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Emerald Dragon chapter 8
🕑 Added 2021-04-23 01:42:38 +0000 UTCChapter 8 -
"Guys, honestly, how the hell did I let you guys talk me into doing that?" Harry asked as he and the rest of the team were being dragged to the throne room.
"That, my omni-bending friend, is a very good question," Aang responded. "it's probably because you're repressed and missing a lot of fun nowadays..." Aang said, only to stop when Harry glared at him. "just saying." He said under his breath.
"Talk you into it?" Sokka repeated with a scoff. "You were screaming with joy the whole time we were on that slide."
"I was not." Harry said in a tone that bordered on offended.
"You did sound like you enjoyed it." Katara said, sounding apologetic about the fact that she had to agree with Sokka.
"What would you three know?" Harry said dismissively, he did not enjoy that slide, thank you very much, even if he did want to see if he could go down it faster.
Eventually they were brought into the throne room, the throne room was tall, plain, and made of rock, with a simply carved stone throne for the king. Harry and the others were sitting down on their knees (while Momo had sat down on all fours) and sat still as they looked at the King of Omashu. He looked very old, he had a short white beard and white hair around the sides and back of his head. His hair (even the hair on his eyebrows) was wild and scruffy, he also had several spots on his face and was missing many teeth. His back was hunched and he looked as frail as a man his age could possibly look. He was dressed in green robes, brown sandals and had different coloured rings on all of his finger. He also had an odd looking hat with two very long feathers sticking out of it.
Harry was looking all around the room, taking note of everything. There were two guards by the king, two guards behind them, two in front of them and the cabbage merchant from earlier.
"Your majesty, these juveniles were arrested for vandalism, traveling under false pretences, and malicious destruction of cabbages." The lead guard said.
"Off with their heads!" The cabbage merchant shouted. "One for each head of cabbage!"
"Hey," Harry spoke, causing the cabbage merchant to look at him. "guess what? I don't like cabbages." Harry said, causing the cabbage merchant to gasp as if he was struck right in the heart.
"Wow, that's cold." The King spoke up in a slightly surprised voice.
"Your majesty, what would you like to do with them?" The lead guard asked. The King didn't immediately reply, he looked between all four of them before his gaze briefly settled on Aang.
"Throw them..." The King began, causing everyone to give him their full attention. "...a feast." He said in a light voice.
"Huh?" Was the collective response from the rest of the room.
Before the team could properly understand what was happening they found themselves sat at a table that had been brought into the throne room, it was filled with delicious amounts of great looking food. After a brief amount of hesitant (and a few minutes of Harry making sure the food and drinks were not poisoned) the team began eating. Katara and Aang calmly ate while Sokka all but gulped down the food he was offered, Harry ate as well but kept his eyes on the guards and the king.
"So, bald one, where are you from?" The King asked part way through.
"Me? Oh, I'm from...Kangaroo island!" Aang answered.
"Oh, Kangaroo Island, eh? I hear that place is really hopping!" The King said with a grin, the room went silent, or at least it did until Sokka broke it with laughter.
"What?" Sokka said defensively when he noticed everyone looking at him. "It was a good joke."
"Thank you, young one," The King said as he stood up and yawned as he began stretching. "well...I'm really tried now. At my age tiredness creeps up on you...like a surprise!" He finished as he suddenly flicked his wrist and threw a chicken leg at Aang, it had almost reached Aang who had raised his hands to catch it but it was intercepted by Harry who easily caught it since he had been on guard the whole time.
"Thanks, but most people just kindly pass it." Harry said before he began eating it.
"Oh, you ruined my test." The King pouted.
"Sorry but… not sorry." Harry shrugged.
"Smartass, anyway it's fine, the tattoos give it away already." The King said. "We have an airbender in our city, and if I am guessing right then not just any airbender. The Avatar!"
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"I am not entirely sure that this is a prison cell." Harry said as they looked around the room they had been taken into. There was no door since it opened with Earth bending, the room has three green beds in the centre with three green drapes hanging from the ceiling above them. "I've been in dungeons and prison cells before, this is much nicer."
"He did say it was newly refurbished." Aang pointed out.
"New or not, we're prisoners here!" Sokka reminded him. "Why didn't you do anything?" Sokka asked Harry. "You're the 'Emerald Dragon', you couldn't do anything?"
"Most of my solutions involved burning everyone and everything to the ground," Harry said with a shrug. "I can still do that if you want." Harry offered.
"Um...no." Sokka eventually said.
"Fussy." Harry said under his breath before he began speaking out loud. "The King said that tomorrow Aang would face three deadly challenges, so the way I see it we still have a chance to make it out of this. And if that chance doesn't work out then we still have 'Plan B'."
"Is 'Plan B' by any chance a plan involving you burning everyone and everything to the ground?" Katara asked.
"Pretty much." Harry confirmed with a nod just before the room opened once again to allow two guards to come back in.
"You," One of the guards said as he pointed at Harry. "come with us, the King wants to speak to you." He said, he was either unaware of the rest of the gang tensing or was simply ignoring it.
"Well, aren't I popular today?" Harry said in a light voice before turning to the others. "Relax, you'll see me back with you lot before you can even say 'Sokka's an idiot'." Harry said before calmly following the guards out, ignoring Sokka's protest.
"So," The King of Omashu said when Harry was brought into his throne room. "how are you?" He asked in a kind voice.
"As well as I can be." Harry shrugged. "And yourself?"
"Good, good, or as good as someone my age can be." The King said with a grin. "Now, I just want to say...I know who you are."
"Really?" Harry asked, slowly shifting into a fighting stance.
"Oh yes, Emerald Dragon, I know exactly who you are." The King said with a snort. "We need to talk."
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Aang let out a sigh as it was finally time to complete the last of his 'deadly tests', the first was the easiest and had quite simply been telling the King what he thought about his new outfit, though Aang didn’t really think that that was actually one of the tests. The second test had been managing to get the King's lunch from a strong waterfall and then retrieving his pet which hadn't been the little bunny that Aang originally thought it would be and ended up actually being the goat gorilla that had spent a large amount of time chasing Aang.
The worst part about all of these challenges was the time limit, Sokka and Katara had had special rings placed on their fingers, rings that made crystals that kept growing until they were covering more and more of Katara and Sokka, if Aang didn't want them to be completely covered then he would have to complete the tasks before the crystals started suffocating and/or crushing his friends. To make matters worse, Aang still didn't know what had happened to Harry.
"Your final test is a duel." The King said as they stood by a combat arena. "And as a special treat, you may choose your opponent." He added just as two tough looking men walked in. "Point and choose." The King told Aang.
"So...you're saying whoever I point to, that's who I have to fight?" Aang asked.
"Choose wisely." The King said in a voice that held a hint of warning.
"I choose...you!" Aang said, pointing at the King. Whatever Aang had expected for a response did not involve pure and genuine laughter, so naturally he was surprised when that was what he had gotten.
"Wrong choice." The King said after several moments of chuckling. The King straightens up and removes his outer robe, proving himself to be a powerfully built old man. He earthbends Aang off of the balcony, making him fly into the arena. The King jumps down right in front of Aang, and laughs. "You thought I was a frail old man, but I'm the most powerful earthbender you'll ever see." The King grinned.
"...Can I change my mind?" Aang asked hopefully.
"Nope," The King shook his head, grin still on his face. "There are no take-backsies in my kingdom." He said before he started earthbending.
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"Well done, Avatar. You fight with much fire in your heart." The King said at the end of his match with Aang, the match ended with Aang holding his staff in a position where he could strike the king while the king used earthbending to hold a giant boulder over both of their heads. The King had been holding back but was still genuinely impressed with how strong Aang was, he tossed the boulder away before he continued speaking. "You've passed all my tests. Now, you must answer one question."
"But that's not fair! I passed your tests!" Aang complained.
"But what's the point in tests if you don't learn anything?" The King said with a grin. "Answer this one question and I will set your friends free. What ... is my name? From the looks of your friends I'd say you only have a few minutes." He smirked.
"What...what is his name?" Aang asked his friends. "How am I supposed to know his name?"
"Is it Rocky?" Sokka guessed, "You know...because of the rocks." He added.
"No, but good guess." The King replied.
"Think about the challenges!" Katara called.
"The challenges?" Aang repeated. "I...I got a key from the waterfall, I saved his pet, and I had a duel."
"And what did you learn?" Katara asked.
"Well, everything was different than I expected." Aang said in a thoughtful voice. "They weren't straight forward. To solve each test, I had to think differently than I usually would...I know his name. I know your name!" Aang grinned as he turned back to Bumi. "I solved the question the same way I solved the challenges. As you said a long time ago, I had to open my brain to the possibilities. Bumi, you're a mad genius!" Aang smiled widely as he stared at the man who he now knew to be Bumi, the boy that had been his friend a hundred years ago.
"It's great to see you again, Aang." Bumi said with a teary smile before he and Aang embraced each other in a heart-warming hug.
"Hey, this is nice and all but can we get some help?!" Sokka said in a panicked voice as he felt the crystals continuing to grow.
"Oh right." Bumi blinked, apparently he had forgotten about those two. "Sorry." He added sheepishly before he signalled his guards to free them.
"We done yet?" Harry asked as he walked in, now standing next to the newly freed Sokka and Katara.
"Where were you?!" Sokka blurted out.
"Well, I was watching everything." Harry shrugged.
"The whole hostage situation works a lot easier when one of your hostages is not one of the most feared firebenders in the world." Bumi added with a shrug of his own.
"So this crazy king is your old friend Bumi?" Katara asked.
"Hey!" Bumi said in an offended voice. "I may be crazy and I may be a king but I am not..." He paused as he saw the wrinkles on his skin. "...okay, I'm old." He admitted.
"By the way, Aang," Harry spoke up. "quick question. When he asked you to choose an opponent, why didn't you say Sokka?" Harry asked. "I mean the guy couldn't bend and was covered in so much crystal that he couldn't move, seemed like an easy win to me."
"Oh..." Aang blinked. "...I hadn't thought about that." He admitted sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head.
"Ha," Bumi snorted loudly as he let out a loud laugh. "I like him." He chuckled as he gestured to Harry.
"Why did you do all of this instead of just telling Aang who you were?" Sokka asked.
"First of all, it's pretty fun messing with people." Bumi said with a snort.
"True." Harry quietly agreed.
"But I do have a reason. Aang," Bumi continued. "you have a difficult task ahead of you my little bald, bold friend. The world has changed in the hundred years that you've been gone. It's the duty of the Avatar to restore balance to the world by defeating Fire Lord Ozai. You have much to learn. You must master the four elements and confront the Fire Lord. And when you do, I hope you will think like a mad genius. And it looks like you're in good hands. You'll need your friends to help defeat the Fire Nation." He said as Momo climbed up onto Aang's shoulders. "And you'll need Momo, too." He added in a way that made it seem like he thought that that was obvious knowledge.
"Thanks." Aang said with a grin. "You've taught me a lot, Bumi."
"It was my genuine pleasure, Aang." Bumi said, returning the grin.
"Thank you for your wisdom, but before we leave, I have a challenge for you." Aang smirked.
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"My cabbages!" A voice screamed just before Bumi and Aang finished riding down the Omashu mail system.
"That was awesome!" Aang said as the hopped out of the cart once they had reached the bottom.
"Indeed, I haven't done that in years!" Bumi said. "We should do it again!"
"That sounds nice but we need to be going." Katara said apologetically.
"Yeah, but first we need to find the fire jerk." Sokka sighed.
"You mean Harry?" Aang asked.
"Yeah, we don't know where he has gone." Katara said just before the sound of a cheer was heard, they all turned to see a second cart arrive and see Harry jump out of it. Harry dusted himself off and saw the others looking at him.
"Don't fucking judge me." Harry said before walking off.
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A.N: Hi guys, hope you liked the chapter. I don't plan to go through every single scene in the series so that is of course why I am skipping many of them.
As for Harry he is the darker and angriest member of the team, but that doesn't mean he can't have some fun. He'll be having happy moments and some very dark moments as the story goes on.
Also I plan to put another Azula flashback in the next chapter or the chapter after it.
Let me know what you think, feel free to leave a review.
Comments
Q
Harry's green flames are more powerful/hotter than normal flames. As for weapons im still thinking about it since there are so many options such as swords, batons and those that you suggested.
Melisande Peralta
I loved the "don't fucking judge me".
Christian Jeffress
Definitely another very fun chapter, I enjoyed the lightheartedness of this chapter to be sure. Rather curious if his green flames have any particular affect besides being green LOL. Burning hotter? Some magical affect? Looking forward to discovering that. Also, curious if his lightning will be green as well LOL. Anyway, thanks for another awesome chapter again. Oh, do you have any weapons in mind for him?
