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Emerald Dragon chapter 26
🕑 Added 2021-10-15 18:11:58 +0000 UTCChapter 26 -
"Katara!" Aang blurted out in shock, disbelief appearing on his face.
"You burned me!" Katara cried as Sokka arrived, rushing towards them.
"Katara!" Sokka yelled before quickly kneeling down to his sister. "What did you do?!" He demanded angrily, glaring at Aang.
"It...it was an accident!" Aang quickly defended himself before sending an apologetic look at Katara. "I...I'm sorry, I..."
"Why didn't you listen to Harry?!" Katara angrily shouted. "He and Jeong Jeong told you to wait but you didn't listen!"
"I...I'm sorry...I..."
"I was gone for like thirty seconds." Harry's annoyed voice cut through any further comments, the group turned to see Harry rushing towards them, he spotted Katara's hands and quickly rushed forwards and kneeled down next to her. Before anyone could speak a single word he had placed his hands above her burnt ones.
"What are you doing?" Sokka asked.
"Firebenders can control heat, I'm getting rid of any lingering heat," Harry told him once he was done. He gently grabbed Katara's wrist and made sure she looked at him. "I'm not sure if you can do this, but I want you to try and put your hands in the water. I've seen waterbenders heal themselves with water, I want you to try it."
"I...okay..." Katara hesitated before doing as Harry said. She gently placed her hands in the water, wincing slightly.
"Focus." Harry softly whispered. Katara gulped before closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, a second later she opened her eyes. A gasp escaped her lips as she watched her hands glow, the glow died down and her amazement grew as she saw her hands were now fully healed.
"That's amazing." Sokka stared at her hands with disbelief.
"Wow," Aang spoke as he stepped next to the gang. "that's so cool, I..." Whatever Aang was about to say was cut off by Harry who shot to his feet with the speed of a viper, he grabbed him by the collar with one hand and lifted him up into the air with ease.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?!" Harry hissed, glaring at Aang.
"I..." Aang gulped as he stared down at Harry who looked very much like he wanted nothing less than to burn Aang. "I...it was an accident..."
"You accidentally burnt her by trying to stop a leaf from burning?" Harry scoffed. "You were messing around with firebending, weren't you?" Harry accused.
"I...I'm sorry..."
"I bet you are," Harry cut him off. "you know in the military we had harsh punishments for people who couldn't obey orders, you should feel lucky that you're twelve years old or I'd show you a few great examples of those punishments." Harry let go of Aang and allowed the young Avatar to drop down and fall on his back, Harry stared at Aang for a few seconds before letting out a deep sigh. "We're going to talk more about this later, for now, we've got other stuff to deal with."
"Like what?" Sokka frowned.
"Oh, just the usual Fire Nation attacks," Harry said in an almost casual voice just as Jeong Jeong arrived.
"You all need to leave, now," Jeong Jeong said without wasting any time. "go, now. I shall hold them off." He didn't bother to wait for an answer before turning and walking away.
"Where are you going?" Harry grabbed Aang's hand when he saw the young Avatar start to follow after Jeong Jeong.
"I have to help him," Aang said in a determined voice.
"He can take care of himself, he's a firebending master, we need to go and..."
"No, I'm not going to abandon him," Aang said before taking a deep breath. "I'm sorry for not listening to you about firebending but I'm not going to stay behind and let him fight on his own," Aang said before pulling himself out of Harry's grip and running off.
"I'll wax his head..." Harry muttered under his breath before turning to Sokka and Katara. "Alright, you two, let's go."
"You want us to leave them?!" Sokka asked with disbelief.
"No, we're going to get to Appa and once you two are safely there I want you to take Appa into the air and be ready to extract us, I'll go back and help Jeong Jeong and dome-head," Harry replied. "now go!"
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Jeong Jeong stood calmly on the beach of his island as he looked at the ten Fire Nation soldiers opposite him along with the man that was leading them, Zhao, his former student.
"Look at you," Zhao scoffed. "once a great man, a great leader. But now...now you're just a hermit living in the woods. I can't believe my former master has become nothing more than a simple savage." Zhao shook his head, looking at Jeong Jeong with disgust.
"I'm not the one that has embraced savagery, Zhao," Jeong Jeong said, shaking his head in disappointment.
"It's 'Admiral Zhao', now." Zhao corrected him, with no short amount of pride in his voice.
"Your titles are meaningless," Jeong Jeong said with amusement in his voice. "they will not help you against the Avatar or the young dragon."
"The 'Dragon' is a traitor that will meet swift and well-deserved Fire Nation justice," Zhao sneered. "as for the Avatar, he is but a child."
"A child, yes," Jeong Jeong nodded. "but I have sensed the rare power he possesses, he is far from trained but once he is he will be a force to be reckoned with even without the dragon by his side."
"They will fall just like you will," Zhao said confidently. "the Emerald Dragon was built by the Fire Nation, he'll be destroyed by the Fire Nation."
"And you think that you're the one that will do the deed?" Jeong Jeong asked. "You always were ambitious."
"Jeong Jeong!" A voice called just before Aang arrived and landed next to Jeong Jeong.
"Avatar, you shouldn't be here," Jeong Jeong said without looking away from Zhao. "you should leave, now."
"I'm not abandoning you here," Aang said stubbornly. "we'll fight together."
"Aw, look at that," Zhao tittered with amusement. "the little monk is concerned for his master. How adorable."
"I'm not afraid of you Zhao," Aang said, adopting a fighting stance.
"Oh, how very much like your people, the Air Nomads," Zhao smirked. "they weren't very afraid either, at least until they were getting burnt into ashes."
"Shut up!" Aang yelled. "You weren't even alive then!"
"Control yourself." Jeong Jeong whispered to him. "Don't play into his hands."
"Of course not, but that doesn't mean I haven't heard what happened," Zhao said to Aang. "I heard how an entire nation of people was destroyed, all because they were a bunch of air-headed weaklings that didn't have a twelve-year-old around to save them. You couldn't save them and you won't be able to save the disgrace standing next to you, because you can't save anyone."
"I guess that means that you're fucked then," Another voice spoke. "because he won't be able to save you." Everyone looked towards the forest and saw Harry walking out from the trees. "Hey, Zhao, you bitch of a son. How are you doing?" Harry asked casually.
"The Emerald Dragon!" One of the Fire Nation soldiers hissed to the others.
"Quiet!" Zhao snapped at him before turning back to face Harry. "Hello, traitor." Zhao glared at him.
"Hi Zhao, how is Ozai? I assume you've spent a great deal of time with him, kissing his feet."
"Quiet!"
"Oh, I'm sorry, were you kissing slightly higher?" Harry asked innocently before looking at the soldiers behind Zhao, his face softened slightly. "You have an opportunity to go home and see your wives and kids," Harry told them. "turn around, go into your ships and head to the Fire Nation, Zhao won't be joining you for the rest of his very short life." Harry finished as he stopped next to Aang and Jeong Jeong.
"No, attack these pieces of filth!" Zhao ordered, pointing towards Harry and the others.
"Use your brains," Jeong Jeong spoke loudly. "I'm a firebending master, and I have the Avatar and the Emerald Dragon fighting alongside me. You do not stand a chance." The soldiers looked at each other again before eight of them chose to run off, leaving only two soldiers behind.
"Cowards!" Zhao yelled at their retreating backs before turning his gaze to the two remaining soldiers. "You two can expect to be rewarded when we return to the Fire Nation, I..." Whatever Zhao was about to say was cut off as a knife threw straight into the neck of one of the soldiers before a lightning bolt hit the second.
Zhao's attention quickly snapped back to Harry who had stepped into a fighting stance, smoke rising from his fingertips. Zhao quickly adopted his own fighting stance, he spared a glance at the soldiers and was pretty sure that if they weren't dead now then they'd be dead before he'd be able to do anything to get them help, they'd also be useless at this point if he even could keep them alive.
"You...you killed them..." Aang blinked, staring at Harry with shock. He risked looking at the bodies and his face turned a small shade of green.
"Do not watch this if you do not want to," Jeong Jeong whispered to Aang. "there is no shame in turning away."
"Why are you doing this?!" Zhao demanded. "Why would you turn traitor for these savages?!"
"Oh shut up, Lucius." Harry rolled his eyes.
"What?" Zhao blinked.
"Sorry," Harry apologized, adopting a surprised look. "I get my bigots mixed up sometimes, though in my defense it all starts to sound the same after a while."
"You're mad."
"Indubitably." Harry agreed before sending a green fire blast at Zhao, Zhao dodged before taking a step forward. He thrust out his left hand, sending a fire blast, before doing the same with his right, he followed up with a spinning kick that sent a wave of fire towards Harry. Harry dodged the first, blocked the second, and ducked the third attack before clapping his hands together, fire erupted from his fingertips and stormed forwards, charging toward Zhao as it built to a size that was easily two feet taller than the man himself.
Zhao grunted as he slammed his hands down onto the ground, a wall of fire shot upwards, Zhao pushed his hands forward and the wall charged towards Harry's attack. The two flame attacks collided with each other and the results didn't favor Zhao as Harry's flames tore through his own and headed towards him. Zhao's eyes went wide in panic, he jumped back before waving both of his arms, sending two waves of fire that collided with Harry's flames, and finally managed to stop them. Before Zhao could refocus he found a hand placed on his mouth and Harry's emerald eyes a few inches from his own.
"You always talked too much," Harry whispered before his hand lit on fire, Zhao screamed and fell onto his back as his mouth was burnt. His hands quickly reached up and he touched his face before pulling them back with a wince as that only caused him more pain. "goodbye Zhao." Harry said before he aimed his hand at the fallen Zhao's head, his hand lit up with fire and a second later the fire shot towards Zhao, only to miss as Zhao was thrown out of the way by a wind blast. "Aang, what are you doing?" Harry turned to face Aang.
"You can't kill him!" Aang blurted out.
"I can actually, now excuse me so I may prove that," Harry replied.
"No, you don't need to," Aang refused, "he is down, he's not a threat."
"Not at the moment but unfortunately the world isn't that simple, Aang." Harry sighed. "What happens if he lives? He'll come back and try to kill you and me, heck he might even get lucky and succeed."
"But you..."
"Not to mention the eight people that would die," Harry added. "remember those soldiers I sent off. If Zhao lives and tells the Fire Nation that they abandoned him then they'd be hunted down and then it would be jail if they're lucky and death if they're not. Not to mention all the other people he would harm if I leave him alone. You want that to happen?"
"No, but..." Before Aang could finish his sentence Harry had turned around and quickly shot an air blast at a charging Zhao who had gotten up and tried to attack him, Zhao landed on his back but quickly recovered and rushed towards the two dead Fire Nation soldiers, he plucked a knife out of the soldier's neck before charging towards Harry. He shot a fire blast at Harry before trying to stab him. Harry blocked the blast before stepping to the side and grabbing the wrist of the hand that tried to stab him.
"You should have stayed down," Harry told him.
"No, stop, I..." Aang moved forwards but stopped when he saw that he was too late. He took a step back as he saw Zhao fall to the floor, a knife hanging out of his neck. He looked towards Harry who had already walked past the fallen admiral and was now cleaning some blood off of himself with water from the river.
"I suppose that this is goodbye then, Jeong Jeong," Harry said without looking back. "such a shame, I enjoyed meeting you. Are you sure you don't want to come with us?" He offered.
"Unfortunately not," Jeong Jeong answered. "but I wish you the best of luck." He said before turning to Aang. "Do not judge him so harshly, young Avatar." He whispered.
"But he..."
"I know," Jeong Jeong said, his voice soft, softer than Aang had ever heard of him. "but you must control your emotions and think. If bloodshed was something he desired then he could have stayed with the Fire Nation and be allowed to kill and hurt to his heart's content without fear, he would be able to do it and enjoy a large feast of food later in the comfort of a palace. He did not run away from his friends and family just to do something he could do with them by his side, nor would he have offered those men a chance to live."
"Aang," Harry's voice cut in, Aang jumped and turned to Harry who was now walking towards them. "we need to go, now." He gestured Aang to follow him
"Uh...right..." Aang nodded shakily before following after Harry.
"See ya later, Jeong Jeong," Harry called behind him.
"Goodbye, young dragon." Jeong Jeong said quietly as he watched the two leave. 'There is far more to him than meets the eye,' He thought to himself. 'the dragon may be young but those eyes are beyond his years.' He remembered looking into Harry's eyes, he saw beyond the youth, if not for the color he would say those eyes were identical to his own. Those few times he willingly looked at his reflection he was able to see the haunted look, eyes frozen due to the horrors that they had witnessed. Was the world so terrible that one so young would have the same eyes as himself? It saddened him but it did fill him with hope at the same time, no evil creation of the Fire Lord would have those eyes, no remorseless monster would have those eyes. "I do hope to see you again." Jeong Jeong said under his breath once the two were out of sight.
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Omake:
"I don't need a wand to use magic." Zhao smirked. "And I'm rich."
"I'm rich and I have better hair." Lucius replied.
"You both make good points, but I have one as well, you're both dicks." Harry responded.
"He makes the best point." Jeong Jeong said before sipping some tea.
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A.N: Hi guys, hope you liked the chapter. BTW, can anyone recommend me a good ATLA fic so I can read how other people write their fight scenes, I think I did alright but I also felt like I could do better. Also, the next chapter will be focused on Azula since I know everybody wants more of that. Also, I do plan in the future to go deeper into why Harry offered those soldiers a chance to leave.
Thanks for reading, feel free to leave a review.
Comments
Q
Thanks
Q
Thanks for your kind words. Harry will not be punishing Aang physically, partly due to his own experiences with abuse and partly because of his own moral rules. But he will still be punishing him.
Erinnyes
It's so nice having a character with some sense in the universe. This is war, the fire nation are running around killing people. Mercy has a place on the battlefield, but only if you can ensure those you've spared will not go on to cause further harm. Great work here with Harry's character in particular, but everyone works well.
letr1994
Still think that Harry should punish Aang harshly when they retouch the subject of his irresponsible behavior. Perhaps putting him through the same training that Ozai or the Army put him through. Something that makes him truly understand that actions have consequences, regardless if the person feels remorse and apologize. As they say words are wind, and the path to hell is paved with good intentions. It will be interesting to see how seeing Harry killing someone will affect the group relationship. Because it's not thing to have the knowledge that he is a soldier and has killed in the past, but actually witnessing it is different. Can't wait to see Azula, how her character has changed, and what you have planned for her future. As always thanks for your hard work.
