Chapter 125: Avatar Diary— A Plan Succeeded
A/N: Vote~
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"So, the both of them are truly fine?" Rena had an urge to roll her eyes but she could empathize with the graceful and mature woman who had her dark brown hair tied up with a red band as two bangs framed the sides of her face.
Aang and Sokka weren't much of help. Ever since their return to Omashu, Bumi had been nothing but a mess of jokes and practical pranks while Michi kept asking the trio about Mai, Tom-Tom... and subtly Nik. The news of him being in a relationship with Katara and Suki didn't hit her as hard as the news of Mai taking care of Tom-Tom.
Sun, on the other hand, avoided the problem completely as Bumi took interest in his despite his lavabending and taught him earthbending whenever he willed... so, Sun had his earthen bed flipped over well past midnight at Bumi's whims. To be honest, Bumi rejected teaching Aang, who continued to ask for it, and taught Sun, who didn't ask for it...
Assuring Michi again, Rena wanted to slip by and practice her skills. While Aang and Sokka could spar against each other where Sokka needed to give his best to barely stay afoot in front of the Avatar, constantly improving as a result, Rena found her time occupied by other miscellaneous stuff that she would rather avoid getting addicted to.
"Ah... why not join me for another massage?" Michi smiled and cordially invited. She was quite assured of her children's safety but that didn't alleviate the natural worry she felt come every morning. So, it was almost a ritual by now to ask about Mai and Tom-Tom first thing in the morning and when she had regained her calm...
"And um... we could talk about the water tribe... believe it or not, I'm quite interested in your culture..." Michi avoided eye contact with the three of them. She was quick to forgive Aang for Tom-Tom's departure since it technically wasn't even his fault so Aang didn't feel being guilty around Michi.
Rena, finally, scoffed internally. Although she didn't despise Michi due to her origins which placed the two of them at direct confrontation, she was quite annoyed by Michi's interest in the northern culture... but honestly, the massage from the earth kingdom was slowly getting... well, addictive. As Aang and Sokka rightfully slipped by, Rena's whisper made Michi speechless, "You know... if you want to know about Nik, Katara, and Suki, I can always cut to the chase instead of answering what an igloo is..."
The two gazed at each other. Michi's lips twitched as she inquired, "You know?"
"Everyone knows... Mai is the one who really blurted it out in a banquet..."
"She knows? Does Tom-Tom know it, too?!" Michi's eyes widened in shock but Rena adopted a cheeky grin, "Oh, why don't we discuss your interest in our culture over massage, eh?"
Michi rolled her eyes. Of all the things, she didn't expect Mai to know of it and Rena's later explanation seemed to hint that she knew it by herself and not from someone else... this could only mean that she somehow happened to run into their 'situation' when they weren't aware.
---
The group's stay in Omashu was prolonged because of two reasons. First, Bumi wanted to confirm that the children affected by Ukano were capable of their own thoughts after rehabilitation. This led to a series of games where Aang and others were asked to assist.
Second, with Tom-Tom hoarding Mai's weapons and she letting him do that, Mai had drawn the specification of her weapons and the wrist band to hold them to Aang to get them made by a skilled smith, a profession that can be found easily in Omashu.
This allowed Aang to happily commission one other product.
Since Bumi was footing the bill, Aang had no reservations for making a few exorbitant demands.
Soon, their stay had lasted for almost two months. Knowing full well it was the time for their departure, Aang, Sokka, Sun, and Rena secured the prisoner who had expertise in performing rehabilitation and pointing out who had their minds altered by the methods of Dai Li.
To see them off, Bumi prepared a large banquet. Enough to last for days... and that's what Sokka did as he casually stored the food into a sack for the journey, leaving others speechless. What could they do?
Without Nik, they had to think of such things. While hunting and eating fresh was necessary, Sokka's mind was predominantly occupied to reach the tribe as soon as possible. Like Katara, Sokka hoped for his father to be one of the prisoners exchanged.
Handing a scroll to Rena alongside a letter, Michi whispered something that caused Rena's eyes to widen with a debauched twinkle taking over her smirk as she nodded with a grin. Before the three men could ask about it, she barked at them to get a move, only raising their suspicion while Michi left with a bashful look on her face.
---
"You seriously won't tell your boyfriend what Michi gave you?" Sokka pouted, leaning against the saddle's raised side with his hands supporting the back of his head.
"Nope~!" Rena chimed gleefully. Although she promised Michi that she won't open the scroll, well... she would. As for the letter, it didn't really interest her.
What?
Invasion of privacy?
What's that?
Can it make her journey less boring?
Aside from the couple, Sun sat near the back. His looks had turned slightly more rugged over the past two months. A few bruises were still apparent from training with Bumi and he simply looked stronger overall. Although Bumi wasn't a 'teacher' in the most normal sense... nothing really was normal about Bumi, to begin with.
Aside from the trio, Aang sat on the top of Appa's head, holding the reins tied around his horns and a slightly older man sat on a completely different corner silently. Unlike what others would expect, the man wasn't tied or gagged. Now that the man had helped in stabilizing the situation of Omashu reluctantly or not, he was bound to be punished if the uprising against Phoenix King brewing silently failed. So, it was in his own interest that Phoenix King loses his control over the majority of the world.
"Hey, Aang," Sun called out after a while, "Do you think we can try and sneak into Makapu Village? I... still want to try and apologize to warden Hara and explain why I saved you."
Aang nodded readily, "Sure. Besides, we can ask Aunt Wu for our fortunes!"
"Really? I keep telling you fortune telling is nothing but a bunch of wannabes trying to scam the wise and fool the ignorant." Sokka shrugged, "Like Momo... you'd have to be as clueless as Momo to believe such a thing."
Despite having his face stolen and understanding the spirit realm in a manner deeper than Aang and Nik due to Koh, Sokka still believed that no human can just predict the future. Well... Nik's existence made sure of that. After all, if things like fate existed, then Nik and Mokshi were in direct opposition to such concepts.
"Well, good for you," Sun sneered, "Your intelligence rival Momo, so, you don't need any fortune-telling."
"Says the Earthbender trying to fight with a warrior in the air," Sokka mocked.
Sun, instead of replying, silently took out five or six pieces of rocks from his pockets. His gaze seemingly said he didn't need fortune-telling to know what would happen should they even fight.
Similarly, Sokka gazed at the rocks in Sun's hands, his expression and tone taking a 180, "Perhaps... I treated you too harshly."
"Perhaps," Sun nodded.
"Pfft," Rena couldn't hold it in any longer, snorting a chuckle while Sokka leaned back and groaned.
"Now, now, don't feel so bad. Sun really just wants to meet with Meng. Everything else are just excuses." She smirked while hugging Sokka and resting her head on his lap.
"Oh, so that was it!" Sokka grinned.
"Wai— What?! No!" Blushing deeply, Sun lowered his head, "It's nothing like that."
"Studies of expressions and cognition allows me to understand... it is indeed like that," the prisoner spoke calmly.
"Shut up! Why are you butting in?!" Sun snapped while the old man shrugged.
With discussion taking a direction to her interest, Rena looked at Aang and questioned, "Aang, don't you have a girl you like? It's been months since you were freed from that iceberg."
"Me?" Aang turned around, leaving the flying to Appa... the experienced carrier, and rubbed his head, "I guess not."
It would be a lie if he didn't instantly develop a crush on the first girl he met after a little over a hundred years, but things moved quickly and Katara only saw him like a younger brother. Meanwhile, there simply weren't other interesting girls of his own age group. The girls in Kyoshi Island simply made him feel a little suffocated with how they kept on following him wherever he went.
"Come on," Rena sat up, "No one?"
"Well, we weren't really taught to think of these things. When we came of age, we would be sent to Eastern or Western Temple for mating rituals and then back to our temples once again for living our life in seclusion.
I always thought the same thing will happen with me so..." Aang trailed his words while Rena clicked her tongue.
"Mating rituals?" Sokka's curiosity was piqued now as Aang nodded and explained, "The southern and northern air temples are occupied by men. The eastern and western temples are occupied by females and infants. Once we grow older, we are distributed to the various temples where we grow and learn about our history.
In the entirety of the Air Nomad culture, only the Avatar is the exception to the rule where they may either find a master in northern/southern or western/eastern temple.
Finally, every five years, a festival is held for the respect of the spirit of fertility where the monks mate. It used to be exclusively held in the Eastern and Western Temple."
"Huh... like how we paid our respect to the Spirit of Fertility last night," Rena smiled as Sokka blushed. Even he felt a little embarrassed by Rena's nature but then again, he wouldn't have gotten this close with her if she wasn't the one to take the first step.
"As much as this talk may tickle your young minds... I believe we are under attack," The prisoner brought the four out of their focused chat and pointed towards the small dot approaching them from the horizon.
Frowning, Aang couldn't help but inquire, "What is that?!"
"One of the reasons Ba Sing Se fell under the hands of Fire Lord's and Phoenix King's combined might was due to this carrier device that can float in the air for a reasonable amount of time. It allowed the fire nation troops to enter Ba Sing Se with lesser casualties.
They call this a Balloon Carriage."
"Awesome..." Sokka reluctantly praised the invention. It was simply an amazing ability to fly and to think that the fire nation had achieved it already...
"How did they find us? Omashu is closed off... and we traveled in the night. So, they could only know if there was a spy in Omashu or they predicted it. See, Sokka? Prediction works." Still salty, Sun didn't let go of the chance while Sokka rolled his eyes, his focus diverting to much more important details.
"Aang, we won't be able to properly fight them in the air. So we should either get down... or fly higher. There," Sokka pointed towards the clouds as Aang frowned.
"The air gets thin up there..."
"If we land, we need to expect a trap down there, too. And they should know Sun is with us so they might be prepared for a Lavabender," Rena frowned, "I think, we should tackle the carriage head-on."
"What? Why?" Aang looked confused.
"So that we can take them out?" Rena tilted her head with equal confusion.
"We avoid them," Sokka refused firmly, "There's no point in entering a fight. Whether a trap or just an act of gauging our current abilities, we don't need to do things according to their tactics. Aang, take us up. But instead of heading straight to Makapu—"
"What... is that?" Sun's voice trembled as they could soon see smoke rising from the distance, a little farther from the balloon carriage next to a giant mountain.
They were headed to the waters close to the Makapu Village so Sun instantly came to a terrible conclusion.
Colors drained from the faces of the trio, too, while the old prisoner sighed.
"They want to lure us. Don't get carried away by the bait—"
"Bait?! The lives of Meng and Granny Wu is a bait in your eyes?!" Sun growled, instantly pulling on the man's collars as he nodded plainly, "Yes."
"I'm going straight ahead," Aang promptly held Appa's reigns again.
"With how the Fire Nation operates, they are more prone to keep prisoners. There are a few exceptions but I think Makapu Village is still safe, at least, their people are. Let's go and save them." Sokka patted Sun's shoulder and pulled him away from the prisoners while holding onto a spear he got from Omashu.
Of course, in such a delicate moment, Sokka refrained from replying to the early mockery by saying— You didn't see this coming right?
With that, the group directly flew towards the fire benders that were on the Balloon Carriage as Aang sliced the delicate floating device with a slice of air, causing the opponents to shuttle down and the group soon landed near the razed Makapu Village.
The smell of burn was overwhelming, especially to Aang while Appa and Momo didn't come any closer due to their more instinctual fears.
"Where is everyone?" Sun frowned, taking the lead but keeping his guard up to the max. His gaze fell on the blackened ground and charred houses. Even Wu's mansion wasn't safe and the Firebenders were nowhere to be found.
"I can't hear any—" Before Aang could conclude, his eyes widened as he heard the short but multiple sharp sounds of a string being released, "Lookout!" He yelled, slamming his palms together as a dome of wind instantly collected around the group and expanded out with a burst, causing the momentum of the sharp arrows to dwindle the very next second as they fell around the five of them.
Goosebumps spread over the bodies of everyone but not giving them any time of respite, another volley of arrows caused Aang to caution, "Get down."
They didn't think for another second as they got down while Aang waved his staff and sliced against the arrows. In the meantime, Sun clenched his fist and punched upwards with both hands. Two slabs of rock covered them from the side and soon, another two blocked the remaining opening, finally allowing others to regain their bearings.
"They are hunters," Sokka was the first to conclude, "And we're the prey. I don't know where the villagers are, but they aren't dead, Sun. And if you stay with us, chances are that the Fire Nation would use them against you. For that, they need to prisoners alive."
Understanding the meaning behind Sokka's words, Sun gritted his teeth but eventually nodded, "Fine, we leave as quickly as possible."
With that, Sun stomped on the ground as the veins of his forearms bulged and he shot the four slabs out in that very second, causing the arrows to impact against the incoming arrows while Rena pulled water from the pouch on her waist, freezing it the moment an arrow touched the sphere of water and stopping the attack effectively before reforming it into the water and whipping another arrow going for Sokka.
"Thanks," Twirling his spear, Sokka smacked two arrows side by side, a little amazed by the precision and distance with which they were attacked.
"Uh-oh..." Aang mumbled suddenly. He heard the sound of steam engines igniting— a very familiar sound.
"We're being ambushed!"
Aang called out while staying next to the prisoner who hissed promptly, "I told you this was a bad idea!"
Fire Nation tanks tore through the trees as volleys of flaming balls pressured the group to stand beside one another, securing each other's back.
"Sun, anytime now," Sokka stopped an arrow from Sun's side while he raised a wall of earth to stop seven balls of flames going for Sokka and Rena.
"Fine!" Relaxing his shoulders slightly, Sun slid his leg forward and waved his hand to the side. Instantly, the ground underneath the armored tanks boiled to form lava, the heat directly beginning to melt the surface of the bottom as many firebenders rushed out from the exit with heart-wrenching screams!
Lava Bending was simply too vicious!
Yet, an arrow shot for Aang at this moment.
Sidestepping, Aang finally waved his staff in that very direction but multiple arrows shot towards him from all directions!
"They are aiming for Aang!" Sun scowled.
The four of them encircled the prisoner while dealing with arrows again. It was clear that they were aiming for Aang... however, they underestimated the opponent's true target and skills.
This time, of the thirty arrows, one of them struck the feather of the arrow closest to Sokka. With Sokka's area of defense being the smallest of the group, the arrow, whose trajectory was compromised evaded the strike of his spear, causing his eyes to widen.
*Khcch*
"Ghk!"
The prisoner's eyes widened and his limbs felt like they had been struck by lightning.
He looked down yet it hurt to do so with an arrow sticking out of his neck.
Taking the moment of everyone's daze, three more arrows flew and directly pierced the man's heart, abdomen, and left eye!
Far in the distance, among the many dark-skinned warriors with red paint over their eyes who held a plain bow in their hands, their skills coming from talent and hard work instead, stood a Fire Nation officer.
One of the archers reported.
"Sir, that man has been dealt with."
"Good, Admiral Zhao's plan has succeeded... everything else is a bonus—"
*Swish*
At this moment, a wild burst of wind uprooted the trees around them.
The general frowned and ordered, "Yuyan Archers, retreat. Send in the tanks..."
In the charred village, Sun and others covered the top of their heads and could barely look at Aang, his expression still dazed while he kept looking at the prisoner who lay in the pool of his blood.
*Bang*
*Bang*
*Bang*
As tanks emerged, taking aim at Aang and firing, his onyx eyes finally lost their human nature with a piercing blue light escaping them.
*Raggghhhhhhh*
With a roar more bestial than even the king of beasts, a crater spread from the ground beneath where Aang floated. Thick chunks of rocks instantly overturned the tanks but the weaponry was far more advanced than Balloon Carriage. The overturned tanks had their compartments rotated and return to their rightful position and shot another volley of flames which only lost its intent and circled around Aang.
---
Far, far from Makapu Village, on an uneven trail walked an old man. His round body was garbed in shabby robes but his smile felt infectious.
"Haha, they must be looking for me all over the coast... hmm, I wonder where they are... Of all the locations, only Ba Sing Se is left. I suppose it makes sense for them to be there. The most dangerous location is often the safest spot to hide within." The man patted his belly.
*Roar*
The man's eyes widened as he looked towards the sky. His gaze was slightly glazed as he viewed the phantom of a dragon which only he could see fly at a speed reminiscing lightning.
"Spirit of a Dragon? No... that one felt a little special. Oh, well."
The man shrugged and continued on his way.
---
"Shit!" Sokka shouted. Although it was through his lack of area that the prisoner died, Sokka didn't feel guilty but angry.
None of them expected the target to be this man when it should have been obvious!
"We need to do something about Aang!" Rena shouted, her voice drowned by the raging wind as Aang waved his hand and shot torrents of flames towards the armed vehicles.
"What the hell is that?" Sun's hairs whipped as he looked at Aang with a newfound terror.
"Something that should only happen with Katara and Tom-Tom around," Sokka gritted his teeth as they were the only two individuals who could Aang at this moment.
However, surprising Sokka was a faint roar that seemed to bypass the sound of cataclysmic wind and stopped Aang in his tracks.
Much to Sokka's shock, a phantom blue dragon zapped towards Aang's and then suddenly breathed out a pillar of phantom flames that bathed Aang.
"Look out!" Sokka screamed.
What's going on?" Sun questioned due to the sudden change in Aang's temperament.
"You can't see that?" Sokka pointed at the Dragon who eventually looked down on him, scaring Sokka completely.
"What?" Rena frowned.
"Nothing," Sokka frowned as Aang suddenly began to descend, "We leave quickly!"
***
A/N: A few things to note. Since Sokka still hadn't given his expertise that allowed the final product of the 'balloon carriage', the device is still quite incomplete and is prone to burning up due to the lack of ingenuity.
Also, Roku's dragon should be sentient and capable of communicating more directly than taking Aang to the temple and then just waiting for him to figure out. In fact, I wanted to end this chap in one sitting so I adopted a shortcut where the dragon converses with Aang spiritually and quells his rage.
And, why did I let Zhao's scheme succeed? Why not.
***
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