A New Day: pt. 3 A Tokka reincarnation fic.
Set up: This story occurs 120 years after the end of the series. All the characters have been re-incarnated and the Water Tribe Sages are about to announce who the new Avatar is. This is a follow up to "Floating" which was a follow up to "Ten Seconds" thus forming a Triptych of sorts. Sokka who died in "Ten Seconds" has already been re-born once, lived a full life, and has died a second time before this story begins. The focus is on Sokka and Toph, with Katara, and Aang thrown in, but some of the other characters from the series will have brief cameos. I have thrown a couple of twists in but they will be pretty obvious. Hope you enjoy it.
The earthbender and the blind girl had traveled about half the distance to the village. Shu remembered this part of the path from earlier in the day. The path was well trodden but the snow on either side had built up to the point that even as tall as he was he could not reach the top. It was almost as if they were walking in a tunnel.
The cold really bit at Shu in the shadow of the path. In the direct sunlight it didn't feel that cold, as long as there was no wind blowing, but in the canyon of the path the sun was out of sight and the cold really could be felt.
The young earthbender was about to comment on this to Katara when she stopped and put her staff to her lips in a sign to be quiet. She listened for a minute or more in the quiet. Shu was wondering what she was concerned about and was going to ask when she whispered to him,
"Someone, or some ones are following us up above" and she indicated with her staff the top of the walls on either side of the path.
"You take the front, I'll take the rear. Stay at least four long strides away from me." Katara then pushed him forward on the path.
"There is nothing here for me to bend." Shu stopped and told her.
"Well punch them in the nose and step on their toes" was Katara's reply and she pushed him forward again. "And remember two can bend the same element!" she whispered fiercely to him.
As Shu took his four long strides away from Katara he saw movement above him to his right. Suddenly two men in earth kingdom green jumped down onto the path. Both were heavily armed. One with a spear and the other with two stone sledge hammers. Behind him Shu heard the sound of others jumping down onto the path. He took a quick look and saw three more men. Two in green and one in red. The one in red had a long black straight sword, of the other two, one had a halberd, and the other carried a large ax in each hand. This was going to be bad he thought.
"Leave her alone, she has nothing to do with this!" Shu shouted.
He recognized at least one of these men from the entourage of the Stone Monkey and Shu figured that they had been sent to injure him enough to keep him out of the next earth rumble.
Khan had been told this was going to be an easy job. The earthbender was going to be helpless with no earth to bend and no weapons. The pay was good, but he should have know there was going to be a catch and here it was, he was in this miserable frozen place of snow and ice. It was the middle of the night, but the sun was still up with no darkness to hide in, and now they had a girl to contend with. At least she would not be a problem.
"Forget the girl" he told Ho and Min. "The earthbender is the target!"
Katara stood with her staff held vertically in front of her. She pushed the hidden release on it and eased the sword out just enough to free it. She did not want to reveal it until the last moment. It was her only surprise and she could only use it once. Behind her she heard Shu move towards the two fighters down the path, as she faced the three attackers in front of her. The ones to the right and left she was not sure of. The one directly ahead had, from the sound of it being drawn from its sheath, a Jian sword. From the smell he was a firebender, but since he had a sword he must be reluctant to use his bending. She stood and listened, Toph had taught her to wait and listen.
Katara heard Shu shout and then heard the firebender's command. Good, she thought, if they think I am helpless then I will have two surprises for them.
Shu began to advance on the spearman to his left. Go for the non bender first, save the strongest for last, he thought.
Khan had his sword out and at the ready before him. It was a long straight Jian sword with a black blade.
Ever since the end of the war and tales of Sokka and Space Sword had circulated throughout the world, blade smiths had been making black bladed swords. But these were not the real Space Sword. The smiths had become expert at forge blacking their blades but there was always a tell tale that they were not the true Space Sword. The edge and point were always white metal as the sword was sharpened, and the forged oxide coating was worn off. Khan's sword was a very good blade but it too had this tell tale white edge. It still helped to intimidate those who did not know swords.
He signaled Ho and Min to circle around the girl.
Katara heard the two people on her right and left begin to advance. The firebender in front of her held his place. Probably the leader she thought. Well some help might be useful.
Katara took a deep breath and shouted,
"HELP! HELP! WE ARE BEING ATTACKED!"
Then she let out a high pitched scream. She tried to fill it with fear and terror. She had not screamed very much in her life and did not feel she was very good at it, but it was worth a try.
Shu stopped in his tracks when he heard Katara's shout. Why didn't I think of that? Shu was a fighter and never thought of asking for help. Then he heard her scream and the sound cut through him like a sword of ice. He had heard a lot of girls scream at the Earth Rumbles and his other matches but this was nothing like that. This scream was filled with terror and death. He turned instinctively to rush to Katara's side.
That was when the spearman lunged at Shu.
Khan heard the shout and the scream. Very good! He thought. She's smart, now we have to finish this quickly and get out of here, no time for niceties.
"Silence her!" The swordsman shouted.
Ho and Min hesitated, but Khan did not. He advanced on the girl with his sword.
Katara stood and listened. The break in the rhythm will be the attack. Wait and listen, wait and listen for the change.
The spearman lunged for Shu. The large earthbender was distracted and was slow to respond, but managed to get his left hand out in time to deflect the spear. The point caught in the sleeve of Shu's heavy coat and ran up his arm between the heavy sleeve of his tunic and the sleeve of the parka. The point cut through and into the air at his elbow. Shu had a scrape along the length of his forearm but the heavy clothes had saved him from getting a very nasty and bloody cut.
Shu turned and taking advantage of the trapped spear grabbed hold of the shaft with his left hand and drove his right down onto the shaft with all his might. The shaft shattered under the blow. Shu followed up immediately, by charging the surprised spearman. Shu ran at him and with his right shoulder caught his attacker in the center of his chest. Shu was a big, powerful man, and the force of his charge carried the spearman off his feet. Shu drove him up against the wall of the path, slamming him into the ice and snow. There was a loud,
"OOFFF"
as Shu smashed the breath out of the mercenary, who then collapsed onto the snow.
The teen earthbender pulled the broken spear out of his sleeve and began to turn towards his other assailant when the first stone hammer struck him in his side.
Khan lunged with his sword, aiming for the girl's heart. He had to kill her quickly.
Katara listened, she heard the firebender approach he has a long straight sword. She told herself, and then chided herself you hope. He is most likely right handed and will probably lunge, when he lunges there will be a break in his steps. If he cuts he will plant his right foot first. When (if) he lunges draw and make a straight perpendicular parry, follow with the staff low, for the right leg and reverse high with the sword.
Khan took the long last step of his lunge, his sword staying on the level of the girl's heart though out, a perfect thrust. There was a flash of movement from her and his sword was struck out of line, something hard hit his right calf. He almost fell, dropping his head to regain his balance, saved him from being struck as he heard something whistle over him. He recovered and retreated as fast as he could. This was not going as planned.
Shu was able to keep his feet under him, but just barely. The blow from the hammer had been very powerful. He turned to see the second hammer coming at him. He side stepped to his right and used the broken spear he still held to block the blow. The spear shattered under the impact of the heavy stone, but it had save Shu from taking the blow directly. The attacker caught the hammers as they flew back to him. Shu readied himself for the next attack.
Katara heard the firebender retreat. She then heard movement to her left. She turned and heard this new attacker plant his right foot, head cut. Still using her reverse grip on the sword, she side stepped to her left, making a large circular parry starting from low right to high center and following through to low right again. Then she brought her staff in, swinging it left to right around waist height.
Khan watched as Ho advanced and with an overhand cut struck at the girl with his halberd. He watched as the head of the pole ax was cut off of the shaft and flew harmlessly over her head. He almost missed the strike to Ho's stomach by her staff, then her reverse cut with her sword caught Ho's upper right arm. The power was unmistakable, he was surprised to see Ho's arm still attached to his body. Must be a single edged sword, then the staff came back and hit the halberdier in the head sending him sprawling onto the snow. She came back again with the sword and again with the staff hitting nothing since Ho was down.
She must really be blind! Khan thought. She was using a style he had never seen before, using a reverse grip on both her staff and her sword. He was amazed by her speed and wondered if it was a result of the grip she was using.
Min charged in, screaming his battle cry. Bad idea Khan thought.
Shu knew he was in trouble. If he tried to block the hammers they would break his arms, and as he dodged one of them he would inevitably be moving into the path of the other one. If only he was a waterbender he would have a chance. You don't have to be a waterbender to use waterbending moves, he suddenly realized. He took the stance that Katara had taught him not more than an hour earlier. Hope I was a good student. He thought as he saw the first hammer coming towards him.
Shu reached out for the element as it came at him. He began the form. "It is easier to deflect then it is to block" he heard Katara's voice in his head. He deflected the hammer up and around, and then back towards the mercenary, adding his own force, power and speed to it. The second hammer was almost on him but he was able to reverse the form sending it back at his attacker.
The hammer thrower was surprised by the sudden return of his weapon, but was able to dodge it just in time, but the second hammer caught him squarely in the stomach and the force of it knocked the air from him and sent him crashing into the wall of the path.
The spearman had risen by then and seeing that the two of them were now up against an armed champion earthbender, grabbed the hammer man and the two took off running down the path. This was all too much for them.
Shu walked over and retrieved the two hammers, then turned to join Katara; his only hope was that she had not been hurt while he was taking care of these two.
Katara heard the shout from her right rear. Instead of turning towards it she spun completely around, spinning the sword in her hand so that the blade was now facing forward but still retaining her reverse grip. She did not know how this man was armed so she attacked.
Khan watched as the girl went into a blur of motion. He had to duck as one of Min's axes came sailing towards him, after she had struck it out of her attacker's hand. The second ax soon followed. She struck him in the knee with the staff and left cuts on his left arm and right thigh with her sword. Khan was very impressed with her skill and control, she could have just as easily cut the arm off with that strike.
Min quickly withdrew from the fight, limping, and scurried down the path as fast as his injured legs would carry him. Ho, using his head for once, crawled out of the fighting zone, got to his feet and pelted down the path himself, passing poor Min who was leaving a trail of blood in the snow as he tried to get away.
Khan raised his sword into an engarde and noticed for the first time that his own blade was badly notched where the girl's blade had struck it. Khan had a very good sword, it had never suffered any damage in any of his many fights. His attention turned to see what kind of sword she was using.
Shu advanced up behind Katara. He saw that she was facing the fire nation swordsman. She had a sword in one hand and her staff in the other. He saw blood on the snow near her and his heart stopped. You let her get hurt, you were supposed to protect her. He ran up beside her.
Katara heard someone running up on her right rear. She lashed out with her sword and staff.
Khan saw the earthbender running up with a hammer in each hand. He knew he should run, there was no way he could take on the two of them without firebending and he didn't want to reveal that he was a firebender if he did not have to. Then he saw the girl strike out at Shu.
Shu felt something hit is left arm as he ran up. A searing hot pain shot through his forearm and he dropped the hammer he was holding. He jumped back in reaction and just missed getting hit in the head as Katara swung her staff at him.
"It's me" Shu shouted.
"Sorry" Katara said then spun completely around and was facing the swordsman again.
"Are you alright?" She asked.
"Fine" was the quiet reply from Shu. His arm hurt like blue blazes but he didn't want to worry Katara.
"Are you alright?" he asked her.
"So far" was Katara's terse reply, then more gently she asked "please stay back, I'm not good enough to tell who you are by the sound of your footsteps."
As the girl turned back to him Khan got his first good look at her sword. He was no longer worried about Shu, she had taken him out of the fight for now.
The sword was a straight version of a Kyoshi Island blade. Single edged with the distinctive point favored by the islanders. The metal was as black as a starless night. It seemed to eat any light that fell on it, and unlike his sword, there was no tell tale white metal edge. This was the real thing.
"Space sword" Khan said with wonder, unaware that he had spoken aloud.
"No" Katara responded, "there will be four great swords of sky metal. The fourth will be Black Wind, forged for the Air Nomads, the third is here in my hand, Black Ice, forged for the Water Tribes, the second was Black Earth, forged by Toph for her Water Tribe husband and held in her family as a heirloom. The first was Space Sword which will be named Black Fire, forged by a master of the Fire Nation, and a boy of the Water Tribes. Black Fire was forged to free the Fire Nation and the world from tyranny. It is lost but in a time of great need the swordsman will be reborn and Space Sword will be found and returned to him. He will stand beside the earthbender at the left hand of the Avatar, and she will be the Avatar's shield and he will be the Avatar's sword. And the four swords and the five friends will stand together against the thousands and they will save the world a second time."
"I must have that sword!" Khan said.
"Get used to disappointment" Katara told him.
"I will have it!" Khan said with venom.
"How?" Katara asked him "Your friends are running away, mine are running to me. You had better leave while you still can."
A tongue of flame sprang from the tip of Khan's sword. Katara dodged to the side deflecting the fire with her sword.
In the distance behind him Khan heard a woman's voice calling,
"Katara, where are you?"
"I'm here Hama" Katara called out. Obviously she had heard the call too.
Khan knew his chance of getting the sword was lost. He had to leave now or be surrounded by waterbenders as well as Shu and the girl with the sword. He roared out in frustration, flame spewing from his mouth and hands. Then he saluted the girl and leapt up onto the snow bank, pulled himself over the top and ran for all he was worth. Someday I'll have that sword! He told himself as he ran back to the city.
To be continued:
Disclaimer : "Avatar the Last Airbender" the characters and the world were created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko and owned by Nickelodeon and Viacom or Paramount or some huge corporation. This is purely a work of fan fiction because I wanted to play in their world and I love the characters that they created.
Comments:
I should be spacing these out more but I had to get the sword fight in. Hey it's me, I had to have a sword fight, right?
This was my first fight scene; I hope it still works for people. It was kind of the reason I wrote this story to start with.
The play opens a week from today. Next week is Hell week, tech and dress rehearsals. After we open my time will free up and I hope to be able to finish the next chapter of "I'll Walk You Home".
Thank you all for being so patient and I hope you are enjoying this old story of mine.
Katara goes all Zaotoichi on them.
Thanks for reading.