Avatar: Two Brothers
Chapter 23
Showdown in the Water Tribe
About a week had passed before Dilraj appeared again at Da-Wei’s room. He told Da-Wei that the Chieftain had many matters to attend to but he was finally ready now to meet with him. Da-Wei reached for the backpack and carried it with him as Dilraj led the way to where Nacnud was awaiting his arrival.
Da-Wei was led into an open room that had water flowing into a small pond. He was mesmerized by how spacious the room was. While waiting for the chieftain to arrive, he looked around the area, wondering what a room like this was for.
It wasn’t long before Nacnud arrived into the room as well. He greeted the young bender and apologized for the delay in their meeting. Seeing only the two of them in the room, Da-Wei asked if Isabelle or anyone else would be joining them but Nacnud let him know that it would only be the two of them.
As Nacnud caught sight of Da-Wei’s backpack, he questioned about the content within. Not wanting to reveal the truth, he explained to the chieftain that the basket was filled with food ration and supplies for their travels.
After his response, the chieftain wanted to show Da-Wei something within the room. He pointed to the pond in the room and asked Da-Wei to move there. Da-Wei listened to the chieftain. Once he had arrived at the pond, he began to look down where he saw his reflection. There was nothing special about the pond, but then Da-Wei felt something was off about the situation.
An ice spear was hurled right at his backpack, and he managed to turn around and place himself in front of the spear. Thankfully he was able to repel it with his airbending before it struck him. Da-Wei then turned to face the man who had just attacked him from behind. He didn’t want to believe it, but the chieftain didn’t appear to be on his side.
“You say the contents of your bag are just ration and supplies. However, I don’t know anyone who would willingly throw themselves for some measly supplies. I will ask you one last time, what do you have in your backpack?”
Da-Wei continued to remain quiet. With Nacnud’s patient running low, he saw little need to continue asking. Instead he prepared himself to attack Da-Wei full on.
While Da-Wei had his hands tied against the chieftain, Isabelle was led into a different room when Dilraj told her Chloe was in trouble. When she entered the room, she saw Chloe lying on the floor and she rushed to her. Before she could reach her, Dilraj used his ice prison technique to trap Chloe inside.
“Surrender. You are in the coldest part of all four nations and I have the home field advantage. You can not win.” But Isabelle ignored his command and instead tried to conjure up fire above her hands. She succeeded but her flames were weak and looked as if they were about to flicker away.
She attempted to attack Dilraj with all her might but it was futile. With an abundance of water surrounding him, he used the water whip technique, smacking Isabelle aside but each time she kept getting back up. After about three attempts, Dilraj finally used the water whip to restrain Isabelle to keep her on the ground.
“Stand down. My task is to nullify any threats against our tribe. Our main target is the airbender who you were with. If you refrain from any further aggression, we will consider allowing you to leave freely.”
“Da-Wei? What did he ever do to your tribe?”
“Don’t be fooled. We got word from the Earth Kingdom of what happened in Ba Sing Se. The death of a general and many injured because of an airbender coup. Their kind are becoming too dangerous. I don’t know why you are with him but I will give you one last chance to break your alliance with him.”
Isabelle closed her eyes and took a deep breath before suddenly unleashing a burst of energy that freed her from the water whip. Dilraj was shocked by what had occurred. Most fire benders shouldn’t be able to perform what she had just done under these conditions.
Isabelle then stood up and the flames on her hand rekindled. “I only have one goal right now, and that is to get my friend Chloe cured! Let’s make this easy, if I win you heal my friend, if not, you can take me as a prisoner for whatever your reason you want!”
Dilraj was flabbergasted. Isabelle was in no position to be making demands. She had every disadvantage. And yet, what she said made Dilraj question his initial thoughts, “Why would she throw her own life away for people who weren’t even part of her clan?”
With Dilraj lost in thought, Isabelle launched herself with her jet propulsion technique and attempted a blaze kick. Dilraj was able to react by forming a water shield in front of him to block the attack. He then quickly hopped back a few meters to relieve the pressure.
Isabelle then began throwing fire missiles to keep up her momentum but Dilraj fired back ice discs to negate the attack. Both combatants switched to using the whip technique and their attacks clashed multiple times but neither could break the stalemate. They seemed even in terms of skill but with each passing moment, Isabelle’s flames were beginning to douse with the extreme cold temperatures. She focused all her energy into her hands to create two fire daggers which she held. She then quickly rushed towards Dilraj, going all in for this attack.
Seeing his opponent approaching fast, Dilraj held out his right hand and created an ice spear. He whirled it around before dashing towards his enemy. A fire bender fighting to save her friend and a water bender wanting to protect his tribe.
They clashed in the middle with both weapons making contact against each other’s body. Isabelle’s fiery daggers burned right through Dilraj’s armor, giving him a nasty cut and burn on his left rib. Dilraj was the first to fall on his knees as he felt the searing pain of Isabelle attack.
Isabelle walked up for a moment then held up both her hands. “Guess I lost this time.” The ice spear had pierced through her right shoulder and it was the only thing stopping the blood from rushing out. She kept her word, that she would surrender if she lost but something didn’t sit right with Dilraj. He wanted to further question Isabelle but she overexerted herself and along with the wound she sustained, she fainted on the ground.
Dilraj began to use his water bending to cool down the cut he received from the fight. Slowly, his wound was healing. But now he looked before the situation that was presented upon him. Both Isabelle and Chloe were in critical condition and he had the potential to save them both or let this be their end. He had almost wished that he had lost the battle against Isabelle so that he wouldn’t have to choose.
Back in the other room, Chieftain Nacnud was holding his octopus form stance. Standing across from him on the other side of the room was Da-Wei who was breathing heavily. In their short exchange, Da-Wei was completely overwhelmed. It was a difficult task taking on a master class water bender, but it's even more difficult having extra weight on your back.
Again, the chieftain demanded for Da-Wei to hand over his backpack but Da-Wei still refused. Not amused by his answer, Nacnud struck Da-Wei with one of the water arms, sending Da-Wei flying with his backpack about to hit the wall. Thankfully, Da-Wei was able to react with his air bending to propel himself off the wall, saving the avatar from harm.
Da-Wei didn’t know this, but Nacnud had been informed by the Earth Kingdom. In the letter, it was written that the avatar was abducted by two fugitives that must be captured. He knew all along what was in the backpack but he wanted to see how Da-Wei would respond to his actions. So far from what he could gather, he was extremely confused.
Nacnud was about to press the attack but suddenly, the air bender began to speak. “Wait.” The chieftain held back his octopus form for the time being to allow him to continue.
“You already know, don't you? The contents of my backpack.” He didn’t say anything, but nodded his head at Da-Wei. From his answer, Da-Wei deduced that the chieftain was informed by the Earth Kingdom of what took place at Ba Sing Se.
Da-Wei then took off his backpack and opened it up to show the chieftain what was inside. Nacnud kept his guard up but he could see as Da-Wei revealed the infant avatar.
“What is the meaning of this? Are you planning to use that defenseless child as a hostage?”
“No, I am going to surrender myself and give you the avatar.” His response caught the chieftain completely by surprise. He was not expecting a response like this.
“What game are you playing? You don’t expect me to trust what you just said. What kind of fool do you take me for?”
“There are no tricks. However, I do have a couple of things to ask of you in return.”
Here was what Nacnud was waiting for. He predicted that the young air bender would make a drastic bargain that was not in his favour. Again, he allowed Da-Wei to continue.
“In exchange for my arrest and me handing you the avatar, I first asked that you heal my friend, Chloe, the earth bender.”
The chieftain remembered the girl that was unconscious, that Dilraj checked the vitals for. He verified that her condition was indeed critical and if left that way she would not live much longer. He didn’t see a problem with healing the girl if she was fully restrained after.
“What is your second request?”
Da-Wei took a deep breath before answering. “My second request is that you keep the avatar away from the Earth Kingdom.”
The first request was straight forward but the second request had the chieftain thinking. He couldn’t fathom why the air bender would give up the avatar to him then make him agree to not turn him over to the Earth Kingdom. Many thoughts filled his mind and he had many questions to ask but he knew that words wouldn’t satisfy him. He needed to see Da-Wei’s true conviction.
“I’m afraid I cannot accept either of your requests.” Da-Wei was shocked, he thought he would have been able to get the chieftain to comply with his surrender. “If you want to save your friend and keep the avatar away from the Earth Kingdom. You must defeat me.”
This wasn’t the result Da-Wei was hoping for, but he had no other choice. He stood ready for battle, waiting for his opponent to make a move. Nacnud wasted no time fooling around. He gathered a large portion of water in the room to enhance his octopus stance. The water arms were gigantic, stretching about fifteen high. By throwing his fist forward, the water arms came rushing at Da-Wei but instead of looking like an octopus arm, it suddenly transformed into a giant fist slamming hard against the air bender.
Da-Wei was able to partially block the attack with his defensive air bending but another two or three hits from an attack like that and it would be over. He attempted to go on the offensive but his opponent prevented him. Nacnud kept sending a barrage of giant water punches to keep Da-Wei from getting close.
In response, Da-Wei used his air bending to enhance his agility, allowing him to dodge the heavy attacks and then he used his air blades to slice off the massive water arms coming at him. In doing so, water splashed through the entire area.
After cutting through a majority of the chieftain’s attack, Nancud stopped his attacks and let go of his octopus form. Da-Wei took the time to take a breather but he remained vigilant. There was no way a master water bending would quit so easily.
Suddenly, Nancud began moving his arms again. Da-Wei was prepared for any one direction the chieftain’s attack was about to come from. However, Da-wei wasn’t prepared for what was about to happen. The water all over the room began to swirl around Da-Wei. It was an attack that came in almost every direction, leaving him little to no defense.
The water was beginning to converge on Da-Wei, meaning his opponent was going to drown him out. Da-Wei tried to cut through the water with his air blades but they were no use. The torrent of the water was too great and there was no escape. In such a dire situation, Da-Wei took a deep breath and was able to come up with one solution.
As the water was about to compress into him, Da-Wei gathered as much air he could to form a small wind sphere around him. This kept all the water outside but he was trapped and confined to a small amount of space. He also had to keep the wind sphere up because the instant he faltered, the water would come crushing on him.
Seconds which felt like forever to Da-Wei began ticking. Although he was focused on maintaining the sphere, he could see his opponent outside using his arm motions to further compress the water against him. He could feel the water closing in and his stance was getting weaker.
Hints of doubt were beginning to fill his mind, luring him to give up but then he thought about how Master Ruthar and his new teacher, Rice would be extremely disappointed in him. That was when he received a revelation. He remembered his conversation with Rice about sensing ‘wind energy.’ With that memory, he began focusing on what Nacnud was doing.
Da-Wei saw his opponent was moving his hands in a certain direction while controlling the water. He then figured that it was the same direction as the torrent’s direction. With that insight, he thought of an extremely risky idea. If he was wrong about this, his life would be over. It was either: keep staying on the defensive and eventually get crushed by the current, or attempt to turn the situation around with an extremely fatal gamble.
Da-Wei paid tremendous focus to the chieftain’s hand motions. He needed to find the point where the torrent would be at its weakest, to give him time to act. It took much patience but when Da-Wei spotted his chance, he let go of the wind sphere, allowing the water to collapse onto him.
After seeing Da-Wei let go of his defense, Nacnud was so dumbfounded, the rhythm of his motions was thrown off, making the torrent even weaker for a moment. That small window was all Da-Wei needed as he began to accelerate the wind of the air sphere. All the water began to spin along with Da-Wei creating a torrential whirlpool.
Chieftain Nacnud was mesmerized by the sight of what had happened. The young airbender was completely trapped in a near impossible scenario and somehow he found a way to reverse the situation. Seeing the whirlpool coming towards him, he let out a smile, and said to himself, “Well done young air bender.” And the whirlpool pulled him in.