trans_9 | Last Straw

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Last Straw

She went straight to the Sensoriums. Her feelings were all over the place, and she had to get away from people right now. She remembered all too well what happened to Alex when he lost Luna: she knew she had to find a way to take her aggression out. There was pain and self loathing and unspeakable things she was sorting through, but right now it was nothing but anger she was feeding on. She closed her eyes when she entered, concentrating on the enemies she;s fought while she'd been on the ship.

The Terminators. The T-Rex. The Nightmare King's monster minions. The traps Hal had laid for them. They came one at a time but Katara was ready, steeling herself to calmly maneuver out of the traps, to find a way to take down the terminator most efficiently, and those alone took more than a few hours. It was when she got to the nightmare King's minions, however, that Katara stopped being cautious. Now she ripped into them, stabbing at them with ice shards and freezing them on the spot before blowing through them, and slowly her determined face gave away to that of rage. As she started to remember their fights, their hugs, their talks, she switched to the Bene Gesserit fighting style, her hits were starting to get more serious, leaving many injured in her wake, though she received a few cuts herself. When she was done an hour later, it faded, all of it, and she was left in water, where she had heard Sokka once talk to Toph about how she'd been like a mother to her, and she couldn't stand it anymore. She let out a scream, primal and pained.

"WHY?! WHY BRING HIM HERE JUST TO TAKE HIM AWAY?! ALL THIS TIME, JUST TO TAKE HIM AND NOT HAVE AANG HERE AND MAKE ZUKO FORGET WHAT WE ALL DID?? WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME!?"

And she dissolved into tears here, the sun sinking into the clouds and leaving a dark, lonely pond.

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"Doing something like that is what makes people want to kill you in the first place," Katara said, remembering the craziness in Azula's eyes. "The better heroes don't kill unless they have absolutely no choice, and I MEAN no choice. You don't get stronger and better by resorting to the same methods as the person that did it in the first place."

Oh, she got it all right: it wasn't like the Overlord was just talking to make conversation, but she wouldn't mention it.

"I said they were the basis," Katara said, "but as we learned to control the water, naturally we would learn to make it freeze over too, not to mention make it architecture, shielding, weapons...there is a lot to do with water."

Edited 2010-10-26 16:19 (UTC)

Katara underestimated what a total chatterbox Zetta was. Seriously, for a badass freakin' Overlord, he sure seemed to love to yak.

"So... you kicked the moon's ass at its own job," Zetta said. Appreciatively, at that. "That actually sounds pretty neat." Not that he had a use for the non-war implementations of the technique.

Katara laughed a little at that. "We don't quite think of it in that way. The moon played an important part in what we are, and without it we wouldn't be where we are. But like any student, we try to surpass the teacher with what we learn. That's why its always important to keep training and bettering yourself. I'm glad Ruffnut is training with you, you know. She has a lot of energy."

God help whoever trained that little girl.

"Hyaaa ha ha ha! I love that kid!" Ruffnut was... an oddly good match for Zetta. "Soul of a demon! She'll never surpass me, but if she doesn't surpass everyone ELSE, I'll be surprised." He looked a bit smug and satisfied for a moment.

"So... this bending-water thing... if you guys learned it, how come it's a tribe? I mean, if you figured it out, why can't anyone?" Not that he's being critical, just curious. All new forms of power fascinate Zetta, inasmuch as he wants to know what might appear on the scene someday when things are back to normal. He may be dumb as a post, but it's a reasonably capable post in terms of tactical matters.

Katara nodded. "Ruffnut is really amazing from what I saw. But you know I think it would also be good to have someone train the little girl too. She seemed really violent and I thought it was crazy to even be there with her, but I feel like there was some untapped potential there too. When I saw her refuse help, it was like...she had something to prove, I don't know. Do you know anyone who would be able to help her train too?"

It wasn't a big thing, it just reminded her a little of Toph when she first saw her.

She put up her hand. "Only some of us have the ability. Largely we're a tribe because of where we live, the South Pole. The rest of the tribe are still training to just fight against the fire nation, but all of us as a whole are a family, protecting each other and looking out. With the Southern Tribe, all of our benders were taken, except for one. So the men of our tribe journeyed to join the earth kingdom in fighting the fire nation."

He could make a guess at the last "one" of the waterbenders.

"Eh," Zetta said with a shrug in his voice. "She wants to be a hero. I can't train that. I mean... specifically. I could probably pull off some generalities, I like her style. Did she actually ever join the Outsiders? Since I seem to be meeting most of you lately, I swear." Zetta trailed off into muttering to himself, something about minions and Overlording, before Katara's next words drew him back.

"And that fire guy was fought and beaten. I'm guessing with your help somewhere along the line."

Did she want to be a hero? Katara wasn't sure, though she definitely had been dressed like one. "I didn't hear, actually. I feel like she's looking for something though, and whatever that is, it involves fighting. I can ask her next time I see her, but I think Beastboy might do that first."

She shook her head. "No, Aang faced him alone. I had to fight the Fire Lord's daughter. She was just as dangerous though."

She had; Zetta remembered that clearly. Brutality like she'd shown marked the difference between a hero, who wanted to protect, defend, or end, and a villain, who wanted strength and power. Also... "With a costume like that, yeah. Hero." He seemed so damn amused by that.

"That sounds like helping in my book. Even if it wasn't directly against the fire guy."

After a moment, Zetta realized what he'd just said, and made a noise midway between a groan and a grumble. "Uh, let's forget I ever used that phrase, 'kay?"

Katara shrugged. She still didn't get the whole hero/superhero thing anyway. "That was a pretty funky costume. I didn't think anyone could have purple hair, to be honest. It was kind of awesome. She even had a skirt that matched the color of Jamie's kilt!"

She nodded. "Well yeah. She was just as strong as he was, and maybe twice as vicious. Grown adults were pretty afraid of her. Fighting her, especially during the comet where she was ten times more powerful? Really, REALLY scary."

She giggled. "Gotcha. That pun's between us."

"Hmph. You should see the average Netherworld. She's downright bland." Considering his minion had green hair -- naturally, as much as that word implied -- he wasn't understating matters. (Considering Zetta himself had flaming hair that flickered off into bats made of that flame before fizzling... yeah.)

"So... we're in the sensorium," he said. "Show me. As much as you're willing to anyway."

"Wow. I think I'd like to see that sometime. It sounds pretty hard to believe, especially when I've never seen a costume quite like that."

Ugh. That was definitely not something she wanted to bring forth, but it was memories after all. The scenery changed, and they were at the heart of the Fire Nation capital, right where Azula was being crowned the new Fire Lord. Here Katara watched as her other part engaged Azula (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFyaiWYAL3E&feature=fvsr) (1:37, ignore the music). Katara could still feel the heat on her skin, still see the crazed look in Azula's eyes.

"She looks crazy now, and she was, but something happened back then, I'm not sure what. Before this she was one of the most competent, cruel people you'd ever meet: you can see it in her bending. She was the only firebender I ever knew that had blue fire."

Azula herself didn't impress him; he knew Seedle, after all. Her ferocity and power, though, earned a bit of a raised eyebrow. "She wasn't bad," he said. "Not much to say for absolute levels of power, but the style was there. Decent opponent."

From Zetta, was this high praise?

"Well," Katara closed her mouth, looking more than a little tense when it came to Azula. "She was definitely very strong and capable, for someone that was insane and a killer. Definitely was one of the most dangerous benders I ever face in battle."

She grinned. "Your turn."

"Uh, 'kay," Zetta said, briefly at a loss. "Whaddya wanna see?"

She thought a moment. "Show me how you looked. You said you would before, right? et me see you in action."

"Hmph." He'd just showed that to Starfire, not long ago. But hey, in action? He preferred that to just looking gorgeous -- and he DID look gorgeous.

"So here's me beating what I thought was the prophecied destruction of my Netherworld," Zetta said, conjuring up the images of that fight. (And very specifically ending the review at the defeat of Raiden. He didn't quite want to reveal the whole did-this-to-himself thing to Katara, much as his stupidity might cheer her up. No thanks.)

Katara watched, fascinated. When it was done, she went over and had to admit something.

"You did look pretty impressive," she said, "Maybe you really are as awesome as you say."

"Pfft," Zetta said. "That fight? That was nothing. That was just to illustrate how damn gorgeous I really am." He took such clear pleasure in so proclaiming himself, the sort of pleasure that really crossed an uncomfortable line between "arrogance" and "overt narcissism." Though he never stayed that low for long.

"You wanna see a better fight..." The book scrunches his eyes up to concentrate. She might better appreciate the skill it took to take Nanashi down to 0 hit points as a book.

She rolled her eyes. She really was going to have to get used to the arrogance in his speech, as it was something that Azula had employed quite a bit, although the ways he spoke had been in a way that Nanashi would have boasted more. Still, it had to come out of somewhere, and the fight she saw before her was more than proof.

Also, it was a good insight to how strong her teacher was too. Zetta had been stronger (no doubt worse if he hadn't been a book) but Nanashi had been so slouch either, and could see points where she even surprised Zetta. Evangeline, who had surfaced by surprise, had even chilled her. She was beginning to see, more than ever, exactly how strong magic was.

"That was a good fight," she said, shaking her head. "I liked seeing my teacher in action too."

Magic. Ha. Zetta hadn't used any magic, at least, not as he would term it. That got into the fine distinctions of mana vs. magic that he had difficulty explaining to other people property, though.

"She's good," Zetta said, quite truthfully. "To be honest, I'd rate her on the level of some of the strongest Overlords I know. She's certainly the closest thing I have to a peer on the ship."

See, Zetta could occasionally admit to the strengths of others.

She nodded. "I've never seen her quite like that before, to be honest. She's usually just teaching me and Ed to sword fight. I never saw her use alchemy before though, that's new. It's a little different from the way Ed does it though. I've seen him do it with just his hands."

She thought a minute. "What about Evangeline?"

She was still trying to learn all she could about Negi's teacher.

"Yeah, what's-his-name, Ed... didn't believe she could manage that much. He was underestimating her." Zetta, for all his blindness and arrogance, hadn't done that. "I think she just wanted to prove where she stood with me, so she couldn't hold back... but hey, I don't know. I don't understand her at all." He could freely admit to this.

"Evangeline... reminds me a LOT of Pram the Oracle," Zetta said with something of a shudder. "And except for me, there's no one stronger than Pram."

Pram would never let him live that down if she heard him say that.

How could he call Ed what's his name? Ed's name barely had a syllable. Oh well.

"Well of course she could learn it, she's a centuries old vampire," Katara said, shaking her head, "She was bound to have seen a lot of things in her lifetime. I don't underestimate my teacher, I just doubt certain methods. But then, I wouldn't be a very good pupil if I didn't."

Not that she hadn't made THAT mistake before.

"I thought she was strong," Katara said, half to herself. "She teaches Negi, so I figured she would be very powerful. She's kind of evil though...I wonder how that will work out."

Because Zetta kept meeting new people and Ed hadn't done anything terrifically impressive in Zetta's eyes.

The book made a weird motion, frowned with irritation, muttered something about missing shoulders, then said, "Like I said, she reminds me of Pram. She doesn't seem any more evil than me... which isn't saying much, mind," he added with a glare to remind Katara that Zetta himself is EVIL EVIL EVIL. Right? EVIL.

Katara laughed. "I wasn't saying you weren't evil, Overlord Zetta. I just identify her as something more evil because I know Negi. He's ten years old, and Eva always seemed like she was going to drop him on his head at any minute. I'm kind of protective over him."

Yes, she knows you're evil Overlord: you won't stop reminding her.

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I miss having a video card; getting a character creation screencap would have been so easy

Re: I miss having a video card; getting a character creation screencap would have been so easy

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