Vacation Time Brotha!

The Avatar from the Water Tribe responded to her attacks being thrown at her by shooting out a stream of flames from her mouth like a dragon. This caused a small explosion between the two that was too small to actually affect either of the benders. The barrier of wind quickly blew away all of the black smoke. This ball of fire sent out of the woman's mouth successfully melted the ice, blocked the strikes of compressed air, and turned the tiny particles of sand into very tiny shards of glass that were blown away from the wind barrier. This was a good thing, he didn't want the bare foot Avatar cutting her feet on the battle field.

The Avatar used a powerful burst of Airbending to launch herself in the air. Soran looked up at the girl and smirked. She was obviously building up momentum for a following attack, most likely an Earthbending attack. Being an assassin for the Order of the White Lotus provided knowledge of the four elemental bending arts. Meaning the only person in the world who could bend all of the elements would surely mix them together. After all, this is what Soran would do if he was the Avatar.

The girl began to crash back down, she slammed her feet against the ground with in an Earthbending technique. This was something Soran was nothing new to. He had killed many Earthbenders throughout his lifetime enough to know how to counter such things. The warrior began to stumble back before then using Airbending similar to the waterspout by being able to rotate and control the direction of the air spout enough to levitate himself off the ground and remain in the air. The airborne warrior noticed water coming from above like a rain of ice.

The Airbending master spun the palms of his head to create a vortex above his head to work like a vaccum by sucking in all of the shards of icicle spikes raining downward towards the warrior. Similar to an air vortex but on a smaller scale, Soran inventively used this technique as a cannon by creating a small air funnel through which the icicle spike projectiles were being loaded and fired out of the opposite end (Like when Aang shot coal on the Fire Nation ship that captured Haru). So now the Avatar once again had her own attacks fired back at her. Using a Waterbending tactic of turning the opponent's attacks against them; Soran was firing a barrage of the woman's own attacks back at her in a machinegun-like fashion of ice spikes while hovering in the air.

Zulera Joanna Tallarico

Lady Tallarico soon realized the flaw in her plan, and began to work to instantly rectify it. Well... and perhaps to show off. This time she did not launch a consecutive barrage of attacks at him. After all, the words of her mother rang through her head. He who attacks first will always lose." it was a simple phrase, and not always true, but in the case of the the Zulerian techniques, it was very true. the only fights Zulera had lost were the ones where she took the offensive. it was time to turn the tables on him. Spreading her arms apart, she pulled large amounts of the sand in front of her together. While she was technically not a master of all four elements yet, she was among the best at the best at the first two she had learned--earth and water. she brought up a massive sand wall and from behind it, spewed another mighty fireball from her mouth. Seeing the Avatar spewing fireballs like a dragon was always cool, no matter who you were. the result made an intensely thick glass wall that would have been able to stop bullets, had bullets existed in this world. as a result, Zulera was unhurt. She dissipated the wall once the attacks finished bouncing mostly off of it, and after the dust cloud cleared, there was Zulera, standing idly, her hands in her pockets. She was facing him, her eyes fixated on him, but she was not moving; not attacking, not defending; not even taking a stance. She had not resigned, otherwise her hands would be in the air or she would be bracing herself, depending on the epicness level of the beatdown in question. This was little more than a training exercise for her.

Mood: Opportunistic Condition: Pumped

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The cloud of explosion from the earlier clash of elements had caused a gathering of a large crowd of people who had seen the smoke. Of course, they kept a safe distance while gathering in a semi-circle on the beach to watch the two approximately ten meters away. Murmurs in the crowd of seeing an Earth Kingdom swordsman who could Airbend fighting the Avatar quickly spread. People began to call out and cheer. They were loving this fight as Soran shot into the sky while using the air spout to levitate upward and shot the icicles back at the woman.

She was very resourceful as she brought her arms up to make a wall of sand that quickly converted into glass which blocked every single shard of ice. Dust from the sand formed a small cloud that got blown away by the spiralling wind, which revealed the girl standing in place with her hands in her pockets. This caused the warrior to form a sly smile after a short pause of amazement. This was a tactic he had never seen before. Normally a Waterbender would be defenseless against something like this. But then again, she was said to be master of all the elements. The wind died down as he gently landed on his feet as the wall dissipated back into sand.

"Glassbending, eh? That's a first. I have to say, you are certainly full of surprises, Avatar." Soran smiled as he could tell that they had both finished warming up. "I guess the practice run is over?" He asked while standing calmly. He would listen to anything the woman had to say before attacking. If the girl didn't respond at all, he would just follow up with his next attack anyway. So it honestly didn't really matter. The warrior just calmly lifted his left arm while holding the palm of his left hand outward, pointing at the girl. This next attack would occur without a moment's thought, warning, or hesitation.

This immediately triggered the Air suction: A technique used to bring people or things toward the Airbender like a vacuum. By only spinning his right arm in a circular motion with great speed and harnessing his Airbending, a small twister of thing and sharp wind formed around Soran's right wrist. The middle was hollow, allowing him to punch the opponent with tremendous force if it hit. Should the target dodge, the force of the sharp winds would usually knock them back, if not cutting them. This technique can be used as a shield against point-blank attacks as well as be used by both arms. This was something Soran developed himself with his mastery in Airbending.

The crowd of Fire Nation teenagers cheered as they saw the Avatar get dragged in by the stranger in Earth Kingdom attire. With a large wind-up with his whirlwind-covered fist, the swift warrior attempted a right hook aimed at the jaw of the rapidly approaching Avatar. This was his first sign of getting serious with the fight.

Soran smiled as the woman admitted she was simply warming up as well, this was certainly a long awaited fight. His department in the Order of the White Lotus was taking on and defeating dangerous and unique benders. The Avatar was about as dangerous and unique as a bender could get! That was what made this challenge so exciting. Soran would test his skills to their maximum potential if he even stood a chance of winning this battle. This was more of a challenge considering the fact that his assassinations usually required the aid of his sword. This battle was just a contest to see who the better element manipulator was. Unknown to the Airbender, he was actually more skilled at his own element than the Avatar was. However, he had no way to apply this knowledge to the battle due to the fact that he had no idea that Zulera wasn't a master at Airbending.

As the vacuum of wind dragged the girl in, she somehow weighted herself down and became impossible to move. The whirlwind fist was already finished forming around the Assassin's right arm as he stopped trying to drag the girl in. Suddenly the hard rock turned into the head of a dragon and the Avatar let out a loud roar that sounded like a tigerdillo. Suddenly fire spouted from the eyes of the "dragon" and Soran reacted by blocking the flames with a shield of powerful wind created from the slightest movement of his left arm. The shield was high powered and solidified as it covered the front half of his body. The heat from the flames could be felt on the warrior's face as he successfully kept the stream of fire at bay.

Suddenly the "dragon's" mouth open and began firing a wave of ice. Reacting on both extinct and reflexes; Soran lifted his right arm and blocked the onslaught of ice with the sharp wind formed around his wrist and forearm, while still maintaining the shield of wind with his left arm. The sharp wind formed around the Airbender's right arm successfully shredded up the ice to a fine powder, which was nearly the size of the grains of sand on the ground beneath the two. However, the force of the ice onslaught caused the warrior's feet to skid back in the sand. The swordsman was sliding him backward as the crowd cheered in unison at the Avatar's level of skill. The shield of wind became harder to maintain as Soran fought the urge to reach for his sword, which seemed like the smart thing to do. However, he would not go back on the agreement of the battle.

Quickly using the momentum from sliding back; the Airbender jumped high into the air while the wind dispersed from both his wrist and the shield after jumping. The warrior was still unharmed, even though the Avatar had managed to put him on the defensive. Now was the time to attack, while the warrior was airborne approximately ten meters above to mater of all the elements. While performing a flurry of spiral kicks; Soran conjured up an onslaught of thin and sharp wind slashes. These slashes of wind were shaped to be crescent-shaped structure of compressed air capable of deflecting colossal projectiles. These kicks of wind involved a focus; slicing air current that can cut through stone or timber with relative ease. This barrage of constant aerial kicks would be more than enough enough to counter the flames and ice if they continued to be fired at the Airbender. If the Avatar didn't move, she could be cut in half from the sharp wind aimed directly at the head of the dragon. These strikes continued while the warrior was still airborne, using his mastery in Airbending to decrease the wind resistance while he fell in order to fall slowly like a feather as he continued sending these attacks at the woman.

The hands of the dragon made from earthen materials shot up at the airborne warrior. These quickly crumbled after being struck by the compressed air before even getting close to the Airbender. Due to the thin and sharp nature of the compressed air, they cut directly through the stone with relative ease without being "weakened and diverted". This was mainly due to the nature of the attack and how the wind was shaped, the width of the air current being used for the attack was far too thin to be redirected by something so thick.

The Avatar sprung off the ground while still inside the head of the "dragon". She was propelling herself forward and somehow avoided every single slash of compressed air. Impressive, considering the speed at which the warrior was sending the attacks at was an extremely rapid rate. The dragon once again shot Fire and Ice at the Airbender, in which he responded by rapidly spinning his body in a corkscrew-like motion while Airbending. Similar to an air shield, this powerful defense of solidified wind surrounded the user in a sphere of spinning air that deflects anything coming in at them. The user can harness the surrounding wind currents to form a dome or full body barrier of wind in order to protect themselves from various oncoming attacks. And this is exactly what Soran was performing around his entire body. Spinning rapidly in order to parry each attack, both creating a rotating shield of solidified wind to block the streams of fire and tossing away every last bit of ice that came his way. This particular variant of the technique is only effective when rotating, since the wind itself is not enough to stop a physical attack. Thus if the user cannot spin, the user becomes vulnerable.

The swift warrior continued to rotate his body until the attacks ceased and the Avatar popped out of the exploding "dragon head" and appeared directly in front of him. By this time the rotating wind and dispersed and the two were face-to-face. This was the perfect time to demonstrate his true nature as an Airbender by using their trademark fighting style. The Baguazhang style of martial arts also known as circle walking, involves “smooth coiling and uncoiling actions” while mimicking the sudden directional shifts of air currents that maintain the circular theme. By using circular, evasive movements, Airbenders build up massive momentum; this build up of energy is released as massive power. The constant movement required by this art makes Airbenders naturally flexible and agile. Even without bending they can easily maneuver around an opponent by ducking, jumping, and side stepping, appearing to flow around their opponents without expending any energy at all, letting the opponent tire themselves out and thus creating exploitable openings. This conservation of energy combined with high stamina gives them an advantage in prolonged combat.

So by using this style, Soran was successfully able to avoid the first punch thrown by Zulera by by decreasing air resistance around himself while simultaneously rotating his body in an aerial fashion as he was generating a wind current behind his movements in order to to propel himself fast enough to weave the punch in order to get behind the woman. Even a simple movement of an Airbender can create an air gust. However, the master of this art used the rotating movement of getting behind his opponent to his advantage by generating powerful air currents around the Avatar and encasing her body in a spinning funnel of solidified wind that was similar to a whirlwind or a cyclone. This technique is reminiscent of a kamaitachi, or a razor wind. If caught within this vortex, the victim will feel the sharp wind cutting them up all around the body as if a small knife blade was rapidly slashing them and cutting deep into their flesh all over the body all at an extremely rapid rate. This technique was generated solely on the rotating movement of getting behind the woman.

Using the momentum of the spin, Soran brought the back of his hand towards the woman's position and smacked the vortex of sharp wind with a simple gust of air, without actually touching the wind like an idiot. This would send the vortex of sharp wind plummeting down towards the ground where it would make a large impact with the sand on the beach. Unless the Avatar discovered a way to stop this. This technique was a skill only performable by a master in the art of Airbending. So it would be extremely difficult for the woman to get out of this vortex if she were caught in it. If the woman were sent flying away from the man; he would simply slide down from the gentle wind current beneath his feet in order to land on the top of the palm tree he was originally sitting under with his arms crossed.

Spinning her body in unison with his, the Avatar had managed to avoid his attack as chunks of rocks managed to strike the Airbender in the back and sent him spiraling towards the ground. These chunks of rocks felt like a series of baseballs striking the back of the Assassin and caught him off-guard. While falling towards the ground, Soran released out a breath of wind similar to the standard air jet, but created from the mouth and lungs. This required extremely good breath control to employ effectively. But do to the panicked state; this sloppily caused the swordsman to cushion his fall as he landed down in the sand with a thud.

The Avatar propelled herself into the air with a rapidly spinning vortex of water. Similar to the waterspout, master Airbenders are able to rotate and control the direction of the air spout enough to levitate themselves off the ground and remain in the air for as long as they wish to or can maintain it. As Soran saw the girl perform this, he mimicked the woman by using his spout of air to get at eye level with the Avatar. He smiled at her with a large grin as the sand blew off of his body. She had actually managed to hit him. He was impressed with her skill. The Avatar did not disappoint.

The two were at eye level and their individual vortexes ranged to be around the same exact height. "Well done, Avatar!" Soran praised the woman, "You balance your techniques quite well. You may actually be one of the most skilled opponents I have ever faced." This praise was followed up by somebody in the crowd shouting out towards the two airborne bending masters, "Boo! No talking!" Glaring down at the man who said it, he quickly pointed towards the old woman next to him as if to imply that she was the one who said it. Soran then looked back at Zulera "I guess the ball is back in your court, Avatar." He stated while keeping his eyes on the woman.

These two airborne benders were hovering approximately ten meters in the air and were arm length apart. Neither of them had even made a move yet. Her cool blue eyes met up with his grey. Soran felt as though he was in somewhat of a trance as he looked at the Avatar with a continuous smile on his face. The time for speaking was over as there wasn't much else to say. As if acting on instinct without even thinking it through, Soran leaned in and kissed the girl on the lips. This was a quick and subtle kiss that made the crowd gasp in shock.

The kiss barely lasted a second as Soran leaned back with a wink while leaning back and freefalling behind his air spout. As he fell, the spinning wind would crash into the spiraling water in an attempt for the spiraling vortexes to destroy each other. Before landing on the ground, Soran flipped and landed squarely on his feet after cushioning his fall with Airbending. He then looked up at the Avatar to see if she was falling as well from his attack.

It seemed that the match between the two benders was over. The two vortexes of wind and water crashed together wand the water seemingly sprinkled on the two as well as all the spectators watching the match. There was a subtle silence throughout the crowd before a loud roar of cheering erupted throughout Ember Island. It must've been the most exciting thing they had seen all week. This was certainly more excitement than Soran had planned for the day.

Bowing respectfully, like Fire Nation citizens, the samurai smiled at his opponent. "Indeed it was, Avatar. That was certainly more than I expected it to be. He smiled walking over to the palm tree and placed his straw hat back on his head. Surprisingly, it hadn't flown away from the constant gusts of wind used in the spar. The crowd then dispersed once they knew the fight was officially over. Soran walked back over to Zulera, "So, what is there do to for fun around here?"

One of the teenagers walking away dropped a small plastic bag of some lime green plant buds inside it. The curious warrior walked over to it and examined the bag before turning to the Avatar. He held up the bag while holding it up and showing it to her now that nobody else was around. "I am not sure what this is, but it seems to be freshly picked buds." He stated plainly not sure what to make of it. He was curious if the woman had any information on what he had in his possession as he handed her the bag.

Pondering at the Avatar's words curiously he took a closer inspection on the herb. It definitely wasn't any poisonous herb he had ever encountered before. And being an assassin for the Order that was spread worldwide, that was saying a lot. He had come across every single type of poison imaginable. He could see that is most likely wasn't dropped on purpose considering the way it was wrapped up. There was also something else he noticed upon inspecting it; some of it was rolled inside thin paper with the end seemingly tied into a knot.

Opening the bag, the warrior pulled out the joint and sat next to the Avatar. "Yeah, it is definitely not poison. Whatever it is, it was being used to inhale." Soran explained while showing the joint to Zulera. "I wonder what it does."

Something that you smoke, eh? That could be enteresting. Soran remembered certain rituals that the monks in the Eastern Air Temple performed. This was something to calm the mind and ease meditation. It was also used recreationally for rest and relaxation. The side-effects were hungry, happy, and sleepy. Motioning the joint over to Zulera, the warrior asked enthusiastically "Mind giving me a light, Firebender?" Soran smiled as he extended the joint out and planned to smoke weed with the Avatar.