Claws of the southern tribe

Chapter one

Sokka, a young man who is about five foot, five inches tall sighed as he took a sip from his bottle of whiskey. He could not help the small smile his face, as he had not smiled much in the last five years. As looked at the ice fields he felt the icy winds of his homeland caress his dark tan skin. It had been seven years since he last saw this site.

He is currently standing on the deck of the small Fire Nation scout ship known as the Dancing Dragon, that he has been serving on for the last three years. He is dressed very lightly, wearing only a pair of black pants. His exposed body look like it was carved from soled steel and was fairly lean. Despite His state of dress, being more fit for the hot tropical islands of the Fire Nation, and not the extreme cold of the South Pole he did not look the least bit uncomfortable.

Sokka took another sip from the bottle, he drank too dull his memory. He wanted to escape the memories of all the horrible things he did in his almost sixteen years of life. Seven Points Whiskey, the brand he always drank, was very weak only being only 40% alcohol by volume. However, he did not drink it for the alcohol. He drank it because the blend of ingredients helped block his ability to recall memories. However, it did not work if he was purposely thinking about one of his memories. The ingredients do not have this effect on normal people and his regenerative healing factor would quickly remove it from his blood, if he did not constantly imbibe it.

Since Sokka was 11 years old he had done almost nothing but kill for the Fire Nation. He has killed soldiers, civilians, the old, men and woman. However, he proud that even when going berserk he has never killed a child. He drank so he would not recall the screams of his victims, the overpowering smell of their blood, and the feel of his claws as the cut threw their flesh. However, it was all worth it to him, as long as the Southern Water Tribe was safe.

However, if even one member of his tribe was harmed by any member of the Fire Nation, within the borders of the Southern Water Tribe , he will be released from his oath of loyalty. Even at the age of nine when Sokka was taken to the Fire Nation, he was still smart enough to get that in writing, with the seals of fire lord Azulon, Prince Ozai, Prince Iroh, Prince Lu-ten, and Lady Ursa, Ozai's wife. He also made sure that the seals ink was mixed with the blood of all five members of the Holy Royal Family along with his own. The parchment the contract was signed on was then covered in a fire proof resin to preserve it from ever being destroyed.

Sokka only had one other escape and that was when he was fighting, or to be more accurate slaughtering the enemy soldiers on the battlefield, or rebels hiding in some hole.

However, Sokka rarely got the chance to take to the battlefield in the last three years. He had been privately asked by Ozai to take a post to Prince Zuko's little ship, as a guard to the dishonored prince. Sokka knew he used the booze as an escape and that it was the act of a coward, but he did not care.

Sokka stopped drinking his whiskey as a bright column of white light flashed across the frozen desert of his homeland. He had a strange feeling that his sister was partially the cause of the light.

The sudden appearance of the light made Sokka stop drinking long enough to remember. He remembered how he came to be a weapon of the Fire Nation.

Seven years ago…

Sokka was having a snowball fight with his baby sister, when the black snow fell. Katara his young sister wanted their mother and she told him she was going to, "go find mom".

Sokka began to fallow the men of the tribe, when an unfamiliar smell made him stop. The smell was like ash, smoke, and hot steel. He turned around and began fallowing the scent, which led to his family hut. He arrived just in time to see his sister run out yelling for their father. Worried Sokka ran into the hut where he finds the source of the smell. A man in a wearing the armor of a commanding officer of the Fire Nation Navy.

"Sorry but I'm not taking prisoners today." The man said as he made movements with his arms.

Time slowed and Sokka quickly realized that the man was going to kill his mother. This made the boy very angry, angrier than he had ever been in his young life. His hands began to hurt badly as he lunged at the officer. His little body impacting with the man, stopped him from finishing whatever it was that he was doing. The man recovered quickly as Sokka tried to punch him in the face. However, the man threw Sokka off him and quickly got back on to his feet his feet.

The adults stared in horror as what could be described as three claws, that were clear like a snake's fangs, had sprouted from between the boy's fingers. However, the claws were quickly clouding to a yellowish white. Sokka was growling at the man who just tried to murder his mother. His normally curious dark blue eyes turned had turned murderous dark golden color. The gold color was a bit brighter than that of a master fire bender. The boy then charged the man who meets the charge with a large blast of fire. The captain watched in shock as Sokka ran through fire blast not caring that his skin had begun to blister.

'No its more like the boy does not even feel the fire as it burns him.' The man thinks.

It was only thanks to the man's years of experience on the battlefield that he was able to rear back his right leg and kick the boy hard the stomach. However, Sokka's claws strike his greaves cutting three deep gouges into the metal.

The Sokka's eyes returned to their normal blue as all the air in his lungs leaves his small body. The claws also receded back into his hands and the adults were able to watch as the skin quickly healed over.

"Kya!" A man wearing the garments of a Water Tribe chief yelled as he entered the hut. The chief saw his son dry heaving on the floor and his wife looking at him on in worry.

"You're the Chief of Southern Water Tribe , right?" The Fire Nation officer asked the man. "Yes I am Hakoda All-chief of the Southern Water Tribe . What do you want?" Hakoda asked the man.

"I was originally ordered to capture the last water bender of this tribe. However instead of risking her escaping and mastering the elements, I decided I would just kill her. However, I have now found something far more valuable and as such I have a deal for you. If you let me take this boy with me, to be forged into a weapon for the Fire Nation. In exchange I will tell Azulon that the last water bender is dead and I will tell you who leaked the secrete of your daughter's abilities. This will stop the raids completely, you savages can live in peace and you will know who betrayed your family. What do you say?" The Officer tells the Hakoda.

However, Hakoda suddenly reaching for the knife he had at the small of his back. Hakoda would never give up any member of his family, even for the safety of the tribe. However, before he can move Sokka interrupts them.

"I'll do it. I will become a weapon of the Fire Nation, if it means my tribe will be safe." Sokka tells the adults.

Hearing the boys answer, the officer blasts both Hakoda and Kya with a weak but very forceful fire fist, the shockwave knocks the two out. The officer also launches a more lethal attack at Sokka, knowing it would not kill the boy. The officer jots down a name on the huts wall using some of the boy's blood. He then proceeded to scoop up the boy and make his retreat. The man would prove to be a man of his word.

...

Sokka shakes his head and downs the rest of his whiskey. He never did learn the name of the man responsible for making him what he is. He is the best there is at what he does, but what he does is not very nice.

Watching the boy from a distance was a small old man in a wearing cold weather cloths of a Fire Nation noble. This is Iroh brother of Fire Lord Ozai. A retired general the man had viewed Sokka as one of the grandchildren he never had and was glad his brother assigned the tortured soul to 'guard' his nephew. He viewed said nephew the same way as he viewed Sokka.

The Fire Lord official reason was that he felt do to the 'weapon's' drinking he was more trouble than he was worth. However well unsaid Ozai had a large amount of respect for Sokka and wanted the boy to recover from the horrors he committed in the name of the Fire Nation. Both Iroh and the Fire Lord knew the boy drank to forget what he did in the past. Thus, the unofficial reason for Sokka joining the banished prince's crew for the boy to heal.

Iroh had been trying to get Sokka to stop using the whiskey as a crutch and face his demons. However, the boy constantly refused saying he was beyond redemption, or that he did not deserve a second chance. The wise old man knew the boy deserved his second chance and had -seen the good within the boy. Sokka had on several occasions saved his nephew his temper got the better of him. Sokka has also saved every member of the little ship's crew at least once. The boy is a good man and Iroh had a feeling that whatever caused the column of light that appeared yesterday would be the boy's salvation.

"Are you going to stand there all day Uncle or did you want something." Sokka asks the old man.

Iroh forgot about Sokka's enhanced senses. The boy had a nose as that was better than a shirshu's, his eyesight was never hampered even in total darkness, he could detect the small vibrations in the air caused by a mini cross bow bolt closing in at high speed, and had the reaction speed to catch arrows fired by the strongest of bows. Sokka could tell you every ingredient in a complex wine down to how old it was and if it had a tasteless poison in it and just what that poison was. He could also eat more meat then any man Iroh has ever seen.

"Well Sokka I thought you would be hungry, so I thought you could indulge an old man and eat dinner with him, along with a game of pai sho." Iroh asked the boy.

"Sounds like fun, the cook made your favorite, roast duck. So let's eat." Sokka told the old man with a smile as he walked into the ship.

Iroh proceeded to lose six games of poi sho in a row. Sokka's mind worked faster than any other person on the planet, with the exception of his crazy niece, Azula. The girl possessed similar abilities to the boy but to a somewhat lesser extent as she healed a little bit slower than Sokka. Iroh wondered sometimes what would happen when the two met as he has never seen them interact, but the two did know each other. However, right now he just hoped to beat the blasted boy in pai sho.

Nevertheless, it was late now and Iroh was tired so he retired for the night. Sokka decided to turn in for the night as well having been awake for the last few days. So he bid the night watch goodnight and went to his cabin. He could never escape his memories when he slept. This night he dreamed of final torture that he went through to become the fire nation's ultimate weapon.

...

Sokka all of ten years old was being led down a corridor to a lab. He was told that this was his final test before becoming a weapon of the Fire Nation. He was to be given an infusion of an alloy of jennamite, iron, and a rare mineral found only in one meteorite that hit the Fire Nation 100 years ago that is only known by its codenamed WX. This alloy was very soft and brittle being softer then lead, that is until it was added in a liquid state to a source of calcium the alloy would then bond with the calcium and would became indestructible. This alloy once hardened was known as adamantium. Thanks to the unique properties of jennamite it would grow with Sokka's skeleton as he grew.

However, to get the alloy to properly bond with his skeleton required a sustained blast of lighting that could only be delivered by a true master Lightning bending. This procedure would be very painful for Sokka if it was not discovered that high levels of nitrous oxide would still dull the boys pain receptors. A special full body restraint was built to prevent the boy from shaking well he laughed from the gas.

Standing in the room was the new Fire Lord, Ozai along with several doctors and technicians. Sokka glared at the man and he refused to bow to him. This cased Ozai's temper to flare a bit.

"Pick out the color of jennamite you want your bones to be. I respect your courage to not bow to me boy, but you must be punished for your disrespect. You will not be given any form of anesthesia for this operation as punishment. This way doctors, we will know for sure that my daughter will survive with anesthesia as the boy does heal a bit faster than she does. I have spoken." Ozai tells the doctors cutting off any of their protests.

"Now I believe your name is Sokka, right boy." Sokka just nods yes to the question.

"Pick the color you want. Also pick out the iron you want mixed in." Ozai tells the boy indicating to a table with several gold piece sized jennamite stones of varying colors.

Sokka picks up a black jennamite crystal, and a cup slag free black iron sand which he hands to Ozai. Ozai had chosen to study science instead of joining his brother in the war. However, he did go through basic training for the fire nation's marine core, before becoming head of the Fire Nation applied military science department. He has a having an official rank of warrant officer. He proceeded to make the compound that would be bonded to Sokka's bones.

The other doctors proceeded to prepare Sokka for the operation by marking the locations were the needles would be inserted using a quick drying paint. Next, they placed him in the holding gurney and strap a breathing mask over his mouth. They proceed to lower him into a tank of a very carefully mixed electro light solution, mixed with only the purest clearest water. They then begin setting up the injection rig along with inserting the forty long needles into his flesh touching his bones. These needles would be used to injection with his with the compound.

All Sokka knew after he had his oxygen mask strapped to him was a pleasant warmth from the heated liquid he was submerged in. he barley felt hypodermic needles that were pushed into his body until they touched his bones.

Ozai finished with the filling of the 40 vails containing the compound. Sokka saw in perfect clarity as the 40 vials were loaded into their housing. a fire bender then heated the compound up to 1500 F holding his flame. Once the compound begins boiling Ozai make the proper hand motions and released a blast of lighting which also triggers the release of the compound injecting it onto his bones.

Know all Sokka new was pain, a deep searing pain as his bones felt like they were on fire, then darkness fell. Yet despite the ungodly amount of pain he felt he did not give the Fire lord the satisfaction of hearing him scream in pain.

...

Sokka woke up screaming as he thrust his arms forward popping his claws out of his hands shredding his blankets...again. considering the blanket was already full of patchwork Sokka decided he would just get a new one from the quartermaster, instead of patching it again. Sighing Sokka gets up and grabs a new bottle of Seven Crown Whiskey. Looking at his clock he saw that he actually slept more than the three hours he got every few days and that it was ten hundred hours. That's when someone knocked on his door.

"Come in." Sokka calls as Iroh comes throw the door. "Sokka, good morning I hope you slept well. My nephew seems to think we found the Avatar in a village that happens to be near a Fire Nation ship that dates from my father's time." Iroh tells Sokka as he sits in the only chair in Sokka's small cabin.

"That is probably my village, I know what you're thinking Iroh, and if Zuko's temper gets the better of him, blast me as hard as you can but do not use lighting. If you use lighting it will not put me down long enough for you to get Zuko out of danger. The bonding process greatly lowered my electrical conductivity, and my healing factor will start my heart up almost instantly. So just blast me with as much heat and force as you can." Sokka tells Iroh.

"Let's change the subject I see you have added to your book collection. It has always impressed me how fast you can read. I would say by now your ware house has the entire history of the Fire Nation archived within it. Could I borrow some of your books?" Iroh asked Sokka.

"If this goes South like you're thinking you can have all that are in the cabin. However, I think you should start with this one I got it for you and was going to give it to you on your birthday next month." Sokka says as he grabs a bright orange book from under his mattress and hands it to Iroh.

"How did you get this, it's not suposto be released for another three months, and it's even singed by the great Jiraiya himself." (Yes, it is Icha-Icha paradise). Sokka produces a second copy "this one is for your ass hole of a younger brother. And I pulled the guy out of some trouble he had a few years ago, he has been sending me copies of his books ever since however I prefer his tales of the gutsy ninja series over the Icha-Icha series. I hope you enjoy it. Don't forget to send the second copy to Ozai. I may not like the man, but he has been lonely since he had to banish his wife. and he has my begrudging respect." Sokka may hate Ozai but he does respect the man.

One of the reasons being Ozai made shore the fallen soldiers from all nations, received their last rights and if possible returned to their family.

"I have something for you to my boy." Iroh tells Sokka as he reaches into his sleeve and pulls out a very old pai sho tile.

"This is the pai sho tile I received when I was initiated into the Order of the White Louts and I want you to have it, Louts Sokka." Iroh tells Sokka as he places the piece into Sokka's hand.

"And do not try to give it back to me, you know the words if you ever need help and are definitely worthy of the rank. Now get ready we will land at your village in ten minutes." Iroh tells Sokka as he gets up and leaves the boy to get ready. After Iroh leaves Sokka quickly dresses in his Fire Nation armor.

Shortly after crashing the village gate…literally...

Sokka took a drink from his flask as he watched Zuko grab his Gran-Gran; Zuko was not to ruff with her so Sokka thought nothing of it. However, a little boy ran up to Sokka who was dressed in Fire Nation armor without the shoulder pardons, his seal skin boots, with no gloves or helmet. He tugged on Sokka's pants; Sokka looked down into the boys pleading eyes.

"Why aren't you stopping the scared man you're a member of our Tribe, so why are you not helping us?" The little boy asks as he looks into Sokka's blue eyes with his own tear filled blue eyes. Sokka just terns away from the boy and takes another drink.

"For the last time there are no old men in the village that match your description. Now you have stretched thin are hospitality, so I must ask you to leave now." A woman who Sokka knew was his mother tells Zuko as she glares at him. She then garbs Zuko by his shoulder with the intent to pull him away from her mother in law.

"Don't touch me peasant" The angry prince snaps and turns around backhanding Kya in the face, hard.

"Insolent woman nobody but my father tells me what to do. I will teach you not to talk back to your betters." Zuko yells at the fallen Kya as he kicks her hard in the stomach, his temper finally getting the better of him. As he goes to kick her again this time with a fire kick to drive the point home, something hits him in the head hard, knocking off his helmet. Looking at the object he sees it to be an open silver flask and although its partially buried in the snow he can see the engraving of the Water Tribe 's emblem. Then he hears a growling behind him. Zuko turns around and sees something that terrifies him. Looking at him is Sokka, his eyes now gold and his claws slowly extending from his hands.

"Get the Fuck away from my mother." Sokka yells at Zuko before he dives at him claws first. The only thing that saves the princes life is the timely intervention by a massive blast of flames. The blast melts the snow for three feet from either side of the blast creating a six-foot-wide trench. The blast destroys most of Sokka's shirt and pants. Massive forth degree burns cover the entire right side of his body, removing some of the flesh from his face showing glossy black bone and caused his right eye to burst do to the liquid within instantly turning to steam, destroying it. The snow Sokka fell into insanely terns to steam when his body crashes into the ground skips several times and crashes into what remains of a watch tower. The last thing Sokka sees is a boy in orange and yellow crashing in Zuko's statue like form.