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Book 1: Origin CHAPTER 12. ROUND 2

(I am ready for your second try.) I did not try to waste any more time since I manage to rest myself. I am interested in how Zuko and Azula will proceed from now on.

This time around they both came at me. This time around Azula was charging at me while Zuko was moving behind the dome. Smart but not good enough. I chose to strike the obvious target at first which is Zuko.

I threw a rock over the dome with showed using the dome as the defense would be a bad idea. He seemed to manage to defend himself since the fireball came from there. As for Azula. I made a platform behind here circle behind her which went over her and set her out of bounds. She must have been surprised about the attack from behind. She simply could not see it.

I have made multiple rulers slack. This causes them to expect something and finally be surprised how much I can do. They probably could not think attacks could come from behind. Sorry for them, they can come from behind. I just sent them to behind. How I do it is up to me? I feel it would have been cruel to hide this for a long time. I at least should give them a chance.

Just think about it. You have done a lot of try and error to get to the gate and suddenly you notice all this time their opponent could have struck from behind. This causes all their effort so far to come to waste. That would not be wise as a teaching method.

Zuko does not seem to make a move. He is probably waiting for his sister´s arrival. I am not planning to make him waste time there. I choose to rise the whole platform behind the dome to air. Zuko chooses to jump over the dome but naturally, I was ready for it. I made an earth pillar directly in front of his path. Zuko manages to block direct hit to the face with his hands but I softened earth on contact. This caused his hand to sink to the pillar.

I did not manage to send him out of bounds since his feet were free. He firebended with his legs which freed one of his hands. I punched fire toward me. I chose o to defend myself with the earth wall. I sent the wall directly to his position. This allowed him to escape from my trap but he was exhausted.

Zuko knew that he did not have enough stamina to run toward the gate so he s threw a ball from his pocket. It was a smoke bomb. Maybe Azula gave one to him during the break. That reminds me. Is Azula in the arena?

It did not take much time to see the answer. She was approached by flying with her fire from her hands. I sent rock toward her. She dodged it from the air by putting fire from both hands to one side. She narrowly dodged but she had entered zone 3. That´s why I sent that rock to push her outside from the side. She had no room to dodge at all.

She was sent flying toward Zuko. I was planning to send both of them outside together but that did not happen. Zuko killed Azula´s momentum which caused only him to go outside. That allowed Azula a charge.

Too bad for her since she is on the side of zone 3. I made two earth walls surround her to the corner. I directly put my hands to the wall and started to push it until she would get out of the arena.

Azula noticed she was trapped but she saw I change. She could directly grip the wall and circle around it. Rulers stated that only stepping outside is banned. By staying air, no ruler is broken.

Naturally, I knew this too. I could have made the wall longer to avoid this but making walls like this lessens her options which she can see.

Azula was planning to go around the wall closer to the gate. I kicked to the ground to send a rock toward that corner. To no surprise, it was a direct hit that sent her outside. There were 40 seconds left of Zuko´s penalty time.

Round 2 was over.

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(Let´s make break two little longer. I will go elsewhere to rest as you can strategies on your own.)

Zuko´s point of view:

I could not believe that did not work. I gave every change I could make to Azula but she still did not manage to go through the gate. She ended behind the gate. She was only a few meters away from it but everyone knew that she was far away from it. He knew exactly what she was planning to do. It seemed like he could see behind the wall.

I have not seen my sister as upset as she is now. For some reason, I would like to encourage her but I am no better than her. I have no right to encourage her.

(You did well Zuko. I am so proud of you. You were unbelievable out there.) Ursa

Mother´s words made me happy but why is she not encouraging Azula. She needs it more than I do.

(Do you know what you did wrong?) Ozai was talking to Azula. He was not taking any mind of me.

(I should have gone from another side of the wall.) Azula

(No. You could have gone over the wall but you made an even more serious mistake before. You were not expecting an attack from behind or side. You let your guard down. If your brother would not have saved you then you could not have gotten any closer than your brother. You disappoint me.) Ozai

What are you talking about? Azula was amazing there. She was almost flying and she was sharing her weapons with me. I have mixed feelings about this. Other side Azula is being reproached and I am being praised by my father. Nothing like this has ever happened.

(Unlike you Zuko showed true firebenders will. I can not believe that your brother is proven to be more capable than you. Maybe I was wrong all these years.) Ozai

(No! You are not wrong, father. Give me a chance to show it to you. I will destroy him. He will never rise again.) Azula

I could not believe what I was hearing. How can you manage to do so? He is powerful. You can not beat him.

(Captain Zhao. How do you look at this?) Uncle Iroh was talking with a stranger captain on a tea table with Lu Ten.

(I agree with him. This is a good way to find human character out of the person. He had full control over the situation. He could have done much more than he was showing. For example, he could have hidden the fact that he can attack from behind. He is adept at it. The first time I saw him was when he was training. He sent rocks toward himself and blocked those unarmed to dust. I have never seen earthbender how can control earth in the air. Most earthbenders only keep the earth in the air for an only short time. I have seen him keeping multiple rocks in the air in hours. He is only giving the feeling of change to those kids. I can not believe sometimes that he is a kid.) Zhao

(What do you mean?) I went away from my mother's arms and asked strange captain questions.

(Let´s just say that he is strongest when his opponent is close to him. He has shown multiple times trying to avoid close combat but he is strongest in his three meters radius. Your best chance to get through the gate is by making sure he is not between gate pillars. During the fight, he left that place only when he started to push the wall over the border. The reason behind this is to cause urgency to your sister. If she had looked situation calmly then she would have had a change. He did not need to do so but since you were in penalty time it made him move easier. You should plan a similar situation without anyone being penalized. I think it is impossible though.) Zhao

(How did he manage to predict our movement so well? It was like he was not even looking.) Zuko

(Actually. I think that is the main reason he agreed to do this. He has been trying to learn seismic sense techniques. Before you ask what it is I need to explain one thing at first. He has a friend who is blind but that friend can feel things around by earthbending. That is seismic sense. He has been obsessed with it for a long time. He has proven that he has the small type of it already but it is not enough for him. He wants to see the world without eyes. This training ground might be his chance to gain it. That dome block most of the arena. That causes him to become adept at noticing changes around the place. He trained yesterday to be comfortable in here. I am certain that if I move one rock here while he is away, he will know it.) Zhao

Is he still human? Could it be that there are many others like him in earth kingdom? I need to plan.

(Azula. I have an idea which we could use.) Zuko

(What is it?) Azula

(We could go as a single line. While we are in zone 2. We will run a straight line and when we go to zone 3. We will run next to each other. We will try to stay close together and protect each other. This will give us a chance to get close. No hard feeling who he is going to choose as his target. I need an idea of how we can keep his attack from hitting us outside together.) Zuko

(Is it simple? We will use smoke bombs until we succeed. What is difficult with that?) Azula

(He seems to be able to see without his eyes.) Zuko

(What?!) Azula