I may have to slow down a little with the updates, since I've been put on tutoring duty, for my sister. But I will still be updating frequently, up until my midterm test comes.
Aang and his friends had left the north during the early hours of the morning. Tarrasque had seen them leave from atop the walls of the city. He had told the chief that it would be best for him to patrol the walls, since he could use the excellent view to spot an attack from afar.
As for him guarding the chief's personage, Tarrasque assured him that he would maintain a mental link with the chief at all times, and that if he needed help, he would just merely have to think it.
Tarrasque had been patrolling almost all morning, and lunch would soon be served. He had just started to make his way towards the mess hall when suddenly, his HUD flashed a warning. The in-built long range sensors within his battle suit informed him that a mass of unidentified objects was approaching from the ocean.
He turned his head to face this unknown threat, and instructed his suit's computer to magnify by a factor of 100. His vision soon focused on a massive armada of steam driven ships. They all bore the fire nation symbol.
He quickly made his way to one of the guard towers, and sounded the alarm gong. All over the city, people quickly made their way to the nearest shelter, while men began flocking to the armory to grab their weapons.
The chief himself came atop the walls to ask his star legionnaire bodyguard what was going on.
"Why was the alarm sounded" the chief asked. "Is it a fire nation attack?"
Tarrasque pointed in the direction of the enemy fleet. Already, chief Arnook could make out the plumes of smoke that marked the presence of a large group of ships.
"They will be here in about an hour" Tarrasque stated.
"Then we must prepare" The chief exclaimed. "What are you going to do?"
"With your permission, I would like to be in charge of the defense of this city for the moment. That way, I can concentrate on saving the lives of your warriors."
The chief thought about this for a moment, and finally agreed to the legionnaire's demands, "Very well then, the entire army of the north is at your command."
Tarrasque nodded, and activated his graviton jump pack, hopping down from the walls, and into the courtyard. In a thunderous voice, he rallied the men to him, and requested for a map of the city. He brought forth the other commanders and captains, explaining to them his plan.
"You are to withdraw all you're men from the walls for the moment. The reason for this is because, once the bombardment begins, they would just be sitting targets for the fire nation artillery if they remained on the walls. Once the fire nation attempts to establish a beachhead, we will man the walls again, since they dare not bombard us with their men dangerously exposed along the walls."
"What happens once they establish a foothold?" a young captain asked.
"Then we will hold the walls until I give the signal to fall back, we will then make a second stand within the city."
Tarrasque continued, "Do you have a supply of metal beams that I can use?"
"Yes, as a matter of fact we do, we smelt them into weapons for our non-bender warriors."
"Bring them to me." Tarrasque demanded.
The men left, and after several minutes, returned with cartloads of metal beams and ingots. Tarrasque dumped the entire load of every cart upon the ground. Picking up 3 small beams, he used his immense strength to twist them into a mass of jutting and protruding metal. He continued until all the beams were consumed.
"Scatter these across the field, and position yourselves behind them." He instructed.
"What are they?" Someone asked.
"Dragon's teeth." Tarrasque stated. "They will hamper the movements of the fire nation tanks. That should tilt the battle in our favor."
Nodding in agreement, the men set about planting the dragon's teeth, and then, they set up much of their men behind them.
Tarrasque then grav-jumped onto the walls again, and no sooner than him having set foot on the ground, the fire nation suddenly began the bombardment. As he had instructed, the men waited behind the walls rather than upon it. As for Tarrasque, he would not just sit idly by, and he soon brought online his suit's entire complement of combat systems.
Soon a storm of micro missiles, blaster fire, and kaiser rounds screamed through the air. The fire nation crew aboard several of the closer ships ducked for cover as a barrage of gunfire struck down those who were too slow. Soon, the catapults were focusing their attacks against this lone defender. Whenever a shot did manage to strike Tarrasque, it just merely exploded harmlessly around him, his multi layered shields, psionic powers, and heavy armor protecting him from harm.
The water tribe warriors cheered, their morale rising with the hope that the star legionnaire would thwart this assault. But Tarrasque knew that the fight was not yet over. Although he managed to sink several ships with his psionic maelstrom, the landing craft were quite numerous, and would soon breach the walls.
The fire nation fired grappling hooks upward, and soon attempted to scale the walls. Tarrasque fired a flare into the sky, signaling for the water tribesmen to rally to the walls. The men swarmed across the length of the battlements, dislodging most of the grappling hooks, sending many fire benders and warriors to a watery grave.
But a blast from a planted fire nation blast-mine created a massive hole in the wall. If Tarrasque and his men did not withdraw now, they would be caught in a pincer movement.
"We must fall back" Tarrasque thundered. "I will hold them off until you manage to fall back. MAKE HASTE!"
Tarrasque grav-jumped to where the breach was and immediately opened a barrage of gunfire at the approaching fire soldiers. A tank managed to get through and soon unleashed a barrage of fire bolts that only managed to dissipate upon striking the legionnaire's armor. He resolutely approached the fire nation tank, and raised his powered battle gauntlet and brought it down with great force, crushing the tank into a mass of twisted and crumpled metal.
He soon heard a horn blow, signaling to him that the men had managed to pull back from the walls. He then made a fighting retreat towards the field of dragon's teeth, taking down as many soldiers as he could. Once he reached the field, he gave the signal for the water tribe to open fire with their ballistae.
The barrage of bolts from the water tribe's weapons managed to slow down the fire soldiers, but the tanks kept on coming. Once they arrived at the dragon teeth however, they grounded to a halt. Those that attempted to cross soon found themselves stuck upon the rows of bent and twisted metal beams. Tarrasque approached one of the stuck tanks and picked it up. With a mighty heave, he sent it flying over the walls, were it crashed into one of the fire nation ships waiting in the bay.
The fire nation then brought in its komodo rhinoceros cavalry. They managed to navigate through the dragon's teeth, and soon ran down much of the water tribesmen that made up the frontline.
Tarrasque had to act quickly, before the fire nation regained the momentum. Focusing the magical aspect of his inherent powers, he launched from his outstretched palm a multi colored ball of light that soared high up into the sky. Upon reaching a certain height, the ball exploded into an extremely bright display of multiple colors and eerie whistling sounds. The frightened mounts of the fire nation panicked and tossed off their riders, abandoning them to the vengeful water tribesmen.
The fire nation began a general retreat, and soon hurriedly returned to their ships. Tarrasque marched forth with the triumphant water tribesmen, who were shouting and yelling cries of victory and proud defiance.
Tarrasque activated his grav jump pack, once again returning to the top of the walls. He decided that it was time to finish this. Focusing much of his powers, he conjured a shower of burning rock to pummel the enemy ships. Victory was certain, and he realized that. Therefore, he thought it prudent that the least he could do was send the fire navy a going away present. Namely, by sending many of their ships to the bottom of the ocean.
After the battle, he sat down on the remains of a fire nation tank, and attempted some minor meditation to recover from the expenditure of so much power. The chief soon found him, and came to personally congratulate him for delivering the second major victory for the water tribe.
"You did an outstanding job out there. I will personally congratulate this La Ruel of yours should I ever see him again. I and many of my people owe our thanks and our lives to you."
"Don't give me all the credit" Tarrasque stated. "The death toll amongst your people would have been catastrophic if it were not for the aid of your men. Besides, normally I'm used to working in a two-man legionnaire group known as a binary. And this is the first time I've been tasked to a mission alone."
"And you did a magnificent job." the chief stated. "But what puzzles me is why the fire nation would mount a second siege despite the catastrophic failure of the first."
"I believe I have the answer." Tarrasque stated.
"Tell us then." The chief requested.
"Well, for one thing, after I spotted the armada, I did a mental reading of the thoughts of every man within that fleet. After sifting through many useless thoughts and information, I soon found the cause for this assault."
The chief moved closer and listened more intently.
"They are here because they could not cross the oceans far to the south of the North Pole. It appears that the crusade has managed to blockade the entry into the earth kingdom via the central ocean. The fire nation has been moving further up north and down south to try and get around the blockade."
"So they are cut off from the earth kingdom?" the chief asked.
"That is pretty much the case right now." Tarrasque answered. "Now if you don't mind, I would like to have dinner now, seeing as how I missed lunch."
I know that this chapter doesn't really advance the plot to much, but I had to introduce the character of Tarrasque, because otherwise, you may wonder why this unknown character would suddenly appear near the end of the plot without much back-story.
