In my many attempts, throughout this account, to dramatize the very real events of my life (as unbelievable as they may be), it occurs to me that the thing that is truly important is not the pure, unadulterated action. It is the accounts of the people involved. In the times before known history, when Men and Spirits wandered the tumultuous wastes of the world side by side, it was the accounts of people that moved mountains.
So, in my descriptions of my past experiences, I will attempt to address the people who, today, are consigned to history books and cautionary tales.
This, of course, is on my daughter's suggestion, and I will comply, as she's sold more stories than I.
My first subject, the self-proclaimed Moon Slayer, the Champion of the Fire Nation, met an untimely demise at the Northern Water Tribe.
His name was Zhao.
How does one describe the Great Admiral Zhao?
Such a feat, you'd think, would be impossible.
In reality, however, I believe that Zhao was as insecure, as scared, and as… normal as any of us.
Why, you may ask, do I take such an interest in such an obviously maniacal man? How can I not? I served under Commander, then Admiral Zhao for a brief period, yet I saw him when he was at his most devoted. When his singular drive to capture the Avatar began to elope even the famed Prince's drive.
Of course, Zhao's very honor and livelihood didn't rest on the Avatar's capture, but something else very vital lay on his shoulders.
Commander Zhao was born in the year 59 AG to famed Naval Commander Hui Zhao. Naval Commander Hui Zhao distinguished himself in service to Fire Lord Azulon for many years, leading the Northeastern Fleet to hundreds of victories against the Earth Kingdom's naval flotillas.
Hui Zhao, however, was a militaristic, cruel man, and his son was born out of necessity. Every high ranking officer in the Navy was expected to have a son in the military, so Hui Zhao complied.
"Zhao spent every day of his childhood ceaselessly training in firebending and military strategy. His contact with his father was minimal, and the one parent that could have prevented this madman's eventual grab for ultimate power, Zhao's mother, died giving birth to him. As a result of his mother's death, Zhao saw his father only rarely, and both his father and himself blamed
Zhao for his mother's death.
By the time he was 12, he began training with Admiral Jeong Jeong, who had taken an extended leave to teach firebending to sons of noble birth. It was here that Zhao met Ozai for the first time."
-Professor Zou, 'Zhao: The Moon Slayer'
Professor Zou's fantastic account, while controversial, is well researched. There were many scholars in the Water Tribe and the Earth Kingdom that took great issue with the Zou's proposed history of one of the most infamous Fire Nation officers during the war, but, in Zou's own words, "The point of acknowledging a madman's life is to avoid making the same mistakes".
Wise words.
Admiral Jeong Jeong, a high-profile officer in his own right, was brought back to the Fire Nation for a brief period on Fire Lord Azulon's orders in order to train a group of nobleman's sons in the Royal Palace. Commander Hui Zhao's performance with the Northeastern Fleet resulted in his son being invited to train in the Palace. Such a high honor was, of course, impossible to refuse, and Zhao was sent to the Palace to train.
It was here that he struck up a friendship with the young Prince Ozai. The two boys, both the top of the class, trained their way into adulthood and forged a bond during their early years that was thought by both to be unbreakable.
"It is Ozai who should be leading our Nation in this war. His older brother is a buffoon. That tea-loving idiot has no idea how this Nation should be run. His father, the Fire Lord, is also beginning to show weakness. There are some that would call me a despicable traitor for calling the Venerated Fire Lord weak, but it is simply the truth. Victory cannot be achieved without an aggressive and ruthless man like Ozai. A skilled Firebender, and a good friend, I have the utmost confidence that Ozai can lead our Nation into glory."
Apprentice Zhao wrote that a few days after his seventeenth birthday.
Unfortunately, their friendship was not to last. Upon Azulon's death, Ozai took the throne, and the once stalwart friendship between the now-promoted First Lieutenant Zhao and the Fire Lord was strained as Ozai cut off any communication between the two.
In the years after Lieutenant Zhao's brief service in the Siege of Ba Sing Se, he distinguished himself, like his father, in his ability to outmaneuver and eradicate the remnants of the Earth Kingdom Navy.
He was promoted to the rank of Captain after commanding his Interceptor, the Wrath of Kazuto, in the pivotal engagement in the Mo Ce campaigns in and around the waters near the colony of Yu Dao.
He sailed with Admiral Fong's Western Fleet for several more years, and earned the rank of Commander after single-handedly defeating the last Earth Kingdom Fleet in Western waters with only three ships.
From there, Zhao was assigned to the Southwestern Theater, where my squad and I were later assigned.
I often wondered whether men like Zhao or Ozai could have been good. Their being good would have certainly saved many lives, and it would have probably kept a fair share of blood off my hands.
I was speaking to Fire Lord Zuko the other day, and we got to talking about Zou's book on Zhao. Both of us had come into close contact with the Admiral, the pivotal difference being that I helped him and Zuko fought against him.
We got to reminiscing about the Northern Siege, and he related to me the story of his showdown with Zhao in the Frozen North.
"It was like something from a nightmare," the Fire Lord says, his scar ominously cast into shadow by the flickering fireplace.
"We were trading fireblasts back and forth, screaming profanity and accusation at each other, hatred flowing through our veins. The pure darkness brought on by the absence of the moon, Zhao's horrible legacy, cast everything into pure black and white- as if the world had become a photograph. Then, out of nowhere, the moon returned, and the rich blue of our surroundings returned.
Zhao was in shock, but neither of us had a chance to react before some glowing water grabbed the man.
No matter how much I hated him, my instincts kicked in, and I tried to save the man. He tried to take my hand at first, but then he withdrew and looked at me in distaste. Then, like that, he was swallowed up by the glowing water, never to be seen again."
I identify with the Fire Lord's dilemma back then a lot. The man, no matter how much I hated him for turning me into a monster, possessed an admirable amount of intelligence, cunning, and determination. Perhaps if his mother had lived, if Ozai hadn't abandoned him, if…
It is pointless to ponder the past, but this much I know; Zhao, for better or for worse, is a part of my history. Misunderstood and frustrated with life he may have been, he still got his wish. To this day, every textbook in the world tells the story of Zhao, the Moon Slayer.
To return to my retelling of my story, however, I am afraid my memory once again deserts me. I remember the general details. And I promise you that this is not some ploy to avoid telling the full story. As I've said before, I can remember many details about the majority of my military career. Yet much still escapes my remembrance, much to my chagrin.
After the Winter Solstice, we traveled to the Pohuai Stronghold, chasing rumors, to which I humbly supply Tamura's clear explanations to fill in some of the gaps.
"The Reappearance of the Avatar after a hundred years of devastating war had immediate and sudden repercussions on the morale of the Earth Kingdom. The Avatar, upon his escape from Admiral Zhao at Avatar Roku's Island, did many new things that spread his already known fame throughout the Earth Kingdom.
The first of these was Avatar Aang's run in with the infamous Ogawa Pirate Gang. Upon visiting the seaport city of Daikeng, Avatar Aang and his compatriots entered Ogawa's ship, and Master Katara expressed interest in a stolen Waterbending Scroll from the Northern Water Tribe. The scroll, which had been taken from the immensely talented Master Nilak's library, was immensely valuable. Master Katara, expressing her desire to learn advanced waterbending moves and to teach Aang waterbending moves, "borrowed" the scroll from the Ogawa Pirate Gang, resulting in a lengthy street chase. The Avatar, however, escaped, but was eventually captured by Prince Zuko, who worked in conjunction with the Pirates. The encounter ended in a chaotic battle between all three parties, and the Avatar slipped away. His standing up to the feared Ogawa Gang, however, earned him widespread respect and fame, and the Avatar's story began to be told all over the world.
The encounter with feared guerilla fighter "Jet" a few weeks later also earned the Avatar much respect, as well as recognition for his two companions, Master Katara and Warrior Sokka. Stumbling across an ambush against a large contingent of Fire Nation soldiers who were scouring the woods in an effort to root out the Freedom Fighters, Jet and his guerilla army saved the Avatar and eventually convinced him to join their cause. Due to Master Katara and Aang's skill with waterbending, Jet utilized them in an attempt to blow the Zhang Hue Dam and flood the city of Sanping, which had fallen under Fire Nation control several years ago. Thanks to the efforts of Sokka, however, the local populace was warned of the impending catastrophe and the Freedom Fighters were routed by a concentrated Fire Nation counterattack that scattered the organization. This earned the Avatar some negative fame, as some began to wonder whether the Avatar had intentionally vanished to help give the Fire Nation the upper hand.
These acts, while drawing fame to the Avatar's return and boosting morale throughout the Free Nations, drew negative attention in the form of Fire Nation retaliation. The Avatar's arrival in any town or village resulted in updated, real time intelligence from the plethora of Fire Nation agents and informants scattered throughout the Earth Kingdom. Prince Zuko, who relentlessly pursued the Avatar, as was his charge, was usually the closest, but close behind him, with vastly superior manpower, resources, and networking was Commander Zhao, who had taken it upon himself to hunt the Avatar.
The Avatar later crossed the Great Divide with a couple of warring tribes, and survived the famous He-Ping Typhoon which ravaged the countryside."
Tamura, "A History of the World," Volume 4, page 56.
Our arrival to Pohuai Stronghold had carried the purpose of enlisting the help of the Yuyan Archers for our cause. The majority of our previous strength had been ordered back to Nandao Harbor by the Commander, and Zhao arrived in the Stronghold with his singular goal of taking the Yuyan Archers and finding the Avatar.
Surprisingly, he was promoted to the rank of Admiral by his old friend, Ozai, who had apparently received our messages.
Zhao's promotion kicked off a flurry of activity, and the Pohuai Territory was restructured to find the Avatar, a system of lookouts and outposts established throughout the land to ensure that the Avatar's presence would be detected and dealt with in close order. The Yuyan Archers were briefed on their new roles and our squad continued guarding Zhao, in the absence of anything else to do.
To our surprise, the Avatar was brought in as a prisoner, and we were tasked with guarding him, too.
Had it not been for the Blue Spirit, we would have succeeded.
If I could, I would provide a lengthy discourse into the dramatic details of that entire encounter, but my memory is not quite what it used to be. All I basically remember is that I was overpowered by the Blue Spirit, and that the Avatar eventually broken out of the Stronghold and freed by the mysterious foe.
After our failure to apprehend the Avatar, we paid a visit to one of the northern villages that laid several miles from the shores of the Northern Seas. After a peculiar report including a giant bison and a child with an arrow, we were pointed towards a secluded hideout where the famed deserter, Jeong Jeong, was taking refuge from the Fire Nation.
We understandably were struck with no small level of fear upon setting eyes on the face that we had seen so commonly on wanted posters throughout the Occupied Territories. Jeong Jeong the Deserter, as they called him, was legendary for his unparalleled skill with firebending and his tactical genius.
He, the Avatar, and Zhao got into an intense duel while we attempted to capture the man.
I will never forget the moment as my squad members and I surrounded him, with some other spearmen, and he bended a colossal sphere of fire and miraculously disappeared.
We scoured the forest for him as Zhao burned our own ships to the ground in hate-fuelled rage, and we were subsequently forced to walk back to our ship through the thick jungle.
Our journey ended upon our arrival to Takang Naval Base in the far North, where Fire Nation forces had been assembled to keep an eye on the Northern Water Tribe's activities. Our ship arrived there in poor spirits, and all of the crew, as well as my squad, were depressed by the lack of progress and the string of defeats that had been heaped upon us.
Zhao, however, pressed forward endlessly, his eyes set on another target: The Northern Water Tribe.
Hi guys.
I know that it's been FOREVER since I've last updated this story. My unfortunate habit of procrastinating caught up with me, and my load of summer work has unceremoniously come crashing down alongside with my college visits and my impending marching band camp.
As for my writing, I've been otherwise occupied, and I want to express my utmost apologies. I've been going through a massive amount of writer's block with this story, and I've actually gone through three or four drafts of this chapter, each of which were scrapped completely. I am aware that this chapter may not be as good as the others, but it's the best I've been able to come up with, and to be honest I had no idea what I was going to do for the parts between the Winter Solstice episode and the Siege of the North episodes.
Unfortunately, the bad news does not end there. My endless list of obligations will be starting soon, and my writing may become even more sparse, and I apologize for that. I hope I'm not betraying your trust by this new development, but please know that I am working on this story and that more will be added as I complete it. I am determined, however, that this story will NOT end up like my ill-fated Killzone/Avatar crossover. I'm not abandoning this story, it will just be some time before the next installment arrives. If you choose to give up on reading my fic or cease to follow my fic for this very reason, please know that I understand completely. I know that the initial charm of this story has been somewhat diluted recently, and I am trying my best to return to the style of the earlier chapters.
If you've followed this story through its length so far, please know that you have my eternal gratitude. Those of you who choose to comment and offer constructive suggestions or general comments, thank you for your attention to detail and your kindness (I really should get a Beta).
Thank You and Stay Tuned,
IGdude117