A Joke
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Avatar: Awakened Gamer
🕑 Added 2021-12-14 19:28:54 +0000 UTCChapter 78
***
What a crazy bitch, Azula was something else. The look she gave me made my heart feel like a frozen bag of ice. What a scary chick.
*Bzzzzzt*
She shot lightning at point-blank, but I dodged, easier than before. The normal Azula would have shot fire to cloud my sight and then shoot lightning, even if I knew what she would do, I wouldn't be able to dodge it.
She seemed angry and slightly panicked. That was enough to stop her from making the best possible move with each attack. If she wasn't fighting me at her best, the difference between us…
Fwish!
Within an instant, I was within her inner zone, and lightning couldn't protect her as my spear slashed through her midsection, drawing an arc of blood in the air.
The difference between us… is too large. Fighting against a stronger opponent recklessly wasn't how you did it. You needed to plan and exploit a weakness. Essentially, by gaming terms, it's called spamming one move and camping.
"Azula!" Ty Lee yelled out worriedly and rushed towards her friend.
Mai threw a couple of weapons at me, but I casually picked them off the air. Making sure to not let them puncture my skin, as I could tell that there was some deadly poison in them.
"Hey, you might hurt somebody by throwing these things," I warned her, with Azula injured, no one in this place would be able to stop me. Unless Iroh was here, I could kill everyone in here before reinforcements from the other ships arrived. Though if I wanted to kill everyone, then I would use Waterbending.
But killing everyone in my way wasn't the answer. With my identity as Sokka, Azula probably hated me, but as Kuzon she might have other thoughts. I had bigger plans for her, and she has a bigger role to play. For someone like her to die so early, it would be a shame.
Killing her would be the same as killing an abused child. I turned around and went towards the two downed men. The Waterbender was barely conscious, but I made sure he saw what happened.
Jumping into the water, I was greeted by extreme cold, but even while holding two people in my back, I swam away like a dolphin. [Swimming] Skill was something else.
The thought of killing Azula did pass my mind for a split second. After all, she was growing more intelligent each day, and with me there, she will grow up to become a force to be reckoned with.
But if she was on my side, that would change everything. If I don't succeed in this, I will have a very powerful enemy to deal with in the future.
***
Sokka's body started feeling the cold quite badly, and he started losing HP due to hypothermia. Since it was night, the water was especially cold.
Just the burning pain of the ice-cold waters would have made someone pass out and want to give up. Sokka had a little advantage as while [Gamer's Body] didn't cancel pain completely, but it still helped.
After arriving at the walls, there was no one waiting for him. But Sokka didn't mind and took two daggers out of his pockets and started climbing, with the two people tied to him.
"These days it feels like I am always carrying everything," he muttered, a little annoyed at having to do something like this. Still, even while climbing he kept an eye on the Fire Nation ships, none of them had moved. "I thought they would attack me by now. But it seems like Azula is still conscious and giving good orders."
To him, it was quite fascinating to see people grow. Even the original Azula would have attacked him by now with all of her forces. But now, she held them back, knowing that attacking right now would only lead to unnecessary casualties.
"What a smart girl," he grunted, pushing himself over the top of the wall, and dragging the now unconscious bodies up. "You two fuckers, if it wasn't to have you witness my deeds, I wouldn't keep two useless pieces of baggage around."
C and B, both of which Sokka didn't bother to remember or check the real names of, had been there to just keep watch over what would happen. They were useless to Sokka in battle. Azula had been expecting them and they ended up becoming baggage.
**
Amidst the cold night winds of the North, except for some guards, no one else was there to see Sokka carry two limp people over his shoulder. He walked into the Chieftain's house and dropped his 'helpers' on the ground like a sack of potatoes and sat on the chair.
Sokka went and lit a fire on the stove, making himself at home. "It's cold as hell these days."
"Do you go into every house and use their charcoal?" Arnook came out of his bedroom, fully clothed. He looked healthier, and he didn't seem that worried anymore. It made Sokka wonder if something good happened. Noticing the two unconscious, shaking bodies on the floor, the Chieftain frowned. "I think you should take them to the healing huts or they will die."
"Get someone else to do it, I hauled them throughout the ocean, swimming in cold water while carrying two people is hard. I am tired." Sokka explained, without missing a beat, even though due to [Gamer's Body] he wasn't tired at all. "Anyway, I am here to explain what happened. Princess Azula is the leader of the ships, she is young, but not naive. Honestly, I would rather have anyone else in charge than her. But I injured her heavily and the injuries should take a couple of weeks to heal."
Sokka didn't say the whole truth, but even Arnook couldn't refute his explanation. Azula was too injured for battle, and the chances that she would participate in the war were slim to none. This would help tremendously, she was too competent to allow her to be in the field of battle and see the fight directly.
"Anyway, I have done my part now, you will hold your end of the deal, right?" Sokka asked nicely, but Arnook could see the sharpness in the young man's eyes. If he refused the deal, he felt like something bad might happen.
Arnook nods but doesn't give a definitive answer. Instead, he sits in front of Sokka, leaning his arms on the tables, as his elbows brushed past the hard wood. "So? What would happen if we are unable to offer what we promised?"
Sokka raised a questioning brow at that. In the original story, Arnook had been quite willing to help. Since helping the Southern Water Tribe was like helping themselves, they controlled the damn thing and wanted to get into the good graces of the people. How do you get in favor with hungry and poor people? Offer them food. It was a simple solution.
"So? I don't think such a thing is relevant for now," Sokka shook his head, with a good-natured smile on his face.
"The initial bombs destroyed a lot of the food storage we had," Arnook clarified. "People will starve if I offer my part of the deal. How about we split the deal into parts, and we pay you in a period over ten or so years? You don't want people to starve, do you?"
****
A/N: A leader has to look after the interest of his people, and good people don't usually make good leaders.
