Homeplot, Part Two: Journey to the Capital City

[irisewiththesun]

It's still a little surreal, having four people from the island there with Zuko as he heads into days that could change everything for the world he knows, and for his nation. It’s surreal just being home again, even though he knows that it’s not real - it feels real, not like a dream at all, and that makes Zuko want to keep from screwing anything

Comments

Sparring

[irisewiththesun]

One thing Zuko's sure of is that he's got four very competent fighters with him from the island. He's got no doubt of their abilities. The problem, though, is that none of them have encountered benders before. That's something he needs to prepare them for, because as much as they might hope for it, it's pretty unlikely they'll make it all the way to the capital city without encountering Fire Nation soldiers.

That's why he's taking some time to spar with them, to give them a chance to see what they're going to be up against. He's set his broadswords aside - Firebenders using weapons is the exception, rather than the norm - and he's ready to show them why he doesn't actually need them here.

Re: Sparring

[noblerworld]

It wasn't exactly a secret that Seifer loved to fight. Oh, he especially loved to win but, even beyond that, he just enjoyed fighting. And the idea of testing his wits against a different kind of fighter excited him. It was that as much as the training element that had caused him to suggest this.

He smirked at Zuko, as he drew his blade and then charged, swinging the sword, two handed, from one end of his body to the other.

[irisewiththesun]

As Seifer charges, Zuko is already in his stance, ready for him. He twists his body and brings his foot around in a complete, sweeping arc, a large plume of fire blossoming from the bottom and giving Seifer a strong enough blast to push him backwards.

[noblerworld]

Seifer flew backwards from the blast but scrambled to his feet as soon as he landed, moving again immediately.

Only this time, he wasn't charging but circling, waiting for Zuko to attack with another blast.

[irisewiththesun]

Zuko's both grounded and ready to spring, his eyes on Seifer as he starts to circle. He punches out blasts of fire from his fists in quick succession, finishing with another kick, this one straight out from the hip that sends a spurt of flame rolling along the ground in a narrow wave.

[noblerworld]

Seifer was an old hand at fire magic but this was far more intense that that. He had to keep moving, dodging blast after blast and inching closer to Zuko with every movement. He couldn't help but think that Arya would find this kind of battle far easier than he would. But then if it was easy, it wouldn't be as much fun would it.

The spurt of flame from the kick gave him a different problem, and he had to hurdle it, feeling the warmth beneath him and the flames touch at the edge of his coat as he dropped into a roll on the other side.

[irisewiththesun]

He doesn't want to actually injure Seifer, so he makes sure to hold back enough that he won't, but Zuko wants them all to know just what they're up against, so he doesn't hold back completely. He keeps up with his attack, offense being the natural tendency of Firebending, varying the types of fire he throws at Seifer.

[noblerworld]

Seifer's pretty sure the key to winning this kind of battle is speed, though he'd have a hell of a better chance if he had the advantage of surprise too. Something to bear in mind, he needed to hit a bender fast before they even knew he was coming. He couldn't compete unless he was up close

[irisewiththesun]

Seifer's putting up a good fight, which Zuko is impressed by if unsurprised. It's possible for a nonbender to fight a bender, it just takes knowing what you're up against, and that's what Zuko's trying to do with these sparring sessions. He's aware, too, of Seifer's tendency towards the underhanded, after all the times they've sparred back on the island

[noblerworld]

So things learned. Speed is all important. The best way to hit a bender is when they're concentrating elsewhere and, now, that the only way to capture one was after you slit their throat. It was just a shame he only carried the one weapon.

Seifer gave a grunt of pain as Zuko heated up his wrists and tried to jerk them free, letting Zuko struggle out of his grip entirely in the process.

[irisewiththesun]

The second he's able to Zuko frees himself and immediately flips away, putting distance between himself and Seifer. "Not bad," he says, producing fire daggers from each clenched fist as he waits to see what Seifer will do next.

[noblerworld]

Seifer worked a lot on his upper body strength but he was far from a great hand to hand fighter and, with his gun-blade too far away to grab, that was advantage Zuko. Still, if he was going to lose, he was going to go down fighting.

"No chance of you looking towards Arya again, is there?" he asked with a smirk as he advanced, hand balled into fists. "Because things were going much better for me with you turned the other way."

[irisewiththesun]

"Not gonna happen," Zuko replies, not taking his eyes off Seifer as gives a shake of his fists and the fire daggers lengthen.

[noblerworld]

"Shame."

And then he charged, trying to sidestep thoe daggers and deliver a right hook to Zuko's face. The problem was he needed to connect a lot of times to break Zuko's concentration where as Zuko only needed to connect once. One of those daggers held against his neck would give Seifer no choice but to surrender.

[irisewiththesun]

Zuko doesn't keep the daggers, though. The instant he sees Seifer start to move, he opens and clenches his hands and they disappear, to be replaced by two long, snakelike whips of flame. With a flick of his wrists, they lash out, licking at the air.

[noblerworld]

Which didn't change much, from Seifer's point of view. If they hit him it was still game over, it just made things slightly harder now Zuko had a longer reach. So he kept moving, diving to ground early to try and duck under the whips and take away Zuko's legs.