Legends of the Four Masters
#21—Serpent's Pass
"This is the Serpent's Pass?" Sokka asked when they got to the starting point of the natural bridge. The bridge looked like a mountain range practically compressed to be a lot narrower, with a single path going over it. "Is it just me, or does this look unnatural?"
"What do you mean unnatural?" Katara asked.
He shrugged. "It's so thin and straight, like it's supposed to be a bridge. I look at this and can't help but think that earthbenders made this long ago to cross the bay."
"If earthbenders made it, then why isn't it flat like a real bridge?" Shampoo asked.
Sokka just shrugged. "You'd have to ask them. Do I look like an earthbender?"
"No, but the only other earthbender I've seen is Toph." The Chinese Amazon replied.
"I sure hope I don't look like Sokka. Hate to think I look like a boy." The blind girl jibed.
"What's that say?" Ranma asked, changing the subject. He was standing next to a torii gate that had something carved into one of the posts, but clearly they didn't use the same kanji here that they used back in Japan.
Katara came up and got a look at it. "It says 'Abandon hope'."
"How can we abandon hope?" Ying asked, sounding a little sad at the idea. "Hope is all we have left."
"It's gotta just be a saying." Ranma told them. "I remember back home a lot of places liked to say 'Abandon all hope ye who enter here' because they thought it sounded cool. It's just hype."
"Ah Ranma, I don't think it's just hype here." Kasumi said.
"Gotta admit it's kind of hard to take it seriously when it looks like mere graffiti." He commented.
'I remember the monks back home saying hope was just a distraction.' Aang thought, glancing to a still nervous Ying and Than. 'I never really knew what they meant, but right now that's not what this family needs to hear. This is their only option, and telling them they might as well expect it to suck would... well, suck.'
"Well, hope or no hope, it's the only option we've got now." Sokka stated, then started to go forward, with the others following.
Time went on and the group had no idea how much progress they had made. The southern bit of the continent they had started from was no longer in view, and the northern bit they were heading towards had yet to come into sight. The only land around was the pass itself, and it's many ups and downs.
"Stop!" Suki warned, getting everyone to freeze. No one had to ask why, they could easily see a Fire Nation ship sail by in the western bay, the same side of the mountains they happened to be on.
"I think we're high enough and far enough that they can't see us, but no bending or anything that gets us noticed." Sokka warned the others, keeping his voice down without whispering.
"Why is one of these here anyway?" Ranma asked.
"The Fire Nation controls the western bay here. That forces the ferries to take the east side." Suki explained, currently dressed in her Kyoshi Warrior outfit. "Rumor has it they're working on something big on the other side and they don't want anyone finding it."
"What do you think it is?" Ranma asked.
"I dunno, but this close to Ba Sing Se I imagine some kind of seige weapon." Suki theorized.
"What, like a giant drill to tear through the walls I've heard about?"
Suki looked unamused. "Be realistic."
"I'm in a world where people command the elements with their bare hands and every animal is two put together. I don't know what realistic is anymore." The pigtailed martial artist noted.
Suki just looked at him like she was asking him what else would the world be like.
Meanwhile, part of the ledge began to crumble and give way under Ying. Than pushed her forward and onto sturdier ground, but it gave way under him before he could do the same for himself. He fell, only for Toph to earthbend a ledge that caught him, before she made it bring him back up. His wife and sister were quick to check on him.
The falling rocks caught the attention of the Fire Nation ship, and a fireball was shot their way thanks to a cannon.
"They've spotted us!" Sokka shouted. "Run! Run!"
Aang instead chose to jump outward and deflect the fireball with some airbending, sending it right back to the ship. It hit and part of the ship caught fire, but being metal it was in no immediate danger. Aang opened his glider and glided in a circle above the group, on guard for a second strike.
"Aang don't do that! That will let them know who you are!" Ranma warned, but was ignored.
The cannons fired again, aiming above the flying airbender who couldn't deflect them. The fireball collided with the mountains and caused an avalanche. Suki looked up and gasped seeing lots of earthen debris fall right towards her. Sokka pushed her out of the way from behind and put himself in her place, then Toph earthbended the mountainside to divert the avalanche over the side without so much as a pebble hitting him.
Shampoo then tried some earthbending of her own, attempting to shoot off the debris towards the ship. It worked, at first, but she was not good enough to have it cover the needed distance. Ranma tried to reinforce them with some airbending, but the only thing they could accomplish was making some waves against the ship.
"Suki are you okay? You have to be more careful!" Sokka frantically said to the Kyoshi Warrior when the danger was passed. Grabbing her hand he pulled her forward in a hurry.
Toph fumed. "'Thanks for saving my life Toph'. 'Hey no problem Sokka'." She said to herself, annoyed.
The whole group began running down the pass, with Aang gliding behind, leaving the burning ship to now focus on itself.
After a bit they had to stop to catch their breaths. Aang landed. "Everyone okay?"
"Yeah, so far no one seems hurt." Katara answered.
"Are you okay Ying?" Than asked his wife.
She smiled but looked like she was wincing a bit at the same time. "I'm fine, I think a muscle just cramped up in the running."
"Yeah, you really shouldn't be running for your life in your condition." Kasumi offered.
"If more from the Fire Nation show up we might not have a choice." Ranma remarked.
Suki nodded. "Yes, but I doubt they'll do much. They're in no condition to chase us, and by the time they can get someone else to we should be off this pass. Best they can do is set up some trap at the northern end, so we should be cautious when we get there."
Everyone nodded, then they proceeded.
"Hold on, I have an idea." Shampoo brought up before they could get too far. Everyone looked at her and she tried some earthbending, creating a large block from the ground. "Sorry, not done yet." She tried some pounding motions and the block caved in from above until it formed something akin to a square bowl.
"Here, a makeshift cart. Toph and I can push you along so you don't have to walk all day."
Ying smiled. "Oh, thank you so much." With help, she got into the earthen cart and tried to get comfortable. Using earthbending, Shampoo started to propel her forward, somewhat jerkily at first but it got smoother once she got a rhythm going.
"Can't the rest of us get rides?" Sokka asked.
"Sure Sokka, when you get pregnant you'll get all the rides you want." Ranma joked as he walked pass the Water Tribe boy, making Aang, Katara, and Toph laugh a little.
"War Minister Ching!"
An old man wearing a red Fire Nation uniform cringed for a moment and delayed looking at the one calling for him. But he couldn't avoid it forever.
"Yes Princess?" He asked as he turned around, seeing an unhappy Azula.
"Has the problem been solved yet? I believe I have waited far more than enough even if I were not the heiress to the Fire Nation."
Ching composed himself as best he could. "My lady, I understand your impatience, but as someone who is educated in engineering the situation is more complicated than merely starting up a battleship to set sail."
He gestured to the large tank that Azula had come there for, which had suffered some technical failures days before and resulted in her being stalled on making progress to Ba Sing Se.
"This machine is a crowning feat of scientific ingenuity and raw destructive power. It is truly one of a kind and an utter game changer in this war. However, the downside to this is it is still mostly an unknown. Errors are inevitable in first operations like this."
Azula did not look the least bit sympathetic to his explanation. "I do not want errors."
"With all due respect Princess, who does?" Ching asked. "Errors are inevitable. It is a fact of engineering, of war, of life. Not to mention that when the vehicle is operational as intended, it is still slow and will need roughly two days to get to Ba Sing Se from here."
"Speed it up." Azula commanded.
Ching held his ground. "My lady, there is no way to speed this up without compromising it. If we try to rush it, only more errors will pop up and force us to delay further. I ask that you be patient. The payoff will be worth it. You will break through the walls and be able to claim Ba Sing Se in the name of your father. When the time is right."
The firebending princess still looked like she had only been given bad news. "The time had better be right tomorrow, or else you will find your own body to have a few errors of its own. Such as not being fireproof."
She turned away and walked off, leaving Ching to tell his engineers to pull an all nighter.
Night came and the group decided to camp out on one of the peaks. Than tended to Ying, massaging her swollen ankles, while Katara did some waterbending to massage the woman's back. Throughout the afternoon and early evening Ying would occasionally have cramps. Sitting in a stone square wasn't exactly comfortable after all.
Ranma made a fire while Shampoo and Kasumi started working on their food. Everyone else was sort of just getting comfortable.
"Suki, you shouldn't sleep there." Sokka advised as Suki started to place her bedroll. "You're too close to the ledge, you could fall over during the night." He picked up the bedroll and moved it.
"Sokka is something wrong?" Suki asked.
"No, but the ledge did give out earlier. It only makes sense to be cautious of it happening again." He explained, setting down the bedroll in a more comfortable place, that just so happened to be closer to his own.
She then stepped on the bedroll.
"WAIT!" He screeched, jumping up and taking a protective stance in front of her, before sighing and relaxing. "My mistake, thought I saw a spider. You're fine."
He patted her shoulder, but Suki looked like she was anticipating a long night.
"You screamed because you thought you saw a spider?" Ranma asked.
Sokka tried not to look sheepish. "Well what would you have done?"
"Stepped on it. What else?"
Sokka had no comment for that, so he simply shrugged and tried to pretend like he hadn't acted so irrationally.
"Ouch!" Shampoo cried out, dropping the knife she was using to cut up their vegetables.
"You okay Shampoo?" Ranma asked, getting closer towards her.
"I'm fine." she insisted, though he could see she was gripping her fingers with one hand.
He gently reached for her hand and she didn't resist as he pulled her fingers away, revealing a cut on her index finger that was bleeding.
"It's okay, not the first time I've cut myself." She assured him, sucking some of the blood off.
Ranma looked at her then looked down. He gripped the bottom of his shirt and tore off a thin strip from the base. Before Shampoo could ask what he was doing, he took the strip and wrapped it around her finger.
"Had to do this a lot as a kid. Otherwise I'd get a lot of infections." He commented, tying the strip to secure it.
"Thank you Airen." She said softly, touched by his gesture.
Kasumi watched this and looked away. 'He seems so... at peace around Shampoo now. They haven't had a single fight since we got to this world. It's strange, Ranma not being in a fight for so long. It's almost like Shampoo is bringing out the better qualities in Ranma that Akane couldn't.'
Onboard one of the ferries, Jet, Zuko, Ryoga, and Smellerbee began working around the guards. They reached the kitchen, where through the window they could see hanging poultry and bowls filled with something. The door was on the other side, so they had to sneak around. It was locked of course, but Zuko's swords took care of that.
Ryoga and Smellerbee stationed themselves as lookouts while Jet and Zuko went inside. Jet went for the birds, cutting them off their ropes, and Zuko skillfully used his dual blades to package the bowls on top of each other in a matter of seconds rather than minutes then tied them up.
'He's good.' Jet thought, impressed.
"Guard's coming." Ryoga whispered as they stuffed the food into sacks.
The two left the kitchen and all four went to the ledge, seeing as how they were on the third level of the ferry above deck. Longshot was on the first and when he saw them he fired an arrow, hitting the railing. It had a rope attached with the other end anchored to another railing, making it taut. They sent the sacks down first then they slid down the rope to the first level. Once they were landed, Longshot pulled the rope and removed the arrow, removing any evidence of their actions.
Sokka looked up at the moon, sitting alone away from the group while they were trying to sleep. Rest wasn't coming to him today, and he had a good idea why.
"It's a beautiful moon." Suki said as she walked up towards him.
"Yeah, it really is." Sokka replied, sounding like the thought depressed him more than anything.
Suki sat down and got him to look at her. "Look, I know you're just trying to help and I appreciate the sentiment, but I can take care of myself."
Sokka nodded slightly. "I know you can."
"Do you? Because you've been acting a little overprotective since we started this."
"I haven't been overprotective."
Suki tilted her head a tiny bit. "You tried to keep me away from a spider you thought you saw."
This time, the Water Tribe boy sighed then smiled slightly. "I suppose you're right."
"What are you afraid of Sokka?"
"It's hard to lose someone you care about." He looked away and his smile dimmed. "After we left Kyoshi Island, we made it to the North Pole. While I was there, I met a girl. Her name was Yue."
Suki couldn't help but be bothered by this, but she could guess from context this wasn't going to end well, so she said nothing.
"The Fire Nation came and attacked. One of them actually killed the moon spirit. I'm sure you saw the moon disappear from the sky some time ago." Sokka continued.
"Yeah, that did freak a lot of people out." Suki mentioned. "I remember this one guy who screamed and ran around until he foamed at the mouth then passed out."
"Everything looked lost, the Fire Nation was going to win and the Water Tribe would be killed off like the Air Nomads." Sokka continued. "Yue was the only one who could bring the moon back and save the North Pole. But to do it, she... had to sacrifice her life."
"I'm sorry." Suki told him, feeling he needed to hear that.
Sokka looked back up at the moon, almost wistfully. "In a way, she's still alive, as the new moon spirit, but it's not really the same. I still had to see her die, and I... I don't think I could handle seeing anything like that happen to you too."
"I know what you mean. I lost someone special too. He didn't die, he just... went away, and I only had a few days to get to know him. He was smart, and brave, and funny, and when he left I wondered if I'd ever see him again. I worried he'd forget me, and that thought hurt a lot."
"Who is this guy? Is he taller than me?" Sokka asked.
Suki giggled. "No, he's the same height. But he might have gotten taller since then."
"Is he better looking?"
"He is you, Sokka." The Kyoshi Warrior admitted, figuring he needed to just be told that.
Flattered, Sokka blushed. The two smiled at each other, both glad to be back together. Then they leaned in closer, ready to connect their lips... only for Sokka to hesitate.
"I can't." He confessed. "Sorry, it's just... wrong to do this now with Yue on my mind."
"I understand." She said sadly. "Can I... ask you an unrelated question while we're still here?"
"Like what?"
"That boy with the pigtail, I don't remember his name, he said something about you guys finding another airbender. Is that true?"
Sokka blinked than slightly smiled. "Yeah, we did. That guy, Ranma, he's the other airbender. Didn't the staff he was holding give you a clue?"
Suki was surprised she had overlooked that particular detail in her wondering. "He sure doesn't look anything like Aang."
Sokka nodded. "Let's just say he came from a different home. A very different home."
"Are there more out there?"
Sokka put a hand to his chin for a moment then took it down. "I have no idea. But two is better than none, and as long as the Fire Nation doesn't find out, we still have a trick up our sleeve."
Back on the ferry Jet was passing out food to everyone while Ryoga and Zuko sat with Iroh. The older firebender was enjoying the ramen but not as much as the tea.
"From what I hear, people eat like this every day in Ba Sing Se." Jet said as he finished his rounds, sitting down with them.
"What, like fat happy kings?" Ryoga asked.
"What do you think the actual king eats like then if the common folk eat like kings?" Iroh mused.
"We gonna liberate more food there too?" Zuko added.
Jet just grinned. "We won't need to. The captain was hording food, but that's not done in Ba Sing Se. There's no need to. Behind those great walls, no harm from the outside can come."
"The walls of Ba Sing Se are truly a magnificent sight." Iroh noted.
"You've seen them before?" Jet asked.
Iroh nodded. "Once, but it's not a time I like to remember. My son died that day."
"I'm sorry to hear that." Jet replied. "I've got things in my past I don't like remembering either. Things I'm not proud I did. That's why I'm going to Ba Sing Se. It will be my second chance."
Iroh nodded. "That's very noble of you. I believe people can change their lives if they want to. I believe in second chances. Like I tell these two." He looked to Zuko and Ryoga.
"No offense, but walls won't protect it forever." The lost boy claimed.
Jet looked his way. "What do you mean?"
"Where I come from, there was this ancient city called Troy, famous for having these same sort of walls. No army could get through them, and for ten years one army kept trying to over and over again."
"Sounds like what the Fire Nation has been trying for a hundred years." Zuko noted, with Jet nodding.
"Thing is, the enemy army did find a way through. They built a large wooden horse and hid their troops inside it, tricking the people of Troy into thinking they had given up and left an offering. Troy brought the horse into the city, and when night came the soldiers came out, opening the gates and storming the city."
"I'm pretty sure Ba Sing Se isn't stupid enough to just take in giant wooden horses." Smellerbee remarked.
"It does kind of sound like these Troy people brought it upon themselves." Zuko thought out loud.
"My point is there's always a way in, even if brute force isn't working." Ryoga proclaimed.
"I'd think that if the Fire Nation was smart enough to think of a sneak attack they'd have done it by now." Jet commented.
Zuko took some offense at that, but he knew not to react to it.
Ryoga shook his head. "Funny thing about sneak attacks is you're not supposed to know it's being done."
"He's got a point Jet." Smellerbee told her companion. "I mean, would our food raid have worked if we had told the guards we were sneaking around?"
Jet chuckled. "Yeah, but we all know what arsonists firebenders are. They couldn't get near the wall without trying to burn something, so I don't think any of them can sneak through."
"One can only hope so." Iroh stated, hoping to end the topic before either boy put their foot in their mouth.
The sun started to rise, and Katara woke up early, stretching her arms and yawning. Looking around, she could see the back of Aang's bald head from behind some rocks, making it look like he was watching the dawn.
She got up and slowly walked towards him. "Morning Aang." She greeted quietly.
"Morning Katara." He replied with a smile.
"You okay?"
He nodded. "Yeah, I am. Why wouldn't I be?"
"I just thought... we're getting close to finding Appa. I know you still miss him and it hurts." She started, pausing when Aang nodded but said nothing. "You don't have to pretend it doesn't hurt."
Aang dropped his smile and blinked. "Why do you think I'm pretending?"
"Because you're not acting hurt. I know you miss Appa Aang, but you don't even bring him up anymore. It's like you're trying to act tough for us, like you're afraid to show how sad you are."
Aang stood up and stood before her. "Katara, it's okay." He started quietly. "I do miss Appa, that's why I don't bring him up. I don't talk about the Air Temple either when there's no need to. I've lost a lot being frozen, if I talked about all of it all the time I'd drive myself crazy."
"But Appa is something I can get back." He continued. "I miss him a lot, but most of all, I feel hopeful. If I were to wallow in sadness, wouldn't that be the same as abandoning hope?"
"I'm not asking you to wallow. I'm asking you to not hide it if you feel it." Katara assured, kindly touching his shoulder.
Aang smiled and closed his eyes, appreciating her care. "It's okay, I'm not hiding anything. I've had time to get the tears and anger out of my system. I'm sad, but I'm not crying anymore. Now I'm ready to do something about it."
Katara started to smile, glad to hear that her concerns had been unnecessary. Aang wasn't hardening his heart like she had feared, he still felt the pain of loss but he wasn't letting it affect him negatively. This meant he wasn't going to be obsessive about finding Appa when they got to Ba Sing Se and dismissive of any other concerns.
"And we're all here to help you find him." Katara claimed. "For now, what do you say we get breakfast started before everyone else wakes up?"
Aang nodded. "I'll get some fish." He opened his staff and took flight while Katara went back to get started on the rest.
After eating and cleaning up, the group continued down the pass, making good time with the lack of Fire Nation ships and crumbling ledges. Ying was given another cart ride courtesy of the earthbenders, with Aang joining in occasionally. They had to be more careful with pushing the cart since today Ying just couldn't get comfortable for long.
After two hours, they were all forced to stop. The pass took a dip down, to a point where the bays flooded across the walkway. The breach was wide enough for a ship to pass through, though it might have been a tight squeeze or too shallow for one to try.
"So what now?" Ranma asked.
"Toph, can't you earthbend the path to be above water?" Kasumi asked.
"I might be able to, but it will take a while. I can only bend the earth around me, so I'd have to extend the bridge little by little, and to be frank, supporting it so it won't collapse back under will be hard."
"What about hovering over?" Ranma asked. "I've seen you and Aang make boulders levitate. You could make a big chunk of land come up and we all get on it while-"
"No way Airhead." The blind girl interrupted. "In case you didn't notice, we don't carry boulders that way. Levitating them just makes them easier to hurl at our target. If I did what you're thinking of, I'd have to throw the rock with everyone on it across the gap. You wanna be crushed like that?"
"I got a faster idea." Katara declared, getting in front of the group. "Everyone, single file. Aang, Kasumi, be ready. Ying, you might have to walk for this part. It would be faster for us all."
Everyone did as told, with Than and his sister helping the pregnant woman get out of the cart. Katara began to wave her arms and part the water. She had her arms do a swinging figure 8 motion with both limbs in sync and walked forward, keeping the water parted before her. The group followed, with Aang taking up the rear and Kasumi taking the middle. Both of them worked to copy Katara's motions, Toph holding Aang's staff as well as Momo.
"I gotta admit this is faster." Toph noted.
"How are your hands Kasumi?" Katara asked.
"They're doing good. I'm using my arms more than anything here. I think I can keep this up.'
The group walked onward underwater in a giant air bubble. Than and Ying were in wonder of this, but Momo was more interested in the fish swimming just outside the bubble. The lemur jumped out into the water and swam around, playing with the fish.
"He can swim too?" Ranma asked.
"Why wouldn't he be able to?" Aang asked back.
All of a sudden Momo jumped back inside perching on Toph's shoulder, and it didn't take others long to see why. A giant shadow started to loom over them, not as large as a ship but big enough to be trouble.
"Is that what I think it is?" Katara asked.
"Somehow I think so." Kasumi claimed.
The thing in question broke through the bubble, panicking them and making the waterbenders drop concentration. Water began to fill up the airspace, so before they could drown Toph did some earthbending and made a pillar, shooting them up through the water and back to the surface. Everyone was wet and coughing, but they were alive.
A green fin broke came up from below like a shark, and it started to circle the pillar. It went under after a full rotation, then the head came out, revealing a green creature that looked like a sea snake with some eastern dragon traits on the head.
"Yep, it's the serpent of Serpent's Pass!" Sokka proclaimed as it roared. "Suki you know about giant sea monsters, make it go away!"
Suki huffed. "Just because I live near the unagi doesn't mean I'm an expert!"
Sokka then picked up Momo and held him up. "Then here, take this instead of us!"
"Sokka!" Katara admonished, smacking him on the back of the head.
The serpent made a dive for them, but Aang stepped up and like with the ship yesterday, hit it with an air blast. The serpent was knocked back, but it only looked as if it had been slapped.
"I'll distract it. Katara, Kasumi, get everyone to the other side." He said before opening his glider and taking off.
"I've got your back!" Ranma called out, opening his glider too and taking off.
Katara meanwhile did some rushed waterbending to turn the surface of the water to ice and ran across, extending the ice bridge as she did so. It took her only four tries to reach solid land. No one was in any mood to question why she hadn't done this before, they had greater concerns at the moment.
Kasumi stepped onto the ice first and examined the ice. Because Katara had to rush this, the ice was cracking and more floating on the water than anything. She formed two fists and sort of swept them over one of the cracks she saw. Water splashed over it and froze over, sort of sealing the crack.
"Everyone hurry but don't rush. I'm trying to keep this from falling apart." She stated.
Sokka and Suki went forward and helped guide the civilians across while Shampoo took a defensive stance out of habit at the rear, wielding her chui. They were going to help her more than earthbending at the moment.
Once they were halfway through, Katara jumped off the shore and formed a small ice board to float on. With some waterbending she propelled herself towards the serpent, like someone on a jet ski.
With two airbenders flying around the serpent was too distracted to be on the offensive. Nonetheless it did try snapping at either when it could.
'Now's my chance.' Ranma thought when the serpent was focused on Aang, trying to devour him. He glided upwards, then while he had the momentum advantage he let go of the glider to free both hands and brought them together. "Moko Takabisha!"
Rather than a bright yellow ball of chi, the air swirled around him and created what could be best described as a spherical tornado the size of a wrecking ball. Naturally he was surprised, but he fired it as normal before he could question it. The tornado ball shot forward and hit the serpent in the back of the head. The serpent roared in pain and was knocked right down into the water, creating a large wave that Katara had to maneuver over.
"Nice job Ranma." Aang cheered when he got closer to the pigtailed teen, who retook his hold on the glider before gravity got the better of him.
"Not the first giant snake I've fought." He replied cockily, recalling his time in Ryugenzawa.
Down below, Katara came up to a portion of the reptile that was still above the surface, this being somewhere close to its neck. Acting quickly she waterbended some ice around it. The serpent's head resurfaced as best it could, the ice weighing it down, and it did not sound happy. Flailing its head, it cracked the ice until it shattered completely.
Thanks to Kasumi's efforts, everyone made it across the ice bridge save for Toph who remained on the earthen pillar.
"Toph come on! It's just ice!" Sokka called out.
The blind girl stepped on the ice, and it wasn't the coldness that got to her, it was the lack of any seismic vibrations. To her it was the equivalent of closing your eyes while in a maze.
"Actually I'm going to stay on my little island where I can sense things."
The serpent's midsection thumped on the island right behind her in an attempt to get back at Ranma. The impact made Toph fall forward, and had it been any closer she'd have ended up flattened.
"Okay I'm coming!" She said, slowly stepping forward bit by bit.
"You're doing great! Just follow the sound of my voice!" Sokka encouraged.
"It's hard to ignore." She mocked.
"Good, halfway there, just keep it up!"
Then the serpent's tail made itself known, shattered the ice bridge and sending a screaming Toph into the sea.
"Help! I can't swim!"
"I'm coming Toph!" Sokka said, but Suki and Shampoo both dove into the water before he could, since he paused to take off his boots.
Shampoo wasn't weighed down by armor like Suki was, so she took the lead. Toph struggled to keep above the surface but couldn't any longer and started to go down. Shampoo dove and grabbed both arms, then pulled her up to the surface.
Toph took a deep breath and relaxed, using Shampoo's body to stay afloat. "Oh Sokka, you saved me." She said happily, having only heard the Water Tribe boy say anything about coming for her. Then she kissed Shampoo's cheek, making the Amazon feel uncomfortable and Suki, who saw this, chuckle.
Then Toph looked confused. "Wait, since when does Sokka have boobs?" She could feel Shampoo's chest against her arm and shoulder now, and placed her hand on one for confirmation.
"Those aren't Sokka's, Toph." Shampoo said.
The blind girl closed her eyes and sort of slumped despite floating. "Just let me drown. It'd be better for me."
Shampoo and Suki instead brought Toph back to land, while Aang and Katara began to form a whirlpool around the serpent, with Ranma flying above to keep its attention and keep attacking it. The reptile was helpless against the momentum once caught in it, and after a few turns it got its head slammed against one of the mountains. For a moment it looked like it passed out, then got pulled under water by the whirlpool.
"Okay, now's our chance!" Katara called out, and all three benders used the brief opportunity to return to land. They looked to the water and saw the serpent's fin breach the surface again, but the head remained under and the fin swam away.
Everyone cheered for their victory, save for Toph who was still highly embarrassed.