34 Aang vs. Xiao

Xiao walked through the ship's lower deck, immersed in his own thoughts.

"Xiao! How are you? You seem troubled." Suddenly a familiar voice roused the boy from his thoughts.

"Master!" He said, turning with a smile to see a smiling Iroh standing in front of an open door. "Would you like to come in and talk to me about what is eating at you over a cup of tea?" Iroh asked, gesturing for Xiao to come in.

"Yes. Thank you!" Xiao said, beaming. He walked past Iroh and entered the room, sitting down on one of two mats in front of a short wooden table. A steaming teapot sat in the center.

Iroh closed the door and grabbed two cups from a nearby shelf, pouring both of them a cup of tea. Then he sat down across from Xiao and took a sip of his tea, Xiao following suit.

"So, what troubles you, Xiao? You're normally so happy, I hate to see you like this." Iroh said, breaking the silence.

Xiao sighed sadly.

"In fact, many things trouble me Master." He admitted. Iroh smiled.

"Oh? Then start with what troubles you most and work from there." He suggested. Xiao nodded.

"Zuko has... changed. He's... I don't know, more angry? He seems completely obsessed with capturing the Avatar. However, that isn't what's really bothering me. I... met the Avatar yesterday. I was there when he was freed from the iceberg.

He's a good kid. He's kind hearted and joyful, I honestly don't want him to come to harm. But at the same time, I don't want to hurt Zuko by aiding his prisoner and letting Aang escape. I feel that if I were to do that now, it would be the end of our friendship." Xiao finished, a conflicted look plastered to his face as he sat in front of Iroh, looking him with eyes that pleaded for his master to tell him what to do.

"You're afraid of losing your friend. Even though Zuko has changed from when you were children, you still see him as your best friend from back then and you are scared that if you help the Avatar now, you may lose that friend forever. " Iroh sighed.

"I know you want me to tell you what to do, Xiao, but I can't. If I were to do that and it were the wrong choice, we would both regret it for the rest of our lives. You need to decide yourself, and you need to make sure that whatever choice you end up making, you will be happy with in the future." He finished.

Xiao listened intently, and upon hearing Iroh's answer, he couldn't help but chuckle.

"What is it?" Iroh asked.

"I knew you were going to say that." Xiao said with a small smile. Iroh laughed loudly.

"You know me well! Now, would you like more tea?" He asked.

Xiao smiled and nodded. Iroh poured him another cup.

——————

The next day, Xiao woke up and went to the top deck. There, he found Zuko, who was staring at the sky, at something seemingly far off in the distance.

"Good morning Zuko." Xiao said from behind him, smiling.

"Oh! Xiao, how are you?" Zuko asked, turning around.

"I'm doing fine. I came to cash-in on that promised spar from yesterday." He said, smiling lightly.

"Oh? Come to have your as beat, have you?" Zuko asked with a smirk.

"Yeah right!" Xiao laughed.

They backed up so they were around ten feet apart and got into fighting stances.

"Don't worry, I won't go all out, and also won't use my sword." Xiao said teasingly as they started circling each other.

"You'll regret that!" Zuko yelled, lunging forward and sending a blast of flame Xiao's way.

Meanwhile, Xiao decided to only use basic fire bending, no combustion or lightning bending.

He sidestepped the ball of flame Zuko through at him, before thrusting his palm into it. Immediately, the ball of flame dispersed and Xiao used the momentum from thrusting his hand out to spin around and through his own blast at Zuko, before following up with side ways flip, kicking two blasts of violet flame at Zuko midair.

Zuko blocked the first ball of flame with fire of his own, before dodging the second. The third however hit him straight in the chest, sending him flying. He landed on his butt with a yell.

"Jeez man. That's you holding back?" He asked incredoulsy. Xiao snickered.

——————

After Aang surrendered himself to save the village, he was brought to a small metal cell in the back of the ship. However, today he was being escorted to a different room.

Apparently the cell he was in before was a little too out of the way for the crew, so they were moving him closer to the guard's barracks.

'This is my chance.' He thought.

"How much do you guys wanna bet that I could beat you both with my hands tied? I am the Avatar after all." He said jokingly.

The guards glanced at each other but kept moving.

Suddenly, Aang took a deep breath and blew hard, causing a massive gust of wind to slam the guard walking in front of him forward.

The poor guy went flying down the hallway before hitting the metal wall at the end, causing an inch deep indentation in the metal.

The other guy attempting to slash Aang with his sword but Aang used the opportunity to instead free himself by making the guy slash his chains. He then spun around and slammed the guard into the ceiling with another gust of wind, then hit him with another downward blast. The guy groaned from the floor so Aang once again slammed him against the ceiling.

Once he knew that both guards were unconscious, he started running and opening various doors, looking for his staff.

In one room he found an old man drinking tea. The man looked over and a hint of surprised flashed through his eyes.

"Have you seen my staff?" Aang asked.

The man shook his head and Aang ran off.

After searching every room he could find, Aang assumed that someone on deck must have his staff so he rushed up the stairs and burst through the door… Only to find Xiao poking strength at him. Zuko was still on his butt behind him.

Xiao looked at Aang with a mixture of surprise and confusion. 'How did he escape?' He wondered.

"The Avatar has escaped! Get him!" Zuko screamed form behind him.

Aang smiled nervously, quickly scanning the deck and finding his staff… right next to Zuko.

Aang started running and Xiao hesitated, allowing the air bender to get a hold on his staff.

Guards swarmed from the lower decks and Xiao clenched his fist and rushed at Aang.

However, he didn't go all out, just like when he was sparring with Zuko.

"Stay back! I'll handle him!" He shouted to the guards behind him.

Xiao ran forward and threw a blast of flame at Aang, who leapt to the side to dodge.

Xiao drew his sword and swung at him.

Aang once again dodged, albeit barely.

"Why didn't you run when you had the chance?" Xiao asked Aang in a voice only they could hear.

"Why are you attacking me? I thought you were a nice guy so why are you helping the Fire Nation?" Aang shot back.

"Zuko has been my best friend since childhood and his uncle is my Master." Xiao replied.

During this time Xiao was still swinging at Aang while the boy continued to dodge.

"Xiao! Stop playing around and just capture him already!" Zuko shouted from behind him. Xiao grimaced.

"Sorry." He said.

Aang looked confused. "Why-" before he could finish, Xiao disappeared.

Xiao sheathed his sword. Since his aim was to capture Aang he didn't want to use lethal force.

Lightning danced between his fingers.

He then rushed at Aang, the jets of flames coming from his feet immediately incinerating his boots.

Aang's eyes widened in surprise at Xiao's pure speed. Even he, an air bender, who are said to be able to run as fast the wind, wasn't nearly as fast as Xiao.

Aang wasn't the only surprised one though, Zuko and the guards were shocked as well.

'We really aren't a match anymore, are we?' Zuko thought as he watched his friend blur around the Avatar.

Xiao shot towards and and punched him heavily in the stomach, causing him to spit out a mouthful of blood. Aang was sent flying into the side of the ship before falling to the deck with a heavy thud.

"I'm sorry again, but my friend needs you." Xiao said as he went to pick up Aang.

Before he could though, the air benders arrow tattoos started glowing brightly.

Aang's head shot up. His eyes were glowing and an angry expression was plastered to his face.

With a simple gesture, a wave of water crashed over the side of the deck, flooding the whole ship. Then his hand clenched, and the water froze, and with it all the guards and Zuko. Xiao was able to leap up in time to avoid the attack, and now hovered above the ice.

"What is this?!" He exclaimed as a volley of icicle spears came flying at him. He dodged them easily, but he knew I'd they had hit he would have been skewered.

"Aang?" He called out to the Avatr, but his voice fell on deaf ears.

'Fine then. If he's going all out then I won't either.' Xiao though resolutely.

"Get ready." He said simply.

Aang was about to attack again, but suddenly Xiao was gone. The boy, who was hovering in the air via a large water tornado he had created underneath himself, instinctively spun around to find a massive blast of fire coming at him.

The water supporting him moved to the side, effectively allowing him to dodge the attack.

'If that won't work then…'

Black flames engulfed Xiao's fist. He picked downwards, emitting a beam of black fire that shot down, crashing against the sea like a bolt of lightning.

The water instantly froze due to the extreme cold of the flame. The tornado of water that Aang had been perched on also froze along with it.

With his mobility sealed and his legs trapped in the ice, Xiao slammed his hands against the ice and shot lightning into it.

The electricity ran through the ice at high speeds and electrocuted Aang.

After that, he fell down, unconscious.

Xiao flew up to the boy trapped in ice, and with a small burst of flame completely melted it. He picked Aang up and floated down to the deck.

"Got any more surprises?" He asked.

Suddenly, Xiao felt as if he was hit by Boulder. He was sent flying, dropping Aang mid flight. He crashed into a nearby iceberg.

"I guess that's a yes." He muttered as he clawed his way out. He had covered himself in fire armor right before impacting the ice, but the previous hit still did a number on him.

He estimated that two of his ribs were most likely fractured or broken.

Looking up, he saw the air bison flying away. It was being piloted by Sokka and Katara by the looks of things. Aang was being held by Katara while Sokka piloted the beast.

"Not yet!" Xiao screamed, jumping up and sending a bolt of combustion bending towards them. Appa attempted to dodge but it followed them.

Then the bison's slammed its tail, and a gale storm erupted, me coming the bolt off course and making it crash into an iceberg right next to the ship. Xiao watched in horror as a massive avalanche of ice and snow fell onto the ship, burying half of it.

"Dammit!" He shouted, frustrated.

'I have made my choice.' He thought internally.

——————

Fight is different from canon.

Xiao fought Aang, deciding to stay with Zuko rather than help the Avatar. Maybe it's not too late to change it, but the question is, will he?

Hopefully the fight scenes are good enough for y'all.

Also, I wanted to tell you that yes, Xiao was still holding back. He didn't want to kill Aang but the same cannot be said for when Aang was in the Avatar state.

See you guys next chapter I guess.