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Emerald Dragon chapter 34
🕑 Added 2022-04-18 19:50:46 +0000 UTCChapter 34 -
"Look, this is crazy," Aang said, staring at Cheif Arnook and waterbending master, Pakku.
It had only been about half an hour ago that they had learnt that the Fire Nation was getting ready to unleash an attack on the Water Tribe. Cheif Arnook, to his credit, was handling the whole thing as best as he could by not panicking and ordering everybody around, getting the defences ready and preparing the soldiers for battle. However, there was one decision that Aang and the gang did not agree with.
"You need to let Harry out," Katara agreed with Aang. "he's a great fighter, he could be really helpful on the battlefield."
"The guy's a total jerk but they're right," Sokka spoke up. "the guy is a monster on the battlefield and half of those Fire Nation soldiers will crap themselves just knowing that he's going to be fighting against them. He's basically just an angry avatar."
"I understand that he is your friend," Cheif Arnook sighed. "but we do not trust him. As far as we're concerned he'll probably rush to join the Fire Nation as soon as we let him out."
"But he won't!" Katara protested.
"Enough, we're wasting time with these children," Pakku spoke up. "we've got the Fire Nation ready to knockdown our homes, we cannot afford to lose even a moment of preparation."
"You're right," Arnook agreed. "are the troops ready?"
"As ready as they'll ever be." Pakku nodded.
"Good," Arnook smiled before turning to Aang. "will you help us, Avatar?"
"Yes," Aang nodded without hesitation. "but it would still be a lot easier if you would let Harry out."
"No," Pakku spoke up before turning to Katara. "girl, go to the healing huts with the other women."
"What?! No!" Katara refused, looking quite angry. "I'm going to stay and fight!"
"You?! Fight?! You're just a girl with no waterbending training..."
"You're right because the only available teacher is this old prune who won't teach girls!" Katara hissed, cutting him off. "But here's what my training is, months of self-teaching, plus weeks of fighting alongside the Avatar, not to mention training with the avatar and being trained by the Emerald Dragon, who isn't a waterbending master but certainly knows about fighting. I haven't mastered waterbending but that doesn't mean I'm helpless. Now, you can waste time arguing with me or you can shut your mouth and get on with protecting the city!" She finished, glaring at him.
"I think Harry might have been a bad influence on you." Sokka quietly commented.
"In that case, I have a job for the two of you," Arnook said to Sokka and Katara.
"What job?" Katara asked, her temper calming slightly while Pakku glared in her direction.
"I want the two of you to protect my daughter," Arnook answered, staring intensely at the two.
"Oh." Said Sokka, accurately summing up the thoughts of both of them.
(.)
"Has there been any sightings of the Emerald Dragon yet?" Ryu asked the soldier that had arrived to report to him.
The battle had begun an hour ago, so far there wasn't much progress but he was positive that eventually the Water Tribe men would be worn out. Still, he would have preferred it if the battle was finished before it turned dark, he was well aware that the waterbenders were stronger at night, and it was going to be night soon. Still, he didn't think it mattered even if they did get stronger, he was positive that his men could handle a bunch of lowly water savages, and even if they couldn't they could still retreat and fire from a distance and continue their assault at day time. The massive amounts of warships and men he had brought with him would guarantee his victory.
"No, sir," The soldier reported. "the Avatar was spotted early during the battle, he took out a couple of ships but then he retreated, we believe that he was surprised by how many ships we had and chose to return to safety."
"Makes sense," Ryu hummed thoughtfully. "I guess the Avatar is smart enough to realise when he's outmatched. If the Emerald Dragon is spotted then I wish to know, I will be the one to end him."
"I'm sorry, sir?" The soldier coughed, staring at him with disbelief.
"Is there a problem, soldier?" Ryu sent a baleful glare in the soldier's direction.
"No, no, sir," The soldier quickly replied.
"Good, now leave me." He ordered.
"Yes sir." The soldier quickly nodded before quickly leaving the room.
(.)
"Aang!" Katara cried out as she, Sokka and Princess Yue saw Aang land right next to them. "Are you okay?" The trio rushed towards him.
"Not really!" Aang admitted as he dropped down onto the floor, panting as he sat down and stared at them. "Do you know how many ships there are?! I...I can't do it, not that many."
"But you have to do it!" Princess Yue begged. "You're the Avatar!"
"I'm just a kid," Aang replied, wishing it wasn't true, but it was. He was just a kid, one with the weight of the world on his shoulders.
"Aang, what happened out there?" Katara asked.
"I took out a dozen Fire Nation ships, and there was still way too many left." Aang ran a hand over his head. "I really wish we could get Harry out." He let out a deep breath. "A dragon on our side would be great right about now."
"Isn't there anything we can do without Harry?" Sokka asked, not bothering to disagree.
"The spirits!" Princess Yue blurted out.
"What?" The trio asked, turning to face her.
"The spirits!" She repeated. "The legends say the moon was the first waterbender, our ancestors saw how it pushed and pulled the tides and learned how to do it themselves."
"My bending does always feel stronger at night," Katara said in a thoughtful manner.
"Our strength comes from the spirit of the moon. Our life comes from the spirit of the ocean, they work together to keep balance."
"The spirits!" Aang gasped. "You're right, I'm the Avatar, maybe I can get them to help us."
"I know a place, I can take you there," She offered. "it's the most spiritual area here, if you go there then it can increase your chances of getting into contact with them."
"Okay, so we've got a plan," Sokka spoke up. "Yue will take us to this place so Aang can work his mumbo jumbo, then I'll go and free Harry."
"What?!" Princess Yue blurted out, staring at him like he had sprouted wings from his ears.
"He's our best fighter," Sokka said simply. "and our best backup plan if Aang can't get into contact with the spirits."
"We can't trust him," Princess Yue protested. "he's taken out countless waterbenders!"
"Yeah, he has," Sokka nodded, not even bothering to deny that. "the waterbenders have lost countless people to the Fire Nation, but that doesn't mean we didn't take out more than our fair share of them, but either way, none of that matters now. This place has the most amount of waterbenders that I have ever seen and if the Fire Nation gets a victory here then it's entirely possible that the waterbenders would never recover. If we didn't believe firmly that Harry was on our side then we wouldn't be asking for his release during one of the most important moments in Water Tribe history."
"He's right," Katara spoke up, staring at Sokka with pride. "Harry has more than enough opportunities to catch Aang and drag him to the Fire Nation without any of us being able to stop him, but he hasn't. He's helped me get better at waterbending and helped Sokka and Aang improve as well. Please, he's on our side."
"If we don't win this fight then that could mean the eventual end of waterbending," Aang spoke up. "I promise you that I will do my best to contact the spirits but I don't know what will happen, and I don't know what they'll do."
"I...I don't know..." Princess Yue gulped, looking down as she thought about what her next move would be.
"Yue," Sokka spoke, gently grabbing her by the chin and lifting her head so she was staring at him. Sokka took in a deep breath before he leaned forwards and gently pressed his lips against Yue's lips, he pulled away and stared at Yue who was looking at him with a wide-eyed expression. "I know that you're going to have to marry somebody else for the good of your people, but I don't care. I like you, and I care for you, I like to think that you do the same for me. Do you? Just say 'Yes' or 'No'." Indecision warred on Yue's face for a few moments before she gave him a small, defeated nod. "Then please, trust me, our best option is to get Harry out of that cell. If we have to then I'll take the blame for letting him out, but we need his help, please." He begged.
"Damn it," Princess Yue cursed under her breath before she stared at Sokka. "fine, we'll get Avatar Aang to a location for him to contact the spirits, then we'll go and free your friend."
"Yes!" Sokka cheered before hugging Yue.
"That was surprisingly smooth for him," Katara commented to Aang, staring at Sokka like she had never seen him before.
"Yeah, but we are under a bit of a time limit," Aang replied, making his voice purposefully loud so he could interrupt Sokka.
"Sorry!" Sokka apologised as he let go of Yue.
"Let's go." Yue quickly said to the others before she turned and rushed off, hiding a blush as the others followed after her.
(.)
"Double, double toil and trouble," Harry sang to himself as he paced back and forth in the limited amount of space he had available to him. "Fire burn, and cauldron bubble. Double, double toil and trouble, fire burn, and cauldron bubble. Something wicked this way comes." Harry had barely finished speaking when Sokka and Princess Yue entered. "Ah, Sokka, good to see you, oh and you brought a girl. Am I invited to the wedding?" He finished with a grin.
"This is not the time for jokes." Princess Yue huffed as she took a moment to catch her breath, once she was done she opened her mouth to speak but stopped when she saw Harry staring at her. "Why are you looking at me like that?" She asked, taking a step back.
"Harry," Sokka spoke up, also wondering why Harry was staring at Yue so intensely. "I know she's pretty good looking but cut it out already."
"There's something different about you," Harry declared, staring intensely at Yue. "you don't feel like a regular person does. There's something extra about you, like Aang, like me. What's so special about you?" He asked, tilting his head.
"If we survive tonight then I might just tell you," She replied.
"What's that mean?" Harry asked, raising an eyebrow.
"The Fire Nation is attacking, right now," Sokka spoke up. "the Water Tribe is currently fighting them off."
"And you guys didn't think to tell me before?!" Harry hissed.
"We weren't allowed!" Sokka said defensively. "We were forbidden from contacting you! I just recently managed to convince the princess to free you."
"Where's Katara and Aang?!" Harry asked quickly. "Are they okay?!"
"We dropped them off by some spiritual lake," Sokka explained. "Aang's going to try and get into contact with the spirits and try and get them to help us. Katara's standing guard to protect him. We're going right back there after we complete our mission here, freeing you so you can kick a lot of Fire Nation butt."
"Will you?" Princess Yue asked Harry. "Will you help us? Will you fight against the Fire Nation?"
"Fuck me," Harry sighed, looking down and taking a deep breath as he closed his eyes. He opened them and looked up, staring at the princess with steely eyes. "I will do what I've always done all my life."
"And what would that be?"
"What I have to," Harry rolled his neck and shoulders. "let me out whenever you're ready."
"Okay," She took a deep breath before pulling out a set of keys and pushing one of them into the keyhole, she paused and stared at Sokka. "I hope you know what you're doing." She sighed before she unlocked the door. She stepped back immediately upon hearing the clicking noise that came with the lock being opened. She took another step back when the door was pushed open and Harry, the Emerald Dragon and one of the most feared men in the Water Tribe, took a step out.
"Huh," Harry inhaled before looking around. "You don't appreciate walking space until it's taken away from you. Thanks, Princess." Harry gave her an appreciative nod.
"I did it for my people," Princess Yue responded stiffly. "if you want to thank me then you can help my people by going out there and stopping the Fire Nation from..." Princess Yue trailed off when she saw Harry join the two first fingers on his right hand and aim them at her just as those fingers became covered in green flames. "...no!" She barely managed to scream out just before a green fireball shot out of his fingers and shot towards her.
The Princess, too shocked to dodge, could only stare in horror as the fire shot across the room, her eyes wide with fear, feeling like the whole world was slowing down. She felt the fire come closer, felt the heat on her face, and a second later she felt the fire shoot past her. Her ears picked up several noises, most noticeably a scream. She turned around and saw a Fire Nation soldier on the floor, screaming as he tried to cover his face with his hands. Sokka recovered quicker than she did and quickly rushed forwards and knocked out the man.
"Honestly," Harry's voice caused her to turn around. "it would be a lot easier for both of us if we had a bit of trust here." He casually commented before he started moving forwards. "I'm going to go out and give my people more reason to hate me, the two of you go back to Aang and guard him." He ordered before stepping out of the room.
(.)
"Give up scum!" A fire bender shouted, he and the other two men with him shot a fire blast at a trio of water benders which included Pakku.
"Not today!" Pakku waved his arms and a wall of water rose up and blocked the attack. Pakku paused when he saw ten more soldiers arrive to assist the three Fire Nation soldiers.
"Outnumbered and outmatched!" One of the firebenders laughed before shooting a fireblast at the waterbenders. The fire shot towards them at high speed but never managed to reach them as it was blocked halfway by a concentrated wall of air. "What?"
"There!" One fire bender pointed to his left, everyone looked at where he was pointing before both water and firebenders stiffened upon seeing the Emerald Dragon.
"He escaped!" Pakku hissed, ready to attack when the Fire Nation soldiers spoke.
"Kill him!" One yelled before running off to send a message to the others.
The other firebenders raised their hands, ready to start firing but didn't get that far because a second later a large bolt of lightning crashed into them, throwing them all backwards and taking them out of the fight. The waterbenders quickly took a step back and stared at Harry who simply raised a hand in the air.
"How did you get out?!" Pakku demanded to know.
"Easily," Harry replied. "evacuate all civilians, and coordinate with your leader while I'll work on drawing their fire." He told them. Pakku opened his mouth to remind Harry that he wasn't in charge but trailed off when he saw something flying through the air and heading towards them. A second later something landed in Harry's hands and Pakku's jaw dropped when he saw it was the baton that they had confiscated from him.
"How did you do that?!" Pakku blurted out.
"Easily," Harry repeated just as more Fire Nation soldiers arrived. "time for another day on the battlefield." He sighed before his fingertips became covered with lightning.
(.)
A.N: Is this the best spot to stop the chapter? Yes, I think it is.
Though, for real, I do plan to have the next chapter and maybe the one after totally focused on the battle so that should satisfy the bloodthirsty portion of you lot.
Thanks for reading, and feel free to leave a review.
Comments
Christian Jeffress
Thanks for another very fun chapter
Corwin
Awesome chapter. I can't wait for chance for Harry to cut loose a little.
