Chapter 249: Wanted for Spar (1)
Odd yet long cries of dog-gulls can be heard on the large Fire Nation carrier moving through the sea. Interestingly, all the soldiers of the ship wear all of their uniforms except their helmets and after they are given the reason for this disrespectful demand... they raise no more ruckus.
Unlike the higher up of the nation, the current era of Fire Nation soldiers takes no pleasure in harming others. Most of them don't. They don't consider themselves superior. They just... follow orders. And they take honor in their ability to complete the said orders. It's their purpose.
Yet... a large majority of them now feel a sense of shame. Sure, Ozai lost. But their shame doesn't stem from losing the war. They won it. Six years ago, they did. Nothing can take that away. What makes them lower their head as if their honor has been besmirched is the actions of their previous ruler— Phoenix King Ozai.
Iroh never intended to hide Ozai's misdeeds but he admittedly decided to release the information in a manner that doesn't cause outright chaos.
And even this filtered source of knowledge makes many lower their heads in shame.
They looked up to Ozai, after all.
Phoenix King!
A man born God! A ruler sent by the spirits to lead the world to a new and glorious age!— What a load of Bisonshit!
And the order of taking off their helmets stems from one such situation caused by Ozai. After the war, it's a well-known knowledge that war prisoners are let out but Ozai held many such prisoners back in dark cells. One such prisoner is on the ship and they admit, as soldiers, they may have a violent reaction if they saw the enemy's uniform as a trigger.
Compassion is never lost to soldiers... it's just rooted out in times of war. It's a necessity, after all.
"How long have they been going on for?" The middle-aged captain of the ship looks at the deck from the control room. There is a hint of admiration in his gaze as he watches the group of youth training out in the open.
They are heroes, after all. The group who caused Ozai's fall.
This group brought back the hope for things becoming normal once more.
"If you would believe me, Sir, then that one fighting all of them alone hasn't taken a break for 2 hours now!" The soldier keeping an eye on the steam pressure mutters in amazement.
"And that is while he fights the two Princes?" The captain raises his brow in amazement.
"More, sir. He's fighting them without using his elemental bending. I wanted to see what elements does the Hero bend because everyone seems to have a different answer but... he barely seems fazed. Although... that flexible one is keeping him on his toes."
"Ah!" The one steering the ship yelps, "We got a hit!"
"What? Alert the soldiers—" The Captain frowns when the soldier shakes his head.
"Not that, Sir. Nik. He got hit again. The second one with paint on her face like the flexible one got in a good slash."
The captain rolls his eyes, "Focus on the course, soldier!"
"Yes, sir!"
While the captain returns to focus on the sparring group without a hint of shame.
---
*Rrripppp*
Nik pulls back and looks down at his ripped tunic.
"Are you sure you want me to keep on using actual weapons?"
He hears a slightly amused yet tired voice.
Pulling a smirk, Nik looks up at everyone gathered, "I want to test the entire limit be it physical or mental because enemies don't really give you a chance for practice. I just wished Mai agreed to spar, too, like Zuko."
"I did say I want to train... just alone," Zuko wipes the sweat off his brows and shrugs, "This is adequate, too."
"So... weapons are still alright?" Suki, dressed in her Kyoshi attire, questions once more, and Nik nods.
Not only she, but everyone else readies themselves once again.
There is Ty Lee in Kyoshi attire, too, with a happy and excited smile. Just wearing this uniform and trying to pull her usual flexible antics is training in its own right.
Suki holds her sharp war fans and closes them in for the next round of attack.
Sokka lets out an annoyed growl while holding a bone spear in one hand.
Azula stays silent and yet remains deadly.
Jin and Yue, on the other hand, are just here to fill in the number, and... well, they don't have a choice, do they? Suki does take a lot of time to train them so she is kind of their teacher and her demand is simple— train.
Rena and Katara, on either side of the group, collect water from the sea once more but both of them have been bending constantly and are feeling out of fuel.
It's like... they are rediscovering their limits instead of helping Nik find his.
There is no doubt that all of them are extremely skilled but Nik trumps them all in one thing— endurance. That, coupled with his already good foundation of experience in battle allows him to continue as is.
If Toph, June, and Mai were present, too... then it would have been a different scenario.
"What are you doing?" Yue's cheeks flush further when Nik suddenly grips one side of his tunic and—
*Rrrrrr*
— rips away his top.
His sweaty torso is exposed instantly while Nik airbends and lets the floating piece of fabric fall on Kya's feet who is watching with interest.
Surprised by this change of situation, Kya looks at her feet and then back at Nik who winks, "I'll need it once I'm done with them so don't let it fly off the ship."
Everyone knows he could have just sent it to his personal space but he...
"Oho... you bastard, heh," Sokka doesn't rage but chuckles in anger instead and steps up, "I get it."
"You do?" Nik waggles his brows.
"Of course," Sokka takes a deep breath, "No point in acting like an asshole to make us give our all. That is rather arrogant, don't you think?"
"Maybe another effect of my evolution," Nik hums and stretches his arms while attracting Yue's and others' attention to his slightly glowing body under the sunlight, "But I think you all can help me by beating the cockiness out of me, right?"
Sokka smirks and slides his kimono shirt down while holding his boomerang with his other hand, "Now a friend may shy away from it. But I am a GOOD friend. If I won't beat you, who will?"
"So? We're all going topless now? Don't act like Nik... he's kind of a slut and you're a Chieftain!" Rena pouts and scolds her man who looks rather good now, too.
Azula, meanwhile, looks at Zuko.
"What?" Zuko looks back.
"Nothing, I thought you'd get into the spirit of toplessness, too."
"Oh, please. Spare me this kind of contest."
"I don't know... you would look good, Zuko," Jin is still slightly huffy from the exercise and smiles, "Besides, Iroh has all this story about being a lady's man. Maybe it's part of the reason why he is also such an accomplished firebender."
"Or you want to see three topless men!" Ty Lee pokes fun with a grin.
"I'm not taking off my clothes!" Zuko scoffs.
"Talk about skipping on a bonding session," Sokka rolls his eyes.
"I know right?" Nik shrugs and enters a stance as Sokka rushes forward while throwing his boomerang which Nik dodges.
Rena, on the other hand, waterbends a whip that lashes out and holds the flying boomerang before flinging it in Nik's direction alongside slightly blunt icy spikes.
Again, Nik chose to not use any bending skills for a reason.
Others don't have perfect teamwork as seen by how Yue and Jin still hesitate to attack, Katara chooses to avoid more efficient routes of attack because Sokka is in the front and even the two Firebending royal prodigies trying to attack without hurting others. So, using elemental bending would make things a lot easier.
Another reason why the addition of Mai, Toph, and June would have made the situation worse is due to their questionable moral outlook.
Sometimes it pays to be a bad bitch.
Still, Nik avoids the incoming boomerang by jumping on the railing of the ship and then jumps over Sokka once more as Katara controls a tentacle of water which fails to catch Nik lacking.
"Damn it, again?!" Intercepting the boomerang, Sokka aims at Nik once more as he lands in front of Suki who attacks without hesitation with her war fans while Ty Lee has the section of her middle finger slightly raised in a knuckle and aims at specific points on Nik's body.
To be precise, Nik did not want to land in the middle of these fearsome foes...
But they merely predicted his path.
It's a jump, after all. It's not that great of a tool when it comes to evasion.
"Woah!" Nik's eyes widen slightly as Katara ditches waterbending and cover one of the two exits. If Nik had trouble stopping the Suki's and Toph's assault then it's practically impossible to do so now...
And this is where Nik's endurance and raw physical strength shine brightest.
Holding Katara's wrists mid-punch, he pulls her close. She offers no resistance, or rather, her resistance is meaningless in front of his strength and he holds her in front of him which makes Suki annoyed.
But Ty Lee?
Not so much.
Like a dexterous monkey, she simply climbs up Katara's shoulder and flips over her and Nik before landing on his shoulders.
"Hello, there~!" She grins and Nik chuckles.
"Hey there, did I say you look really good in this uniform?"
"Really?" Ty Lee's expression brightens and before she knows it, Nik holds her ankle and—
"Rena, a giddy Kyoshi Warrior incoming!"
Ty Lee's vision shifts and speeds up while Rena groans and quickly pulls a large amount of water in front of her that cushions Ty Lee's charge as both of them fall back.
"Really, Ty Lee?!" Azula growls, "Be sharp! Nik is ruthless!"
"You really are... so sorry for doing this!" Katara suddenly smiles as all the sweat on Nik freezes and creates a layer of ice that holds him in place.
"Now!" Katara shouts as others attack but Zuko and Azula hold back once more. It's clear that they have something else in their minds.
"Katara," Nik whispers into his sweet hostage's ear, "I told you... I'm strong~!"
Granted, a thick layer of ice would have stopped him but not a thin layer created by his sweat.
Not to mention his strength, his body's current temperature already melts most of it once more.
Cracking out of the ice, Nik lets go of Katara and makes a quick escape... toward Sokka as he catches the flying boomerang and tosses it aside before sweeping a kick at the Chieftain's feet.
Stopping the kick using the butt of his spear, Sokka grins and lets go of the spear before tackling Nik down.
"Uuf!" With breath knocked out of Nik for a moment, Sokka cocks his fist back and adopts a mocking sigh, "As your good friend... nay, a best friend now. I need to save you from your cockiness—"
"Sokka, watch out!" It's Kya who gasps when Nik makes use of the fact that his waist and hips are still free as Sokka decides to sit on his torso instead.
Nik's legs easily cross around Sokka and strangle him as he chuckles, "Even you forgot I'm more flexible than before."
"You know— hah! How weird it would be if I kept track of your flexibility?!"
"Not weirder than you topless on me," Nik, a topless dude, comments without caring about the hypocrisy.
Throwing Sokka back, Nik rolls over and gets up when Ty Lee's attack successfully lands on his left shoulder which decides to take a break and go numb instantly.
"Got ya!" She grins but doesn't rest and jumps on him, her thighs pressing the sides of his face and her legs covering the back of his head. The Kyoshi attire, mostly made out of silk, makes sure that Nik gets the best of this already supple experience while Ty Lee controls the weight of her body and throws Nik back on the ground.
"Ahh!" She yelps when Nik takes a rather simple and open route to slap her ass hard enough and weaken her grip.
Yet, when Ty Lee tries to stand, her left leg decides to take a vacation, too.
"When?" She looks at Nik incredulously.
"Just before the slap," Nik waves his right hand as his left one is still limping numb.
Again, using Chi blocking, what little he knows of it, would make things easier and Nik right now wants a challenge! So, he admits... he did not use chi-blocking all that much.
Looking at Suki, Nik takes a stance once more.
From the looks of it, Rena and Katara won't be standing for a while.
Bending elements takes a lot out of the user, after all. And they have been at it for hours! That could also be the reason why Azula and Zuko are saving their strength.
"D-damn..." Sokka stands back up once again.
He's the only one who's gotten the most beating but that doesn't stop him from standing again.
There are no tricks. No mind games. Just honest sparring and even Sokka admits... he needs this. Just because he can fight a slightly less experienced group of benders doesn't mean he is a truly exceptional master.
He licks his dry lips and forces himself to stay steady.
"Alright... I think we can jump in," Jin whispers to Yue who nods and gulps before surrounding Nik alongside Sokka and Toph.
Not to mention Azula and Zuko saving their energy for the last bit.
They've been at it for a long time so needless to say... they will take a rest shortly after.
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Alternate Title: Weight Class Exists for a Reason; Topless Bonding; Zuko's in Bro Denial; Limitless Responsibilities of a Besty; Nik and Sokka, a Couple of Besties!
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