcer yelled, waving behind him. A stone slab rose from the ground, showing a number of names and lines connecting them. “Oh!” The announcer waved an arm towards the slab. “And for our first match, we have the Phoenix versus Sandstone! Quite a start to quite a tourney! Let's have our first two fighters out onto the ring!”

 

Aang shot to his feet and jumped up and down. “All right! He's up first!” Katara pulled Aang back down to his seat.

”Aang! We are trying to avoid catching attention! Sit down!” Aang calmed himself and sat down, watching the two figures enter the arena at a walk. Sure enough, one of the competitors was Kyle, waving to the audience with a wide smile. “Yea, he's lovin' it.” Katara sighed and held her hands under her chin, happy that the throb in her mouth had receded.

 

When the two competators entered the ring, the announcer grabbed the spotlight again. “And now for last-minute rules.” He waved the fighters closer. “Rule one: no killing; under any circumstances. Rule two: no weapons. Rule three: earthbending only. If you can waterbend or firebend, then this isn't for you. Is that clear?” Nodding, the fighters sized each other up. The Phoenix looked calm and collected, while the thin Sandstone had a nervous look about him. After all, the title of `Phoenix' was legendary in the fighting circuit, even though he only fought once publicly. If he lived up to his predecessor, then this would be a difficult fight.

 

“If the rules are clear, then fighters: take your places.” The Phoenix and Sandstone took opposite sides of the ring and faced each other. “And… begin!”

 

Sandstone took a flashy earthbending stance and edged towards Phoenix; who just widened his feet spacing and stood, relaxed.

 

“Sandstone has begun to advance on Phoenix… daring!” The announcer narrated the fight. “Phoenix on the other hand has done nothing; he is wide open for an attack! Is that on purpose? Does he have a plan? Oh! Sandstone attacks!” As the narration continued, Sandstone slammed his foot on the rocky floor, causing a stone to rise from the ground. When the stone reached his eye-level, Sandstone thrust out with his arm and hit the rock away from him, towards the Phoenix. The stone rocketed at him and, in the blink of an eye, collided with the young man; knocking him head-over heals on the floor. When his body hit the floor, the Phoenix sunk into the rock and disappeared.

 

The audience hushed in anticipation. “And disappearing into the ring, the Phoenix can have a pre-emptive attack on Sandstone. Truly, a skilled fighter.” Sandstone looked around wildly, searching for any change in the ring. Suddenly, he lurched and fell forward. A pair of arms exploded from the ground and grabbed Sandstone's ankles. In a plume of dust and dirt chucks, Sandstone was pulled under the ground up to his neck. The Phoenix crawled out from the rock behind Sandstone and dusted himself off nonchalantly.

 

“And… the winner is Phoenix!” The announcer and dashed to the young man and held up his arm. “Let's here it!” The audience roared with applause. “The Phoenix moves onto the next round! Speaking of the next round, lets have the match ups for the next match!” The young man flicked his wrist, freeing Sandstone, and walked off the ring with a fleeting glance up to the stands.

 

. . .

 

“Wow…” Aang sat back and breathed a long sigh. “That was cool.” Sokka nodded and snapped his fingers.

 

“Yea… didn't King Bumi do that move?” He remembered the event well, as he was scared that the crazy old king would really suffocate them in sugary rock.

 

“Yea…Now that you mention it, he did.” Katara pointed out.

 

“I gotta have him teach me that!” Aang chirped excitedly as the next fight started. It was an uneventful fight between a large man and a woman. The girl was using her smaller size to evade the man's attacks and use quick strikes against him. After a few minutes of trading blows, the woman achieved a close victory. Numerous other fights commenced, all ending in victories for one fighter or another followed that match; then the second round of the tournament started.

 

“The next round is between the Phoenix and Amethyst! Lets here it for our next match!” The audience roared as the two competitors entered the ring. The Phoenix, after his easy win in the previous round, earned a wide reception from the spectators. On the other side, Amethyst, with her win, had the same amount of reputation in the tournament. “Fighters, take your positions.” Phoenix and Amethyst took opposite sides and stood ready, both taking similar stances. “And… begin!”

 

. . .

 

The girl, Amethyst, took the initiative and charged at me. Since we are both relatively the same size, she thinks she can hold her own in melee. I smirked and took a defensive stance. Amethyst reached me and circled on her heel, aiming a backhanded attack at me. I brought my arm up and absorbed the attack. As the strike was blocked, a pillar of rock jutted from the ground at a sharp angle. The spire shot underneath Amethyst's arm and slammed into my side. I grunted in pain and jumped back on my hands, landing softly on my feet a few meters away. Amethyst didn't let up; she kept pressuring me by keeping the offensive. I would have been impressed if I was a bit younger.

 

“Your pretty good, girl.” I spoke up as she kept up the assault. She hesitated for a second, and then twisted around, bringing up a rock spire from the ground and thrusting it towards me. “But not good enough.” I threw my arm out, hitting and dissolving the rock to dust, and turned the would-be offensive around. She lost her footing for a second and I shot my foot out, tripping the girl. She hit the floor with a hard `thud' and, with a flick of the wrist; she was flung in the air by a quick manipulation of the rock. Amethyst flew out of the ring and landed out-of-bounds with a cloud of dust.

 

Another easy win.

 

After entering the waiting room, I examined the match-up board. I had won the two previous fights, so there were two more matches left until I would face the champion.

 

“My next opponent…” I traced my hand along the competitor's names. Is…

 

“Me.”

 

Whirling around, I saw my next opponent. My first impression was- “You're a big one, aren't you?” The man was indeed big; at least three heads taller than me. He wasn't just big, either… he was mean-looking.

 

“Big enough to crush you, small-fry.” He growled menacingly. I smirked and waved my hand between us.

 

“Yea. Well, save it for the match.” As soon as a said it, an official called us. The big man pushed past me, knocking me into a wall, and exited out into the arena. “Jeez… `ya fat fuck, as least be courteous.” I mumbled, brushing myself off and following the rude man out into the ring. Once again the loud screams from the crowd filled the arena as I entered. At least their getting their money's worth. I muse as I faced my opponent.

 

“And now for the third round; we have The Phoenix returning from two impressive wins. He sure is determined to win the title of his ancestors!” I couldn't help but smirk. Yea… ancestors. “But it may not be that easy with his opponent, Ironsides!” My opponent, `Ironsides”, took in the applause with great enthusiasm. “In the previous fights, Ironsides has won his fights by shear power; lets see if the same tactic will work against Phoenix, who has used superior hand-to-hand combat coupled with earthbending to achieve victory.” I scanned the crown as the announcer was speaking. After only a few seconds, I found what I was looking for.

 

Aang, Katara, Sokka, and Zuko were seated in a relatively close section to the ring. Aang looked excited, as usual. Zuko looked bored, but mildly interested. Sokka was apparently enjoying himself immensely, from the way he was cheering. Katara looked tired, and a little irritable, but that was to be expected. It was a lucky break that she wasn't normally bad tempered.

 

“Begin!” I distantly heard close to me. The fight! I was jarred back to my senses as a fist was thrust towards my face. Moving on instincts rather than willpower, I dodged to the side. The attack missed me by a hair and the man's fist crashed into the floor, shattering it. Damn, he is powerful for a human. I spun around and snapped out a light kick. It connected with my opponent's side, and I felt a crack emanate from the point of collision. Backing away, I surveyed how `Ironsides' took the damage. The kick was powerful enough to knock out a normal human, so a hardened fighter would be able to withstand it.

 

Sure enough, `Ironsides' shook of the attack and faced me. “That was it, small-fry? Your gonna have to do better than that if you wanna take me down!” He lifted his large fists in the air, and pulled them back down towards me. I evaded the attack again, this time whirling around, facing his arms as they smashed into the ground. His arms were the most bulky part of his entire body; not saying that any part of him wasn't… but his arms were where the man put most of his time and energy into. His arms are bulky, and heavy. I could use that. I slammed my foot into the ground and kicked up a large boulder towards my opponent. He immediately brought up his large arms and absorbed the impact of the rock, dissolving it into dust. He used his arms for offense and defense. Dodging another attack, I tried the rock attack again.

 

Again Ironsides blocked the attack and countered with a wide swing of one of his arms. I back stepped out of his reach as the attack cleared me, but the man continued the swing; he circled completely around and came for another swing with the same arm. I ducked under the attack as it blew by me. A second attack at twice the force by circular motion; an airbender technique, although I doubt he knows that. The attack continued, gaining more force by every second as ironsides spun around again and again. As every attack passed, I noticed that the angle of his arm grew more lopsided. Of course, I realized. Because of bad footing, he is loosing balance as the attack continues. What he gains in power he looses in control. Stupid idiot.

 

“Can you stand up to this, weakling?” Ironsides yelled as he spun around. I smirked and grabbed onto his arm as it came back my direction.

 

“Can you stand, I wonder?” I retorted as he lost the rest of his footing at the extra weight of me being swung around on his arm. Ironsides tripped over his feet and toppled to the ground in a resounding crash. I released his arm at the last second and rolled away, narrowly escaping being crushed by my opponent's size.

 

Standing up, I swerved a little, ridding myself of the dizziness of being spun around, and distantly heard: “Phoenix wins!”

 

. . .

 

“What was that? He won? Ironsides was just knocked down, though.” Aang wondered. Sokka pointed to the large man's body that was being pulled away.

 

“Yea he was knocked down; but that's not all. Did you see how he was spinning around?”

 

“Yea.”

“Well, he was gaining power for his attack by building up centrifugal force.” Aang slammed a fist into his other hand.

 

“Like airbenders do?” Sokka nodded.

 

“Yea, but he didn't have control for it. Kyle noticed that and jumped onto his arm. With Kyle's weight on ironsides' arm, he was misbalanced and went out of control. When you were learning airbending, did you ever loose balance and become dizzy?” Aang nodded. “Well, there's your answer.”

 

That was the answer indeed; ironsides was so dizzy from spinning around and loosing balance that he wouldn't be getting up for a while.

 

“The next fight is the finals between Kyle and… Quartz. He got a by in the last fight so he is fresh from his second fight.” Katara looked over the program.

 

“Oh yea, Quartz. He's the guy who used mostly earthbending, right?” Sokka asked.

 

“Yea; if Kyle wins the fight, then he wins the tournament and gets to fight the champion as a free fight.”

”Should be a cool fight.” Aang bounced on his feet in excitement.

 

. . .

 

Again I walked onto the ring to face my final opponent in the tournament. `Quartz' was the man's name. We weren't aloud to witness opponent's fights beforehand, so I didn't know how Quartz fought, but it didn't matter. Now facing him, I noticed that he had my build. He didn't rely on brute strength to win the fights like my previous, rude opponent. The stance he chose was usually used to create a mass amount rock used for launching. All right, he throws rocks at his opponent, trying to knock him off balance. Then he delivers the final blow. I chose a stance complementing both firebending and earthbending; not that I would be able to firebend, but it was more maneuverable than most earthbending stances.

 

“And here we are at the final match of the tournament! The Phoenix, fresh from three wins in a row in the red corner; and Quartz in the green, with two wins and a by. Who will win this tournament, get awarded the prize, and challenge the champion? We will find out now! Are the two competitors ready?” I nodded; so did my opponent. “Then… begin!”

 

Quartz began by launching two rocks at me from the ground. I brushed past them and countered with a stone spire between us, aiming it at him. My opponent ducked underneath the spire and lost his footing, falling on his rear. I could help but laugh. Shit… stupid humans. Wondering how my opponent could have even gotten past the previous fights, I flung him out of the ring with a flick of the wrist. The announcer dashed over and raised my arm in the air, proclaiming me the winner of the Rock-Solid Brawl… again. This feels the same as last time.

 

“We have our winner, Phoenix! The prize money of five thousand gold pieces is yours! And along with the prize, you have the option of fighting the champion of the Earth Rumble games. Do you accept?”

 

I thought for a moment, and then sighed. What is there to lose? “Yea, sure. Lets give it a shot.” I muttered and looked up at my group in the stands. They seemed like they wanted more, so…

 

“He accepts! So lets have the final fight of Rock-Solid Brawl! Bring out…” He waved his arm behind him dramatically. “The Blind Bandit!” I blinked turned towards the entrance to the ring. In walked a little girl, around Aang's age. Or at least how old he looks. I corrected myself. She walked with a determined air around her, seemingly out of place for a girl her size. I saw her eyes and stood strait. She's… really blind.

 

“Interesting…” I muttered and cracked my neck, backing into my starting place. “Very interesting.” The girl took her place on the opposite side and stood strait, pointing her pale eyes strait at me.

 

“And now… to our two opponents… The Blind Bandit… and The Phoenix… Begin!” The girl raised her hand, ready to attack. I brace myself for the assault; but it never came.

 

“The Phoenix? What kind of name is that?” The Blind Bandit exclaimed. I started and blinked repeatedly.

 

“Uh… huh?”

 

The girl smirked widely and put her hands on her hips. “More like, The Pigeon!” She laughed loudly and pointed strait at me. “A Pigeon couldn't have won four fights to get to me; you must have cheated!”

 

I stopped blinking and exhaled a short laugh. “Are you trying to insult me, little girl?” She answered by pulling her face into a sharp grin, and laughed.

 

“I don't need to try; you insult yourself!”

 

I laughed again and crouched into a fighting stance. That face looks familiar. I thought as I tightened my stance. “Yea, whatever. Insult if you want, it won't get you anywhere.” I slid my foot forward and, before I could do anything else, the girl swept out her heel and twisted it. The ground under my shoe shifted and my leg slipped out from under me, causing me to fall to the ground. I hit the ground and immediately felt the earth rumble. In a quick motion, I rolled to the side, barely missing numerous spires of rock that rose from the ground where I was a moment ago.

 

After pushing myself back up, I brushed myself off and cleared my throat. “I see now. You feel the vibrations in the ground.” Ellen did the same thing, to make up for her disability. “Very well thought out, for one so young.” The girl smirked and shrugged.

 

“You'll have to let me know how it feels to lose to a blind girl afterwards.”

 

I smiled lightly and knelt down to my shoes. “I don't think I will lose.” I undid my shoes, and took them off, tossing them to the sides. After taking care of my shoes, I took off my coat, and threw it aside. “Alright…” I widened my stance and exhaled slowly. “Lets try again.”

 

The Blind Bandit grinned widely and held her arms out, ready to attack or defend. “Alright, little birdy.”

 

I sighed deeply and closed my eyes. This is no different than fighting Ellen. Use the same tactics. Stepping forward, felt the ground shift and rotate under me again. I opened my eyes and saw the girl slide her feet towards me. I sidestepped, escaping the ground-based attack, and countered with a spire of rock towards her. The Blind Bandit slapped her hands together and split the rock in half. She countered with numerous spikes of rock that jut up from under me. I jumped up in the air, avoiding the rocks, and landed on the other side of the girl.

 

“Quite the jumper, aren't you?” She whirled around and raised her arms, causing the ground underneath me to shatter and crumble. I rolled out of the way and clambered to my feet. Not allowing my to gain the upper hand, The Blind Bandit slid her feet across the ground in repeating patterns, causing spires to shoot up after me. I dodged spike after spike in succession, looking for an opening. “You can't run forever!” The girl exclaimed.

 

“You can't attack forever!” I retorted, back flipping away from a spike that shot up in front of me. My feet hit the ground and I immediately sunk into the softened ground. “Ah, damnit!” I cursed and tried to kick with my legs.

 

“Got ya.” The girl laughed and brushed her hands together. “You can't get out of there.” The announcer rushed over to me to examine if I had lost. He looked over me and raised his hand.

 

“And the winner is-“

”Hold on! I didn't lose yet!” I interrupted irritably.

 

The announcer stuttered and backed away. “Uh… ok. If The Phoenix can free himself, then the fight continues.”

 

I growled and tensed my legs, pushing away from the ground with my arms. “Easy… squeezy…” I hissed and broke apart the ground, pulling my legs up and away from their prison. In a flash I flicked my wrists, pulling my arms together. The ground around the Blind Bandit rose up and closed around her. She brought her arms up and stopped the rock from shutting around her. While she was busy with that, I kicked up a rock into the air. “Try feeling this!” Jumping clear into the air, I reached the still-rising rock and kicked it back down towards the girl. Before the rock reached her, the Blind Bandit crossed her arms and formed a rock barrier around her, shielding herself from the rock.

 

I cursed and fell back towards the ground. I thought for sure that would get her. Then again, she may not be able to see an attack coming from the air, but she knew one was coming. My feet hit the ground, and the entire ring rumbled with my collision. Rocks and spikes rose from the ground, ruining the flat surface of the ring. The Blind Bandit leapt onto a flat-topped spire and swiveled her head around, facing my direction.

 

“Nice try, light-foot.” The girl called loudly. “Next time actually try and hit me!” I growled and jumped away from the spire nearest to me, launching myself at my opponent. The Blind Bandit leapt to the side, missing my kick by inches. I pushed off again, chasing the girl as she jumped from spire to spire, evading my attacks. I sped up my assault, hoping to beat her to her next destination. She must be feeling my push off when she lands, so she knows where I am and where I am headed. Jeez, she might even be better then Ellen was. I pushed off from the ground, narrowly avoiding a spike of rock aimed at me. No, she is better than Ellen. The girl stopped when I landed on a pillar of rock and didn't pursue her.

 

“What? Giving up already? Come on, I've never had this much fun before!” I sighed and rubbed my shoulder, numbing the pain that shot through it from the last maneuver I pulled off. Dislocated. Who'd a thought that a vampire could dislocate his shoulder?

 

“Yea well, I dislocated my arm… so lets finish this up before it gets any worse.”

 

The girl nodded. “I thought I heard somethin' pop.” She held her arms out in her stance, ready for a last confrontation. I rotated my arm again and held it out, ignoring the searing pain. “Gotta get home before your bedtime, huh?” The girl snarled and squared her shoulders.

 

“Bed time?” She yelled. I took the momentary loss in concentration to charge at her. I reached the girl in a flash and pushed her chest with my palm. The Blind Bandit fell backwards and off the pillar towards the edge of the ring. As she fell she kicked up a spire of rock back towards me. The rock caught me off guard and hit me in the chest, knocking me backwards in the opposite direction of The Blind Bandit. I fell outside of the ring and landed with a `thud' on the dirt. Shit, if I could airbend in this tourney I would have avoided a ring-out. After waiting a few seconds to make the attack believable, I stood back up and brushed myself off.

 

. . .

 

“It's… a double ring out…” Katara whispered. The audience had fallen silent when both fighters were pushed out of the ring. The Blind Bandit had been pushed by the Phoenix; meanwhile the girl had hit him with a last-ditch attack. “I don't believe it.”

 

“I don't believe it even more.” Aang's voice shook. “That girl… It's the same girl I saw in the swamp.” Sokka and Katara looked at the airbender. “I recognized her laugh… It's the same one.”

 

“Are you sure?” Katara asked; Aang nodded.

”Definitely.”

 

Their conversation was interrupted by thunderous applause from the audience. “And it's a double ring-out!” The Phoenix stumbled back onto the ring. “The winner of the Rock-Solid Brawl and the holder of the title `Rock-Solid', The Phoenix!” He raised his arm into the air, taking in the applause and smiling; but all the while he looked to where his opponent had fallen.

 

She had disappeared.

 

. . .

 

“Congratulations, Kyle! You rocked!” Sokka piped as the group reached him outside of the stadium. Aang, Katara, and Zuko trailed behind him. Kyle tossed his winnings to Sokka and sighed greatly.

 

“I can't really say that was the toughest fight I've had in a long while because, honestly, Arc and Azula were more challenging…” Zuko narrowed his eyes at the vampire. “But I must say… the girl can certainly earthbend.”

 

“And she's blind, too…” Katara mentioned. “I've never heard of such a powerful fighter who was blind.” Kyle took his sword from Katara and shook his head.

 

“Yea you have. Ellen was blind. Well…” Kyle corrected himself. “She was partially blind. Blind enough to not rely on eyesight for anything. I believe it was a family trait, her blindness.” He laughed. “What is it with blind girls and kicking my ass?”

 

“I don't know, but I've seen that girl before.” Aang looked back towards the entrance to the collosium.

 

Kyle blinked rapidly. “Where?”

 

“In the swamp.” Kyle stared at the monk for a few seconds, thinking. “I don't want to leave this town yet. I want to find out more about that girl.”

 

Kyle took his knife belt from Sokka and grabbed his shoulder popping it back into place with a painful hiss. “All right. But we will have to leave in at least a couple of days. My fight probably drew more eyes than I would like.” Aang bowed to Kyle.

 

“Thank you.” Sokka, Aang, and Katara turned around and started to walk back to their room in the tavern. Zuko stayed behind, staring at the vampire.

 

“What?” Kyle asked minutely.

 

“What exactly did you do to my sister? Is she alive?” Kyle released his shoulder and sighed.

 

“As far as I know; she's alive. I didn't kill her.” Zuko eyes Kyle for a few seconds then turned away form him, following the others. Kyle sighed deeply and scratched his neck absentmindedly. “Jeez…” He muttered. Starting off after the others, his thoughts were drawn back to his previous fight. “The Blind Bandit…” The girl's wide smirk flashed back into his mind. That face looked familiar.

 

Could it be?

 

. . .

 

This was a difficult chapter to write for some reason… ah well, at least I got it out.

 

R&R