A Joke
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Chapter 47
🕑 Added 2021-11-15 15:37:21 +0000 UTCChapter 47: Lions and Lambs
***
In a dark swampy land, trees, and wetness, a dark cave stood which had its entrance covered by vines. From the outside, the cave seemed almost sinister.
Within it was Appa, who was laying down, sleeping after a long journey and Katara's condition continued getting worse, with her fever heightening. She was barely able to move her body, but even through all of this, what worried her more was Sokka's disappearance. Her brother hadn't been back ever since he went out, and she worried that something might have happened to him.
Aang had also gone to look for him and find Katara some medicine. He hadn't been back either. Kiwi, the little fox, was the only one here able to take care of Katara, by bringing her water or whatever she asked. The fox was scared because since she was so young, she couldn't use her ability to transform back into her giant form very often. It would take months before she could do so again.
But the little furry creature knew that Sokka wouldn't care about any of that. If Katara was hurt, Kiwi felt like this might be her last day of life. She didn't know what was going on with Sokka, but the little Spirit doubted the enemies were able to kill the slippery guy. He knew when to retreat in case of a dangerous situation.
**
At the same time, Aang, who was outside, flying with his glider, kept looking around and looking for any sign of civilization. But he wasn't having much luck. Only dark, wet swamps greeted his sight, and it seemed to go on forever.
He had a worried look on his face as it felt like everything was going wrong. With Sokka disappearing, then Katara got sick, and now he was unable to even see any life of human settlements around.
How could things even get any worse?
Fwish!
An arrow suddenly flew towards him, with a precise, straight-line trajectory. Aang tried to dodge and he was barely able to fly out of the arrow’s way and got a small cut on his cheek while doing so. “That was fast,” he muttered, never having seen an arrow so fast, but now he was on guard and felt confident-
Fwish! Fwish!
Twenty other arrows came, Aang was able to not have any of the arrows hit him, but only barely so. Suddenly, he started plummeting, and looking up he noticed that a couple of flaming arrows had hit his glider. “When did the arrows land?!” He was confused, but couldn’t do anything but be ready for a fight. Yet Aang was confused by where his enemies even were, as he hadn’t caught clear sight of them yet.
He glanced at his glider regretfully. That was the last relic he had that the monks had made for him.
Without having much time to think about it anymore, Aang used a soft stream of air to stop himself from slamming to the ground. That caused some water to rise.
Fwish! Fwish! Fwish! Fwish!...
Hundreds of arrows bombarded him, each of them was outside of his vision, their view blocked by the droplets of water that had risen.
These archers were experts. The best Aang had ever seen. He was barely able to swing his arm to create a wall of ice in front of him.
It stopped some of the arrows, but one arrow hit at its weak place causing some cracks, and another arrow hit the already stuck arrow, snapping the other arrow in half. This forced the cracks in the ice wall to get larger, breaking the ice wall.
Aang jumped back but noticed that there was a tree behind him. Which was good for the time as it would at least protect his back. He tried to use the swampy waters around, but three arrows hit his arm, one piercing straight through his palm, making him wince as blood dripped from his hand. Due to the pain, he lost contraction and his waterbending was interrupted.
"Aaghhh!!" Aang screamed out in pain. As a dozen other arrows came at him, and hit his clothes, nailing him towards a tree.
Normally, without his hands and legs, Aang might have been vulnerable. But Sokka had taught him that bending can be done with all parts of the body. That included head, fingers, chest, and even tongue.
*Bufff!!*
But suddenly, a strange smell came into his nose, he noticed that a gas bomb was thrown in front of him, and he slowly passed out.
"No… Katata…" those were the last words he muttered as unconscious darkness claimed him.
From behind one of the swamp trees, Azula walked from behind it and she had a pleased smile on her face. "The Yuyan Archers are truly remarkable. I didn't have to even get involved."
The said archers came from their hiding places which included behind the trees, atop trees, and some were hidden in the swampy waters, covered in mud.
"It's all due to your plan, Princess Azula, that things went so smoothly."
"Yes, the knockout gas was a genius idea."
Azula smiled, these archers had impressed her too. She had never thought that they would be this good at following her plans. "Yes, now prove your skills to me once again. By finding the man called Sokka, and the other female companion that the Avatar is with. We wouldn't want one of them to come and free him."
**
The next time Aang opened his eyes, he was chained in a metallic coffin with only his head out, and he was mid-air, held up by dozens of chains. There was no water in sight, so even if he could bend with his head, airbending wasn't enough to break metal.
Still, Aang was more worried about Katara. She had been left alone and sick, she wouldn't be able to fight against anyone. He guessed that Sokka also was captured by the archers. A despairing feeling filled his heart, he winced as he tried to clench his hand inside the metallic coffin but it was the one an arrow had pierced during his capture.
The situation has become worse. There was no one out there to help them now.
**
In the swampy regions of the outside. Two archers that were out scouting, had caught sight of the cave and noticed that there were some footprints outside of it. They had been swiped by some leaves to cover them, but the archers had been professionally trained to track their prey.
They smiled. Today was their lucky day, Princess Azula will reward them handsomely for their work.
Fwosh!
Suddenly they heard the sound of wind being cut so fast that it made crackling sounds, like a whip. Turning around they immediately felt like they were flying like ragdolls and saw two headless bodies in the ground.. wait… those were their bodies.
Just like that, their consciousness slipped.
*
-Sokka POV-
I cut the two unsuspecting soldiers that were outside of the cave Katara was in. Right now, I wasn't in the mood for mercy.
But putting the bodies in the inventory was the best way to get rid of any evidence. I didn't want my cute little sister to be traumatized by them. We were better than the Fire Nation and didn't go around killing people. Of course, that's what she needed to continue and believe. Because sadly, wars couldn't be won by soft people.
Sometimes you have to be a lion, to be the lamb you really are.
If you want peace, then use your power and make it a peaceful place. Talking things out never worked in any war. You have to crush your opponents to make them listen to what you have to say.
I went towards the cave and saw Katara leaning on Appa. Also, Kiwi was standing in front of my sister, the little fox was shaking in fear and her eyes were closed. She opened her mouth and shot out a fume of smoke.
*cough* *cough*
Then she started coughing. What a pathetic display of fire. But she wasn't even a month old, so I could see why she was so weak. Crouching down, I petted the cute little fox and smiled at her. "You did a good job, Kiwi."
Sometimes I might be harsh on her, but that's just so she will be kept in line and know our positions weren't those of equals. Katara dotted and spoiled her enough for both of us anyway.
Speaking of Katar, I walked towards my little sister and saw her looking at me with a tired smile that crushed my heart. "Sokka? Am I hallucinating again?"
"You think your mind can hallucinate this handsome face?" I took a frozen frog out of my inventory and stuffed it in her mouth.
[Frog of the Swamp - Lvl 1]
[Its skin has very good healing medicine, though it's only released when they are frozen.]
Due to the [Map] and [Observation] skill, it was easy to find a frozen frog. I still remembered from the show that she needed this to be healed from the cold.
The medicine worked like a charm, as Katara quickly got up and spit out the frog that had now come back to life. She looked at me for a little bit before sighing. "We have to go and find Aang! He hasn't been here for a while either."
[Your Relationship with Katara increased]
[Due to the Relationship already being at max. You haven't gained any Relationship Points with Katara.]
What a silly girl. She was worried about me needlessly.
Opening the [Map] I saw that Aang was in the nearby fortress. He had been captured, but by whom? Zhao was the one supposed to be in charge, but the man is already dead.
Well, I am about to find out soon. Can't have the Avatar be treated so roughly.
*************
A/N: Azula is a strategic genius. It was especially shown during her takeover of Ba Sing Se. Though she later went crazy and lost that brilliance about her.
