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Emerald Dragon chapter 40 -
🕑 Added 2022-12-01 15:18:59 +0000 UTCChapter 40 -
'Where are they?' Azula thought impatiently as she stood on the dock, waiting for her brother and uncle to come. Her Fire Nation ship was right behind her with some soldiers standing in-between her and the ship. She felt the waves move under the wooden dock she stood upon, she could smell the ocean, hear the water splashing, feel the sun's rays enveloping her as she stared at the peacefully blue sky with white clouds while being bored as fuck!
Princess Azula, never really a patient person unless she had to be, tapped her foot in annoyance as she waited for her brother and uncle to arrive. She was positive that her brother at least would come, after all she had dangled his greatest desire in front of him. She knew he desperately wanted to return to the Fire Nation, to return to Father, though she suspected that he didn't really fully believe her when she told him that Father did not care about him. Though Azula was pleased that she had at least put some doubts in his head, despite the fact that she thought he was an idiot, she knew he wasn't entirely hopeless and that a few right nudges would eventually be able to show him just how much the Fire Lord valued him. Heck, she suspected that she wouldn't even need to do much, just a few interactions with Father would probably show Zuko exactly that since he was now old enough to actually understand things and Mother wasn't around to shield him from everything.
However, she had been waiting on the docks for a long time, she was considering sending one of her men up to go and fetch the two or to at least to find out if they were coming and what was taking so long. She was also thinking up some back up plans if the two didn't come.
"Azula," A familiar voice called, she looked up and saw Zuko and Uncle Iroh walking towards her.
"What took you so long?" Azula huffed once the two were close enough to hear her without her shouting. "I was beginning to think that the two of you wanted to stay here, I was five minutes away from leaving you both."
"We are terribly sorry, Princess Azula," Uncle Iroh bowed his head, speaking in an apologetic tone. "My nephew and I merely had some...business...that we needed to sort out before we departed."
Azula frowned and looked between the two of them, noticing the awkward way that Zuko was standing while Iroh made sure to keep his eyes on her. She wasn't sure what had happened but figured that the two had likely gotten into an argument of some sort.
"Fine, let's hurry up, we've wasted enough time as it is." She turned and started walking to her ship. "Time to go home."
"Home," Zuko whispered to himself as they followed after her.
(.)
Harry allowed his eyes to close as he lay on his back on Appa's saddle, his hands interlocked under his head, one leg crossed over the other as he did his best to relax, something that was harder to do than normal given the awkward silence that was hanging over the team. Aang was sat on Appa's head, facing forwards while Katara was sat on Harry's left at the front of the saddle, looking over a waterbending scroll whilst Sokka was sat on Harry's right at the end of the saddle, near Appa's tail, looking over a map.
It had been decided that since Aang had near enough mastered waterbending that they would now be heading back to the kingdom of Omashu so that Aang's old buddy, the mad and crazy King Bumi, could start teaching the young Avatar about earthbending, something that Harry was pleased about. Master Pakku had told them to head to a man that was called General Fong who would take them to King Bumi so that Aang could begin his training. While Aang wasn't a master at waterbending, he was close enough and Katara could help train him to be better. King Bumi might possibly just be the greatest earthbender alive as far as the gang knew, and once Aang was done with that then Harry could start teaching him firebending, though given how scared the team seemed right now, he wasn't sure how well Aang would respond to his training.
"I'm sorry," Harry said suddenly, causing the whole team to stop what they were doing.
"What did you say?" Sokka asked.
"I said that I'm sorry," Harry repeated in an apologetic voice.
"What are you sorry for?" Katara frowned.
"For scaring you guys," Harry answered.
"We're not scared," Aang protested.
"Really, so you three chatterboxes have been unnervingly quiet since we left the Northern Water Tribe for the fun of it?" Harry scoffed. "We've been travelling for more than a whole day with you three barely saying a word."
"It's not that we're scared of you," Aang spoke up quickly. "It's just that...a lot has happened and...it's hard to process...you know?"
"Aang's right, we know you're our friend and we know that you wouldn't hurt us," Katara instantly agreed. "It's just...that was our first major battle and...so much happened, so many people...died." She shivered, looking sick.
"Yeah, it was horrible," Sokka said, looking a bit green. "And you...well...you sort of...um..."
"Destroyed half of the enemy forces with my giant, green, flaming dragon of death and destruction," Harry helpfully supplied.
"Yeah, that," Sokka nodded. "And I get it, it's a war, people are going to die, no matter what we do, it's just...a lot to take in."
"I get it," Harry sighed. "I remember the first time I had to kill someone, it wasn't fun, still isn't."
"Does it feel horrible?" Katara asked. "Killing someone, I mean,"
"At first it did, felt like my whole body was covered in something nasty, I could feel it all over my skin, now...I'm just numb," Harry admitted. "I don't enjoy it but sometimes it's necessary. I just don't want you to get the wrong idea about firebending, Aang."
"What do you mean?" Aang asked curiously, Harry gently breathed out, sending a short stream of emerald-green fire into the air.
"Fire is simply just another element, like air, earth and water," Harry began explaining. "It's dangerous, but so are the others. Every single element can be used to harm someone, it's the person that makes it good or bad, do you understand me?" He asked, opening his eyes and staring at Aang.
"I...think so," Aang nodded slowly, looking slightly uncomfortable but thoughtful.
"Anyway, enough of this depressing bullshit. How far away are we?" Harry asked.
"I don't know," Sokka admitted. "I reckon we're about a day and a half away if we keep going at this speed, maybe about two day because we'll probably end up camping somewhere."
"Make it three days," Harry said. "We'll need to take some extra time for Appa to rest and for us to train."
"That does sound like a good idea," Katara spoke up.
"Yeah, sometimes I have them," Harry smirked.
(.)
"So, what's this about?" Harry asked.
The group had arrived at an Earth Kingdom base where they had met up with General Fong, though instead of immediately taking them to Omashu, the man had requested for them to have a meeting with him which is how the team ended up sitting in a room with the general who was looking at Aang and Harry like they were both made of solid gold.
"It's an honour to meet you both," General Fong said, he was a fairly tall man dressed in Earth Kingdom uniform whilst supporting a mighty beard, nowhere near Dumbledore's level, but impressive enough. "It's hard to believe that not only do I have the Avatar in front of me, the saviour of our world, but also the Emerald Dragon! The Fire Nation's greatest weapon saw the light and turned on them, it's truly marvellous."
"Indubitably," Harry said in a dry voice. "But that still leaves the question, why are we here?" He asked impatiently. "We need to be getting to King Bumi, the Avatar needs to learn earthbending and he needs to learn it as soon as possible."
"Yes, I understand that but there is something I must talk with you two about first," General Fong explained before letting out a heavy sigh. "This...this war, it's not been great, for any of us. I've lost many men, I've seen many come back with less than what they left with." The general looked tired for a few moments before a smile quickly appeared on his face, as if somebody had pressed a switch. "But then, we heard tales of your battle. We've heard how the Avatar summoned a mighty winged horse that aided the Dragon's fire monster of death. The people finally have hope again."
"Well...that's good," Katara said eventually.
"It's better than good, it's great," General Fong said enthusiastically. "I think that it is finally time for you to face the Fire Lord," He told Aang with a big grin on his face.
"What?!" Aang blurted out in an alarmed voice, looking like he had taken completely by surprise. "No...no I'm not ready," He quickly said, shaking his head. "I haven't even mastered earth or firebending."
"Well, it's not like you need to," General Fong waved his hand dismissively. "I mean look at what the two of you have achieved without it. We can bring the fight to the Fire Nation now."
"No," Harry cut in. "We can't."
"Harry's right," Katara agreed. "Aang needs to master all of the elements first."
"He doesn't need to," General Fong insisted. "If the two of them can take out entire battleships on their own, especially so many, then I have no doubt that all we need to do is get them close enough to attack the Fire Lord and end this war."
"That's now how it works," Sokka spoke up. "You see, during the battle, Aang had gone into this thing called the Avatar state, that's when..."
"When his tattoos and eyes glow and he gets really powerful, yes," General Fong said impatiently. "I know what the Avatar state is, it's exactly what we need," He grimaced as he thought about how likely it was for them to perish if the war didn't end. "It's the best chance we have."
"No, it's not," Harry cut in. "Aang can't control the damn thing yet."
"So?" General Fong asked uncaringly. "As long as he can at least aim it at the Fire Nation then..."
"That's the thing, he can't control it," Harry repeated. "It's entirely possible for our own to be taken out by him as well, not to mention the other problems he had with it."
"What problems?" General Fong frowned.
"Well, for one, he's always tired after using it," Sokka spoke up. "He'd be really vulnerable after he uses it."
"He needs to master the elements if he wants any chance of controlling it," Katara commented.
"Not to mention what would happen if somebody somehow managed to kill him while he's in the Avatar state." Harry added.
"What do you mean?" General Fong asked, his frown having gone noticeably bigger.
"If he's killed during the Avatar state then his Avatar cycle ends and there won't be another Avatar."
"What?!" Aang blurted out in shock, surprising everyone. "Are you serious?"
"You didn't know?" Harry blinked.
"No, I didn't know!"
"How can you not know?!"
"How do you know?" Aang countered, feeling somewhat embarrassed.
"I read it in Avatar Roku's journal's, for Agni's sake, do your homework, Aang." Harry let out a deep sigh as he rubbed his eyes. "But yeah," He continued, looking at General Fong. "It'll take one lucky shot and boom, no more Avatar."
"But if he creates another massive elemental creature like the horse then..." General Fong began but was interrupted by Harry.
"I don't think it's likely for him to be able to do that again, all of that was done with the help of spirits that had been disturbed by the fighting," Harry said, not wanting to mention that it had been basically the representation of Death helping them.
"Yeah," Aang agreed, picking up on what Harry was doing. "They didn't like what the Fire Nation was doing to their home and helped us out, I don't think we can get that lucky again."
"Fine," General Fong said disappointedly before he turned to Harry with a thoughtful look. "What about you? I see no reason why you can't attack the Fire Lord, your power is legendary also, I heard tales that your eyes were glowing during the battle, similar to the Avatar's, I don't think you have the same problems given that almost everyone in all four nations knows that you have a special and destructive firebending technique."
"The technique you are referring to is called 'fiendfyre'," Harry explained. "It is dangerous, and it is highly destructive, but it's not unbeatable, the trick is to end the flames before they can build up. Secondly, it has more chance of backfiring than the Avatar state does. It requires constant control and concentration, if I don't focus on it then I could lose control of it and it could kill enemies and allies alike. If it doesn't stop in time, then it can grow bigger and bigger until it could end up killing an entire city. At the battle of the Northern Water Tribe, the only reason I didn't fully lose control of it was focus, determination, sheer will and an added bit of help from the spirits. Look, I know you want a shortcut through this war but you're not going to find it," Harry told him apologetically.
General Fong didn't say anything for several moments, he simply looked disappointed and miserable. After about a minute of this he stood up, and turned away before walking to the exit, stopping just short of leaving.
"I'm sorry to have wasted your time," He told them in a quiet voice. "Please, stay the night and rest, one of my men will escort you to King Bumi tomorrow." He told them before he left the room.
"Shut up, Aang," Harry said suddenly, surprising the young Avatar.
"But I didn't say anything," Aang blinked.
"You don't have to, you're way too obvious about it," Harry replied. "There's nothing you can do, forcing the Avatar state out will just result in disaster and even more lives being lost. Focus on your training, master the elements and gain control, then together we'll stop the war."
"I know but..." Aang let out a deep breath as he looked down. "I feel like a disappointment."
"You're not a disappointment," Katara said, moving closer and wrapping an arm around his shoulders.
"Katara's right," Sokka agreed. "It's not your fault,"
"You're a twelve-year-old kid who has the fate of the world on his shoulders, honestly I'd say you're doing better than most." Harry added.
Comments
SSs34TheElf
Ngl, Everyone is hyped about Azula and Harry (I am too), but I am also hyped for when Toph joins the group. Another person with a hardhead mentality and a sarcastic ass kind of humor would be great. Its gona be like Harry's twin has joined to group lol.
Christian Jeffress
Thanks for another enjoyable chapter
