Everybody could tell that Sokka was nervous when he first stepped out onto the platform which stood above everyone else so that we could all see the board clearly. "Good morning, everyone!" He tripped and scrolls scattered everywhere, making him panic and hurriedly try to pick them up. "Um…so, as you know today we're invading the Fire Nation. I mean I know you know that, because otherwise why else would you be here? Anyway…" Laughing awkwardly and dropping more scrolls, I flinched inwardly, feeling bad for him as he then struggled to find the right map of the Fire Lord's palace, turning the pages over three or four times before finding it. "It's here, and uh there's an eclipse today and Aang's going to fight the Fire Lord and the fire benders won't have any fire to use so that's good for us and uhm...I'm sorry, let me start at the beginning." Oh boy, here we go. "…Katara and I discovered Aang frozen in an iceberg. Now I didn't like Aang at first but I grew to love him over time. Then we went over to the Southern Air Temple where Aang used to live and then
we met Suki, who is a Kyoshi warrior. She made me dress like a woman and then she kissed me…"
Seeing that his son was losing it, Hakoda stood up and took over before things could fall apart entirely. "Thank you, Sokka. It's okay, why don't you take a break?" Hanging his head in shame, Sokka went and sat down miserably. "Let me just clarify a few points for everyone. Today is the Day of Black Sun and I want to thank you all for yourself sacrifice and your courage. There are two steps to the invasion. A naval stage and then a land stage. To gain sea access to the Fire Nation capital, we have to get pass our first major obstacle here. The Great Gates of Azulon. Next, we hit the land and we hit hard. We must fight past their battlements and secure the plaza tower. Once we do that, it's up to the royal palace. At that point, the eclipse will begin." Hakoda explained effectively and concisely before The Boulder raised his hand. These guys seriously need to come up with better names for themselves.
"Excuse me, The Boulder is confused. Isn't the point to invade during the eclipse? When the fire benders are powerless?"
"The eclipse only last eight minutes. Not enough time for the whole invasion and the royal palace is heavily guarded by fire benders. So that's where we'll need the eclipse advantage the most. When this is finished, the Avatar would have defeated the Fire Lord. We would have control of the Fire Nation capital and this war will be over!" A resounding cheer followed at the idea of the war being over, though I was a little more reserved. I just hope my people don't become the villains to the rest of the world and everything turns against them. The ordinary civilians, and even most of the soldiers weren't to blame for this war. They were just following orders and the manipulative propaganda fed to them by our government.
With the plan set, everybody set about getting ready with final preparations. Katara and I filled our pouches with water from the sea, making sure we were both well stocked and ready for when we hit the land and ran out of water from the sea. Even Appa was prepped for the battle with the custom armour that Sokka had made for him rather impressively. Aang finally shaved his head clear, returning back to the bald headed monk I knew him best as, making me smile as I saw him gliding overhead. "Do you think he'll be okay?" Katara worried as we fastened our pouches and double checked everything was ready.
"Aang is a smart kid, and he's a powerful bender." I said to her without even thinking about it, not worried at all. "Plus, Ozai will be totally powerless against him once the eclipse comes, so there will be nothing he can do when Aang reaches him. He'll be fine, this plan will work." I then hopped aboard Appa after smothering him and Momo with affection and love, climbing up into the saddle whilst Katara took the reins. The entire fleet moved within the fog, moving towards the Fire Nation capital where soon enough, we could see the Great Gates of Azulon in the distance.
I'll admit, they were as impressive as they were terrifying. The fleet moved silently within the fog that Katara and the swamp benders whipped up, however before we could pass through an alarm was raised, the horn blaring in warning and a net was raised up from the water between the two sleeves of Azulon's statues before it was set on fire, cutting off our way in. "Guess we lost the element of surprise, huh." I drawled as I leaned against Appa, arms folded as I tugged at my wrist guards which came up to my elbows in preparation.
As the fleet came to a halt, everybody heard the sound of Fire Nation jet skis fast approaching, our cover having been blown. This wasn't good, I get the feeling the Fire Lord knew we were coming, at least we'd prepared for this. "Everyone below deck!" Following Hakoda's orders, everyone except for myself and Aang went down below, the both of us jumping onto Appa and bending a water bubble around us so that we could breathe underwater as we dived under.
The rest of the fleet released their submerging divers, these amazing contraptions that Sokka had designed to pass underwater without being spotted. Had to give it to him, sometimes Sokka was an absolute genius. "I can't believe those things work." I said to Aang as both of us moved in synchrony to keep the air bubble wrapped around us and Appa's head. "And that Sokka was the one who came up with the idea for them."
"I know, aren't they great? Who knew Sokka had these kind of ideas inside him, anyone else would just call him crazy if he said that one day people would be able to swim underwater in giant metal tubs." He agreed with me and Appa growled as if to say he thought so too. We had to resurface for a fresh supply of air before we reached land, so once the machines started to dive upwards we followed, breaking free and dispersing the water bubble so that we could take a deep gulp of fresh air. Hopping off Appa a water pedestal rose up from the sea so I could land on it, giving me a step so that I could then jump onto the submarine as Aang floated down next to me, the others coming towards us. "So, this is it huh?" He said, holding his staff as we all gathered together.
"Are you ready for the Fire Nation to know the Avatar's alive?" Nodding at Sokka, Aang tightened his grip on his staff, like it was an affirmation of his identity.
"I'm ready." Grasping each other's arm, everybody then moved in for a hug which Momo joined in on, all of us embracing one another closely.
"I hope you kick some serious Fire Lord butt, twinkle toes." Toph grinned, punching Aang lightly in the stomach as I then spoke up.
"I just want to let you guys know that I'm really glad that I came along with you after Ba Sing Se." I said, making them all look at me as I shifted awkwardly. "I know I kind of just busted my way into this group, but I want you all to know how much I admire you all, and just how brave and strong you are. I love you guys, thank you for letting me be here with you today."
"Aw Kayo, that's so sweet." Katara said as she came to hug me again, everybody else joining in one by one until I was surrounded by kids of all ages and sizes squishing me like I was the middle of a sandwich. "We're glad you're here too, and you're already a treasured friend. We love you Kayo."
"Yeah, you're pretty awesome." Sokka agreed before grinning. "I mean, you feed me and wash my clothes, sew up my socks when I get holes in them and-!" His sister whacked him, making him shut up but I laughed as the sentiment came across pretty strongly. He appreciated me being there, just as Toph and Aang did.
"If it weren't for your tea and advice a long time ago, I might not even be here right now." Toph said to me as she held up her fist for me to bump against it which I readily accepted. "And Sokka's right. You do make excellent food. The best."
"You might not have started out as our friend, but you're one of us now, and that's never going to change." Aang said as everyone hugged again and I sniffed, already starting to cry from the swell of emotion.
"Ugh, you guys are all so adorable." Since Sokka and I were the tallest, we engulfed the younger ones in our arms until Hakoda called out, forcing us to break apart in order to go our separate ways.
"Everyone listen up. The next time we resurface, it'll be on the beaches. So stay alert and fight smart. Now break time's over, back in the subs." Giving Katara's hand a squeeze I turned away and jumped back onto Appa, riding a wave in order to take up the reins and wait for her as was the plan, watching her talking to Aang. They seemed to speak for a minute or so, but then Aang suddenly kissed Katara, making my jaw drop as he rather daringly expressed his true feelings for her before taking off, just like that.
"What the…" Katara remained rooted to the ground, shocked and completely astonished from Aang's kiss until Sokka emerged from the hatch and called for her to get moving, snapping her awake. When she hurriedly jumped on board Appa, I twisted around in my seat to smirk at her. "So…you and Aang huh?"
"You saw that?!"
"Oh yeah, I saw it all. Want to talk about it?" She blushed and looked away so with a light laugh, I flicked Appa's reins then helped Katara bend the water around us so that we could dive under along with the rest of the submarines, heading directly for the beach. The closer we got to the beach, the more nervous I became and it didn't exactly help when harpoons started shooting through the water trying to pierce through us. I pulled on the reins to avoid one coming at Appa, manoeuvring him out of the way whilst continuing forwards.
One of the submarines got caught, the harpoon piercing its side and being dragged up out of the water so I pointed and yelled to Katara before drawing Appa up, ascending upwards with a growl. Crouching on Appa's neck I whipped the air bubble away in a circle so that Katara could see clearly, allowing her to aim as I fired several blasts of water into as many harpoon holes I could see and freezing them to make it more difficult for them to fire. Katara sliced through the chain that was dragging up the submarine, allowing it to drop back into the water and continue as we dove back down, water bubble resuming.
We followed the submarines once again through the metal grating they blasted through in order to reach the beach of the capital, moving into the first stage of the land attack, and once everyone was through Appa broke out of the water and flew through the air, allowing Katara and I to drop our bending and allowing us to land on the beach along with the rest of the invasion force. "You ready?" I called to Katara as she jumped down.
"As I'll ever be." I smiled at her.
"Did you ever think a year ago you'd find a little kid in an iceberg and end up invading the Fire Nation capital?" She grinned back at me.
"Nope! Let's get to it." Taking Appa back to the skies I took out as many missiles as they could, trying to provide cover for the troops and caterpillar-tanks down below as we began to push our advance. Appa was brave and strong, helping me to take out as many of the enemy tanks and soldiers as possible until I heard Sokka yelling for us to land. I brought Appa down to him then jumped down as he, Katara and their dad climbed on.
"We're taking out the towers, keep everyone moving forwards and focus on those tanks!" Sokka yelled to me hurriedly so I slauted him as I started to move off.
"Sure thing boss!" Pulling water from my pouches I twirled around in fast paced motions, swinging the water into a huge water whip and slammed it against the side of the tanks to send it spinning before shooting a finer stream of water up the nozzle of another, freezing the entire enside of the tank so that it stopped moving. We fought with everything we had but as more fire benders, tanks and missiles continued to raind down on us, we were pinned down and unable to keep on pushing forwards. "Toph! Where are you?!"
"Here!" She yelled to me so I quickly turned around in order to place myself beside her. "Where's Sokka and Katara? We need someone leading us, we're getting crushed down here!" We fought back to back, earth earth bending and my water bending keeping back our opponents as much as possible as I began to draw as much water as I could from the air, though it was much drier here on a volcanic island and didn't have much moisture to spare.
"They'll be here, just don't drop your guard." I bluffed, panicking and screaming in my own head as a fire blast struck the ground a little too close, making me yelp and quickly strike back instinctively. "We're running out of water here!"
"We're all out too!" The swamp benders called back as I desperately looked around. The beach was too far back and if we retreated now, there was no chance we'd get up that mountain in time to take the palace during the eclipse. I'll just have to try and reach for it from here.
"Toph, cover me. I need a few minutes."
"Well whatever you're going to do, do it fast!" Nodding my head, I turned around as Toph, Hippo and the Boulder all made a circle around me to keep me from being struck as I stood still, beginning to flex and roll my wrists as I pulled them in a wave motion, tugging at the waves as I dug deep down for all th strength I possessed. The tide began to draw in, submerging the beach as I pulled the water closer and closer, the wave rolling forwards and back as it gained height until it was standing as tall as the battlements which lined the cliff walls.
My entire body was trembling as I sweated like crazy, gritting my teeth and yelling under the pressure as I fought to maintain control of this wave until the swamp benders started to join in, seeing what I was doing before I felt like we'd gained enough water to pull it from the cover. "Get ready!" Turning with a yell, we all thrust out her hands to direct the wave which surged forwards with a gushing roar of sound, a foaming white and blue mass which split at our command to wash along the walls and sweep away our opponents for the next few hundred feet as we then froze the water along the walls to destroy their battlements, raising the remainder to refill our water supplies before I let go and breathed, dropping to my hands and knees in exhaustion.
"Although I didn't see it, I felt it, and it was awesome!" Toph cheered as she punched both fists into the air. "That was some neat bending there Kayo."
"Well, it sure felt awesome." I breathed, trembling from strain and effort, unable to pick myself back up. Just then Sokka came back without Katara and Hakoda, taking charge of the troops and leading the way confidently.
"Listen up everyone, I want the tanks in wedge formation! Warriors and benders in the middle, we're taking that tower and headed for the royal palace! Charge!" Wow, go Sokka. With Toph pulling my arm over her shoulders she helped me get to the centre of the formation where my legs started to recover a little, able to drag myself forwards and strike back with water blasts and whips as I forced myself to keep going. I can't give up now, terrifying as this all was, there's no way I can let all my new friends down, I have so much I still need to prove to them. So much that I still need to prove to myself.
