Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender.
Author's Note: This is the companion piece to Toph vs. Azula, where Katara takes part in the big battle on the edge of the Earth Kingdom. I decided to do this before updating my other stories because I felt it was important, and I thought it would take me a while to complete. I was right about that last part, at least.:)
Katara and the Airships
Katara saw the airships moving ominously toward the Earth Kingdom shore long before she and the others were close enough to engage them.
"So, how are we going to do this?" asked Suki quietly, and Katara thought she knew what the other girl meant. There were three of them to take out a fleet of airships, holding dozens of firebenders who would be at their highest power when the comet made its pass. It was a daunting prospect, and if Aang didn't appear to face off with Ozai, their efforts would be in vain.
Of course, that wouldn't happen, because he would be there. He had to be. For the future of the world, yes, but also to give Katara a chance to apologize to him. She took a deep breath, forcing him out of her mind for the time being. It was strange how that had actually been easier when he was nearby. Strange, and painfully ironic.
"I'll do my best work from the outside, but I don't want to risk hurting you if you're in one of those ships," she said. "So I think you two should start at this end, and I'll go down to the opposite side. We'll meet somewhere in the middle, and keeping track of the ones you take out should give me a good idea of where you are."
"That's a good plan," agreed Sokka, after a moment of reflection. Despite the seriousness of the situation, Katara smiled at him.
"Well, I am your sister," she reminded him. He flashed her a quick grin before sobering again.
"Seriously, Katara, we've been through a lot since that fishing trip almost a year ago, and I wanted you to know…."
"Oh, I love you, too, Sokka, but we don't have time for this!" Katara exclaimed. Sokka pulled her into a hug.
"Just take care of yourself," he admonished. Releasing him, Katara nodded and backed away. Then she used the ocean to launch Sokka and Suki up to their first target, watched to make sure they landed solidly on top of the balloon, and went to pursue her own task.
Striding across the waves like some sort of elemental titan, Katara looked at the formation and tried to decide on her best option. The airships were really sitting turtle-ducks there. With all of their attention focused toward the front, the Fire Nation was clearly not expecting an attack from behind.
Even though Katara would have preferred a full moon to work with, the feel of the sea all around her made her feel that the ocean spirit was solidly with her. She realized that it had been far too long since she'd been able to use her waterbending without limit, and a part of her was looking forward to it. Allowing the anticipation and sense of power to roll through her, she readied herself for battle. Even as she watched, a large gout of flame erupted from the front of the lead airship, laying waste to anything that might have been living on the land below. Looking higher yet, a blaze in the sky grew steadily larger. It was time.
She decided to start big. Moving her arms in a large, circular motion, she created a vortex of water that surrounded her, which she used to raise her body up into the air. It was frightening to be so high above the ocean's surface on just a narrow pillar, yet it was also exhilarating. Continuing the vortex's spin, she pulled a segment of the water off and sliced the top off of the first balloon. It began to plummet toward the water, and the crew abandoned ship on both sides as Katara moved on. Of course, this got the attention of the firebenders on the next ship, but she was ready for that.
The soldiers began firing at her, some shots coming close enough to evaporate part of her watery support. She lowered herself back to the ocean's surface, increasing the range they had to shoot as well as taking advantage of the cover of the waves. She moved to a position beneath and slightly behind the next ship in line. She raised another pillar of water, wrapped it around the body of the ship, and froze it in place. Some of the firebenders slid down the precarious support and took up positions on the ice platform surrounding it. It was obvious that they intended to use that as a solid place from which to shoot at her, but she didn't plan to give them time to take aim.
Gathering her strength, Katara launched herself upward on a waterspout, getting herself close enough to jump on top of the next balloon. She brought some of the water from the spout with her to work with. She was now shielded from the firebenders below and even on other ships, and it would be difficult for any fire to reach her without also doing damage to the ship and making her job easier. The trick was to get this done quickly, before some of the soldiers could also get to the top of the balloons to engage her directly.
Katara converted the water she held into sharp points of ice and sent them running through the fabric again and again, almost like sewing, perforating the balloon until she felt that the loss of air was reducing the pressure that supported her weight. At that point, she took a few running steps and jumped to the next one in line, converting her remaining water into an arch of ice to help her get across. She turned the ice back to water again and carried it with her.
She paused on top of this balloon to check the progress of Sokka and Suki. Down at the other end of the formation, she saw one of the ships veer sharply to port, aiming directly for its companions. Katara surmised that the others must have gained control of the cockpit and swung the wheel around.
"That's a good idea," she murmured to herself and began running toward the stern. She carefully observed the rudder, wishing that she'd paid more attention to Sokka's explanations of how these things worked. Still, the construction was similar to a boat, a type of vehicle with which she was intimately familiar, so she had to believe that the rudder worked in much the same way.
There was shouting behind her. Katara looked down to see that she'd been spotted. A couple of men were already climbing rope ladders in her direction, and others were sending fire blasts at her, although they had to shoot wide to avoid setting the balloon on fire. Nonetheless, the attacks were coming closer as they found their range.
For a moment, Katara wondered whether she might bait the soldiers and make them hit the rudder instead of her, but she decided it was too risky. Aang would be able to do it, but she wasn't as nimble as he was, and it would take more precise calculating than she could do at the moment to make sure they hit exactly the right spot.
Concentrating carefully on what she had to do, Katara quickly took her water and sliced at the piece that connected the rudder to the controls inside, eventually breaking it free. Some enemy fire was grazing close enough to warm her skin and set portions of her clothing smoldering, which she quickly extinguished.
Wasting no more time, she leapt down to the steering mechanism, a fireblast shooting through the spot she'd just vacated. Dropping her water, she pushed the rudder with all her might, trying to force the ship hard to starboard. The metal groaned and gave under her full weight, making the airship shift its prow to head ponderously toward its neighbor. Satisfied, and taking advantage of the change in balance that the firebenders had to adapt to, she stepped off of the end of the ship.
Frightening though it was, Katara allowed herself to fall freely for a couple of seconds. Then, she brought the water up into a bowl to catch her. Her momentum was still enough to plunge her completely into the base of it, but she had managed to soften her landing. Anyway, she could handle getting a little wet. She forced her arms under her, coming up on a rising wave and drawing a deep breath. Seeing land not too far distant, she rode the wave to the shore and rested against a rock pillar for a moment, surveying her surroundings.
Fallen firebenders were making their way towards the shore, but that wasn't an urgent concern. Katara knew they couldn't bend underwater, and even with the comet, they wouldn't be much of a threat until they managed to dry off. The prow of the ship she'd just disabled was driving into the balloon of the one next to it, and it looked like both were set to ram into the one beyond that.
In fact, most of the airships were either down or floundering, showing that Sokka and Suki had been equally effective at their part of the battle. Even as she watched, one of the two intact ships remaining headed into a rock formation, leaving Katara to assume that her brother and his girlfriend were on their way to taking over the last one. A flicker in the sky caught her attention, and she saw the exchange of attacks far above.
Aang! Katara thought as she recognized the distant silhouette, and she was so happy to see him that it took her two full seconds to register what was going on. Once she realized that he was engaged in fighting the Firelord, she knew she had to get closer. Drawing on her energy reserves, she pulled in a wave as it arched up over the shallow seabed and wrapped it around the pillar she'd been leaning against. Then she froze it and slid up, adding sections where she needed to. This wasn't nearly as easy as sliding down an ice ramp, but it was still possible. Clambering on top of the rock, she melted the ramp to discourage company and again looked for Aang and Ozai. The two were ricocheting around the stone outcrops so fast that they became a blur of movement.
Katara's heart caught in her throat when she saw Aang get thrown against a cliff, but then, something amazing happened. He began to glow and rise into the air, and she knew that he'd managed the Avatar state at last. She watched in awe as he gathered each element in turn to surround him in a whirling globe of power, releasing what he needed to press his attack. Katara thought that Aang looked really sexy like that, and a second later was ashamed that such a silly thing was her first reaction.
Suddenly, she heard a collective shout from the direction of the ocean. Looking that way, she saw the bottom of the last airship open up, emptying itself of its crew. Smiling faintly, Katara waved, knowing that Sokka and Suki must have taken over the cockpit. The ship began moving ponderously toward her, but she ignored it for the moment to watch the final battle that still raged.
She lost sight of Aang and Ozai occasionally as they struggled, but they finally came to rest on a wide, stone plateau. Her view of its top was not clear, but she saw Aang trap Ozai in rock. Then, an odd thing happened. Aang reached out to the Firelord and raised his face to the sky. Blue light shone forth from him like a beacon, and shortly thereafter, a similar red light emerged from Ozai's body. The blue light moved toward the red at first, but then the red light went towards Aang, filling him up with its harsh energy. Katara didn't understand exactly what was happening, but she instinctively knew she was witnessing a titanic struggle.
You can do it, Aang, she threw at him mentally, wishing that she could lend her belief in him as tangible assistance, wishing that she'd told him earlier how much he meant to her. I love you.
Just when it seemed the red light would eclipse the blue entirely, the blue light resurfaced, gaining ground. First, it coated Aang with its radiance, then Ozai. Once the Firelord was completely overcome, the light faded, and both figures slumped.
"Katara!"
Shaking herself, Katara turned to find her brother waving at her from the airship. When it came close enough, she jumped onto the deck, hugging him.
"I'm really proud of you, Katara," he told her. "You didn't try to interfere with Aang." Katara pulled away, perplexed.
"Why would I interfere?" she asked. "That was Aang's job." It had been her job to support him, and she knew she hadn't always done that in all the ways she could. That was going to change right now, and she only hoped it wasn't too late.
Feeling an even mixture of elation and nervousness, Katara looked determinedly toward the Avatar she loved as she drew ever closer.
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Author's Note: I'm not writing the reunion because I already jumped ahead and did that in After the Battle. So if you want a sense of completion, go back and read that chapter.:) I think this combination of characters really plays to everyone's strengths, and Sokka probably would not have been injured or lost his weapons if he hadn't had to save Toph. The last bit about someone commenting that Katara didn't get in the way of Aang's fight was my husband's suggestion.
Review responses:
airnaruto45: It would depend on the composition of the stone. Things like limestone and quartz won't conduct electricity, but if the rock contains a lot of metal-based minerals (mica, basalt), it will. Even so, it wouldn't be a very efficient conductor and would seek ground before a person.
Olaf74: Thank you very much. I've been very busy, but I wrote this as quickly as I could.
Shinobi Bender: Thank you. I hope you also enjoyed this complement to the prior chapter.
arizony: I made you wait some, but I hope this fulfilled your expectations. Now if I could only find someone to animate it for me….
-hawk's.I-: I suppose my idea started with the incomprehensibility of Katara unhesitatingly agreeing to go with Zuko. As I thought about alternatives, Toph seemed like the best option because of her earthbending, and it had the side benefit of finally giving Toph her trip with Zuko. It provides a symmetry that the show did not.
growabrain: I agree. Toph was the first to be willing to accept Zuko, so there should have been more rapport between them. I would have preferred a Toko romance to the Zutara hints the show seemed to give at the end.
DuHSPaZZiNGFeL: You got your wish. I hope you enjoyed it. It was much more involved than the Toph/Azula fight because Katara was facing larger odds.
Katsumara: At least you're consistent. That hasn't been the case for most people who disagree with me. It could be argued, as I imply here, that Sokka would not have been so vulnerable if Toph hadn't been there and in need of protection because of her blindness.