Gladiator mark of the rogue

Chapter Five: Tempering

Seven years ago near a Fire Nation Colony town in the former Earth Kingdom…

Azula barely bends out of the way of the black blade earning deep three-inch long cut at the bottom of her right eye. The wound was deep enough to show the white of her cheekbone. Then thanks to her training on Kyoshi Island, Azula grabs the Faceless Tigers arm and twist so she is behind him. She proceeds to locks his arm using her elbow in such a way that she can place her hand at the left side of the man's back and she slaps her right hand on top of the man's helmet. Then she ignites her hands and her blue fire heats the leather armor the man was wearing along with attempting to cook his head.

Sokka

Sokka feeling the heat quickly bites down hard on the presser switch he kept in his mouth when he was in battle. The switch triggers several hydraulic cutters removing the straps holding the helmet to his head well also releasing the pin lever switches that that hold the helmet to his mask. Sokka uses the shock of his helmet going slack to get out of Azula's hold. Since Azula managed to heat, the shaped steel of his armor to the point that it ignite and gives him a first-degree burn. He quickly extends his right gauntlets push blade and using both blades he sliced through the leather holding his armor together. He quickly throws it off as he performs a forward flip to land on his back snuffing allowing him to put out his smoldering cotton shirt.

With Mai and Katara

Mai looked at the blade lodged in her shoulder as Katara came to heal her. "Good thing you came to fix me up." Mai says in her bored tone before ripping out the sai lounged in her shoulder and in the same motion throws it at the faceless tiger, "Choke on this you fucking bastard" Mai screams releasing the anger she has had built up for the last two months.

The blade flies through the air and lodged itself in the faceless tiger's left leg well he is still on the ground. Katara quickly uses one of her water skins to start healing her friend. "You crazy Goth bitch." She says with a smile at Mai as she used her water to seal her bleeding wound.

"What can I say the boy is too fast for Azula to handle and that's a bad thing? That will level the playing field. Now fix me up Sugar queen, I could go for a fruit tart." Mai tells Katara showing a rare small smile.

Several feet away Ursa and Kya were watching the fight between the faceless tiger and the wingless dragon. You could see Ursa fighting against her urge to unleash a storm of fire and lighting upon the man. How she wanted to show the man what the fury of a pissed off mother looked like. The only thing stopping her was the sharp look in her daughter's eyes.

This was not just a battle between two soldiers anymore it was a duel between two warriors and their honor is at stake. Ursa and Kya could almost see a wingless red dragon enveloping Azula and a black saber toothed tiger behind the Faceless Tiger.

"Finish him Azula." Ursa whispers.

Kya placed her hand on Ursa's shoulder as a comforting gesture. The two mother's one unknowingly watches the final moments of a battle to the death between their children. However, Kya could not help the strange feeling of worry she has for the Faceless Tiger wellbeing.

Sokka and Azula's duel

Sokka grimaced as the three bladed sai sinks into his left knee locking it in place but he does not take his eye off Azula. He rolls himself into a handstand before launching himself off the ground his right leg taking his body weight. He does not bother to take the blade out of his leg as he would bleed out before he could escape if he did. The girl stares at him as she burns the strings used to hold her heavy armor to her body letting it fall off her bought lightening herself her eyes never leaving thoughts of her opponent. The armor makes a small dust cloud as it hits the ground leaving Azula in her red long sleeve shirt and lightly armored pants.

Azula makes the first move as she runs at Sokka sending a blast of blue flame at him. Sokka dodged it by jumping to the side with his right leg before he starts hoping on one leg his speed matching Azula speed. He quickly gets into close range and swings his right blade at her. Expecting him to attack Azula charged her left hand with her blue fire in preparation for the deadliest close range move of Floating Phoenix style of fire bending.

Her left hand was cocked and ready to spring. She grasps Sokka's right arm locking it in place before she then using her left hand she plants her palm on the left of his chest and she releases a cone of fire at the precise moment of impact. This is the Impact Burst and it is used to destroy your opponents' heart. It is the second to last move of the floating phoenix style and its dim mock.

Unfortunately, she was unable to block Sokka's left arm as his push blade sinks into her left breasts. Both fall to the ground in there duel ending in a draw. The last thing they see as there vison fades to black is Ursa, Kya and Yue runing toward them the latter two having water in their hands covered in water ready to heal the two fallen combatants.

Seven years later

Sokka shook his head as he remembered that day from seven years ago. He was standing in the bathroom with his face dripping with water as he wanted to wash his face before going for another dagger removal and this one would be painful as the dagger has a serrated edge so it would take some time for it to be extracted. He was tempted to just rip the dagger from his body himself, however, the last time he did that, he received a four-hour lecture from Granny the old head Doctor of Rome as well as massive headache from her smacking him on the head with her cane. He wipes the water off his face before going to open the door so he can get back into the infirmary, so he can get his operation over with so he can take a shower, eat a large meal and get some sleep.

Sokka quickly walked backwards back into the bathroom after seeing his sister for the first time in seven years standing in the infirmary. He peeks out the door hoping Katara had not seen him.

"Gladiator gets your butt out of the bathroom now so I can remove that dagger. The princess is expecting you in in the Royal reception room and she does not like to be kept waiting." Katara tells the man in a stern voice.

"Yes mam." Sokka says out of fear, as he knew not to piss of the medic who would work. He learned this from mothing off to his Gran-Gran well she was removing the two fishhooks he had stuck in his thumb. She disinfected his thumb with spiced Rum after he had two fishhooks removed from it. His thumb throbbed from the tone of voice Katara was using.

He almost mechanically walked out of the bathroom, sits on exam table, and started to reach for the dagger logged in his side however, Katara slaps Sokka's hand before he can grab the weapon.

"Don't touch that I will extract it safely after we treat that head wound. Do you want it to scar or do you want it fully healed. It looks like you don't have a concussion which is surprising since the shield that was lobed at your head looked and sounded like it hit hard." Katara says as she looks Sokka's over.

"The shield dented when it hit my head so you could say I have a very hard head. That thing was made of some kind of dense alloy too. Hurt like hell and the guy got me with a cheap shot so it is not worthy of scaring me." Sokka laughs as he rubs the back of his head. Katara gathers the warm clean water mixed with iodine from a prepared basin and she starts healing Sokka's head.

"Really I thought that only my father's head was that hard. I once watched him break a sword made by lord Piandao with a head butt." Katara says remembering the bet her father made with Ozai. That had earned Hakoda 100 gold coins before the yuan had been introduced.

"I met d… Hakoda a few times he bets heavily on me." Sokka says with a cringe as he almost called Hakoda dad in front of Katara. He did not want her to know that her brother was a warrior with hands so stained in blood they could fill an Olympic sized pool. In addition, he did not want Katara to know he almost killed her best friend.

"You made me lose 500 Yuans as I bet on the guy who stabbed you with this dagger." Katara says with a glare.

"I can reimburse you if you want." Sokka says with a gulp remembering his sister's sometimes overly violent temper.

"Mha it was worth it to see lady Chin-Ta's face after you won. You most have pissed her off for her to bet so heavily against you. I am however going to keep the dagger." Katara says as she starts healing the burn on his shoulder.

"No scar there either." Sokka tells Katara forcing himself not to give her his goofy grin that he knew matched his fathers. Katara notice the demon skull tattoo on his arm as she healed the burn.

"Were you banished from the Northern Tribe?" Katara asks Gladiator.

"You could say that." Gladiator says without looking at his sister. Katara thought the man was just ashamed of his banishment so she brushed it off. She also did not know that the Northern Tribe does not tattoo exiles but brand them with a branding iron with the exception being children under the age of nine. They however do receive a tattoo of the mark.

"Now I will show you ladies how to extract a serrated dagger from a body in only a few seconds." Katara says as she starts bending more water. She then sends it into Sokka's wound along the blade feeling the daggers serrations with her chi. she then fills them in matching the width of the blade before she easily slips it out.

"You need to coat the blade with your water filling in the gaps of the blade with it making sure to match the width of the blade. You need to make sure you do not cool the water as you could cause harm to the patient. Now we need to cut the patients armor off." Katara tells the other medics in the room. All of them had stars in their eyes as they got a free lesson from the world's greatest healer.

"You are not cutting off my armor; Zhao does not give me leather to repair the straps unless the thing is falling apart." Sokka says as he undoes the straps and removes his armor it from his body showing his bare well-muscled chest. On the left side of his chest was a starburst shaped scar with eight wavy points, his stomach had three diagonal scars going from right to left. Two of them were thicker and jagged well the lowest one was a smooth clean cut. Sokka got the thicker jagged scars from his first battle with his new wind raptor's curtesy of his claws well the third was from a Jain.

"That had to hurt like hell." Katara says watched Sokka remove his armor.

"That was nothing I once watched him fight on a broken leg with a broken sword arm, along with a broken sword and he still won. He never even lets us give him some painkillers after word as it is against his religion. But doesn't he have one hell of a hot body." one of the woman says as she drooled at Sokka's body.

"Mha he does not do it for me for some reason. But he does have nice muscles." Katara says as she starts healing Sokka's stomach. After she finished healing Sokka's wound, she finally catches the smell coming off him.

"You stink; you better take a shower before I take you to the princess. There are showers in the bathroom right?" Katara asks the medics.

"Yes and here you go a towel, your favorite soap, and shampoo. You need to get cleaned up Gladiator, so you can make a proper impression on the Princess. She cannot be refused even if she wants to have a good romp with you as Lady Chin Ta has been trying get to you to do with her. You can refuse that skank but you cannot refuse one of the heirs to the elemental empires throne." An old woman says as she hands several items to Sokka before shoving him into the bathroom.

"Don't come out until you're cleaned up. There is a razor, shaving brush, cup, scissors, and soap too. If you do not shave that shaggy beard off, I will wax it off you. Your nicest clothes are in the bundle as well." The old woman says as with a threating smile Sokka.

"Yes Granny." Sokka says as closed the door and started up the shower.

Granny Min was the oldest medic in Rome and looked after the rest of the young medics and Sokka, as he was the oldest veteran gladiator in the arena.

"It will take him about twenty minutes to get cleaned up Lady Katara. Perhaps you could fill us in on some of the latest gossip from the capital well we wait." Min states with a smile on her face.

"With pleasure" Katara states as she starts in the latest gossip including Ty lees latest breakup.

With Azula

Azula fingered the scar on her face with her left index finger as she remembered the battle turned duel she received it. The wound she received to her chest, which for vanity reasons Katara did not leave. She got both wounds from the very gauntlet she wore on her right arm. The chest wound she received had caused her to develop a massive lunge infection. The infection turned into pneumonia and the pneumonia almost robbed her of her bending as it greatly reduced her lung capacity. She fell into a deep depression after her recovery. She starts to reminisce about how she got started on the road to recovering her bending.

Six years and six months ago

Azula laid under her blankets for the sixth day in a row not wanting to get up to face the day. She had barely eaten for the last six days after she failed to send more than embers after she tried to firebend for the first time in six months. Her lung capacity had greatly deteriorated do the injury to her chest and resulting illness she received six months ago.

"Get your fine fat ass out of bed now Azula." Ursa says as she barged into her daughter's room as the door slams against the wall. Ozai Ursa's husband tried to get Azula out of the funk she been in for the last six days. So now, it was Ursa's turn to get Azula to snap out of her depression.

"Go away mom." Azula said as she rolled over in the massive bed that she was lying in the center of.

"If you are not out of that bed in three seconds I am going to dump you out of it." Ursa tells her daughter with a glare.

"Ha I would like to see you try my bed is both massive and heavy." Azula sassily states as she rolled over to show her back to her mother.

"Rule number one of combat never turn your back on an enemy." Ursa says as she grabs Azula's bed and using a fire boost Ursa turned it over causing Azula to scream as she hit the ground.

"Now get a shower or I will throw you in a bathtub and scrub you down myself." Ursa says with a stern tone.

"Yes mom 'Bitch'" Azula whispers as she grabs some clean clothes from her closet.

"What was that it sounds like a mouth in need of soap? Wasn't that your favorite desert when you were little?" Ursa says causing Azula to shiver. From age, four to six she swore she had a steady diet of soap for dinner and she blamed it for her lack of bust size. She really should not have fallowed her daddy to the port so often. She learned how to out cuss a sailor though so she felt it was a win-win.

"I said I love you mom." Azula says with a forced smile.

"I love you two now get cleaned up we are going to Ember Island. We will buy a new wardrobe when we get there so don't bother packing. You can bring your hairbrush, as I know you love it." Ursa says as she picked up the hairbrush.

"Why are we going to Ember Island? The Players are not scheduled to butcher Love Amongst the Dragons for another three months." Azula yells at her mother from her bathroom.

"I see you keep the hidden blade as sharp as your tongue." Ursa says as she unsheathed the hidden dagger as Azula throws her black lace thong into her room. (Note a dagger has two edges well a knife has only a single edge.)

"Why would you have a hidden blade in your brush if it's not sharp enough to cut armor?" Azula says with a lot of pride in her voice in her voice.

Ursa waits for Azula to finish taking her shower before she starts talking again.

"Do you know the history of this brush Azula?" Ursa asks her daughter as Azula dries her hair.

"There's a history my brush? I thought it was something Sozin made in his chase of the Avatar." Azula asks as she towels off her short hair.

"Yes there is. This brush was a wedding present to your great grandmother Ta Min to help her protect herself and as a sign of friendship between both Avatar Roku and Fire Lord Sozin. The blade is forged from meteor steel from a meteorite that crashed into the Dragon's academy for Firebending. The meteorite barley missed Sozin well he was head instructor before he became Fire Lord. It was sent to the wedding, which took place after Roku defeated Sozin over the legally purchased land from the earth kingdom that the Fire Nation colonies resided in. The blade is composed of smelted meteorite iron and wood ash from the black ash tree was used to harden the iron into steel. It was then passed to my mother when she married my father Jinzuk. My mother passed it to me when I turned sixteen and graduated at the top of my class from the Royal Fire Academy for Girls. Ten years ago, I used it to brush your hair and you tried to snatch it form my hand so you could brush my hair in return. You ended up pulling the blade form the brush and you had such a fascinated look on your little face. You asked me how a dagger could be stored in a brush handle and I explained that the brush was burned with the heated dagger to make the sheath. I gave you this brush three days later on your fifth birthday. That also started seemed to start your obsession with hidden blades." Ursa tells her daughter with a smile as she finished brushing her daughter's hair.

"I do not have an obsession with blades hidden in everyday objects." Azula states indigently.

"That's right you have an obsession with blades in general but 1/2 of your weapons collection is hidden blade weapons. I see you enshrined the faceless tiger's sword. Do you look at it well you masturbate?" Ursa asks as she sees the sword pieces carefully placed on a blue and gray silk cloth.

Azula suddenly looked like she downed a large shot of pure lemon grape juice and her face turned a bright red.

"What… what I don…That is none of your business mother." Azula yells at her mother, despite having done that a few times.

"I will take that as a yes. Do not worry I will not tell anyone. Now get dressed we have to go." Ursa tells her still sputtering daughter.

It would take Azula an hour to master her blush do to the fact that her body control had lessened with her illness.

On the royal battle ship

"So why are you dragging me to Ember Island Mom?" Azula asks her mother with a bored look she had Mai teach her.

"First we are going to spend the next few days meditating on the beach well soaking up the sun, then we are going to train as its harder to fire bend in the high humidity of Ember Island. I am going to get your ass in better shape then you were six months ago. I also feel it is time for you to learn the last move of the Floating Phoenix style.

Six years and six months later

Azula smiled as she recalled her mother's words, she then jumps slightly as Ty lee opens the door. Ty lee enters into the room still walking on her hands; she had used her feet to open the door.

"Here are your rubbers I got one pack of each size as we do not know how big the Gladiators sword is." Ty lee states with a smile as she hands several boxes of steel sheaths to Azula using her left foot.

"Thank you for picking them up for me. I will talk to you when we leave. Why don't you go play cards on me?" Azula says as she pulls out a bundle of five thousand Yuans from one of the two cases that she had her winnings in.

"If you actually use them Ming arranged it for you to have the room all night so you can enjoy him all night and cuddle with him in the morning." Ty lee states with a smirk as she watches Azula blush.

To be continued.

I decided to end here just so I can get this chapter out. The mystery Sokka and Azula's duel has been answered and next time I will reveal how the lived. Thank you for taking your time to read my stories and I will try to get more chapters out quicker but no promises.