5- Wrath of the King.
After a long path sailing through the coastal waters, the fleet arrived at the beach at last. Immediately afterwards, everyone disembarked in no time, knowing that the Fire Nation was after them and they had to prepare themselves for the incoming battle, even if their chasers were still very far from them, so there was no time to lose.
"Come on, everybody! Get all those cargos out of the boats and ready! We have to go to some high ground and set up the ambush before the Fire Nation arrives!" The Water Tribe captain ordered.
"Sir! Look, up there!" Hakoda called, pointing at some of the small mountains that were in front of them. "Maybe we could put the catapults on those there hidden and use the seismic bombs to bomber them when they come to be in our range."
"Good thinking, Hakoda. Then that's what we'll do. Let's get hurry in reaching those mountains, as our advantage will not last long! Let's move!"
All warriors, waterbenders, earthbenders, experts and civilians obeyed without thinking twice and ran toward said mountains. Once they left the beach behind, they could see how really the island's mainland was: everything was flooded in green, covered by multiple kinds of plants, bushes and trees unlike anyone they've ever seen. In fact, many of them looked like very ancient and others just totally unknown for any person. There were also a lot of places rich in water, some rivers and ponds, with lots of insects flying around, like some dragonfly, a big one indeed.
"Split up, survey your zones. Once you're in position, prepare the catapults and stay hidden until the enemy comes and reaches the plains from below. That will be the moment to strike." The Water Tribe captain instructed. "Bato, Hakoda, go with Nieves and the other scientists and help them with their equipment."
"What?" Hakoda asked confused. "But…sir, this is our very first mission! We wanna help; we know we can do this." He insisted while Bato nodded in affirmation, ensured that they both were ready for that battle and that they could do a lot for their comrades.
"I know that, but there's other ways to help besides of fighting. I need you to protect the scientists and the other civilians. Some of them are friends of yours, right?" The captain said, with Bato and Hakoda nodding at it. "Then another reason for you for this task. The Fire Nation must not know about them, less capture them. That's also a priority."
The two teenagers immediately understood what their superior was referring to and obeyed with determination and no hesitation.
"Let's go over there." Nieves advised pointing at the nearest mountain.
"Everyone else, let's take positions!" The captain ordered, commencing the operation.
The groups began to scatter across the wooded area, thus going deeper into mainland. While Lao, Poppy and Noriko/Ursa went with Conrad and Weaver to look for some far safe hiding place, Hakoda and Bato went with Brooks, San, Randa, Nieves and Steve with some other soldiers carrying the things for making the catapults, some of the seismic charges, other smaller bombs…everything required for the ambush plan. First they had to cross the rainforest part of the area nearby, scaring some herds of some kind of deers and buffaloes, but of some primitive type and appearance, unintentionally with only their presence. These skittish animals caught the attention of some members of one of the groups for a moment before continuing on their way. A few minutes later, each group reached the exact positions for the launching places, some of them very well hidden thanks to a fog bank from some of those mountains. And just in time, because far from there the Fire Nation ships finally arrived at the beach. Their sharped front parts descended until touching the sandy ground and all the troops disembarked quickly, including Colonel Packard's men, him and Prince Iroh. They spotted the enemy boats nearby at their left and approached to check them out carefully. Seeing that no one came out to face them and after a few minutes registering the ships' inside, the soldiers went out of the ships and retreated, seeing that there was nobody in home.
"There's nobody inside, colonel." Cole reported to his superior. "Those ships are fully empty. We came too late."
"There's not even nothing in there; no resources, no weapons, no items of any use…nothing." Mills added. "They left with everything they had, leaving only their ships behind."
"Indeed. They have gone inland." Iroh revealed pointing at the footprints on the sand, leading toward the leafy part where the plants started.
"This is a distraction. They have done it to gain some time." Packard deduced. "There's no doubt they're up to something. They will have prepared some kind of trap for us ahead, which is most likely."
"With all that jungle to hide inside will not be easy to discover both of them and what they have prepared for us." Iroh supposed.
Packard only smirked at that and chuckled a little. "And since when has that stopped us? If we find the trap, we'll find them as well."
Iroh didn't like how those words of the colonel sounded, even if they had to pursue their enemies anyway.
"All troops! Advance to the jungle! Follow their tracks! Find them!" Packard ordered. His special battalion was about to do the same, but the colonel stopped them putting his arm in front of them. "Except you." He said seriously and firm. Even it sounded a little coldly.
"I hope you know what you're doing, colonel, for the princess' wellbeing and the mission' sake. I don't want her to get hurt in case of battle." Iroh warned the colonel.
"Don't worry, Your Highness. Once we find out where she is hiding, we'll rescue her from their captors before doing what we do best…and achieving victory."
"We don't know if they've find out whom she is really." Iroh said confident.
"Maybe, but it's only a matter of time. The longer she stays with them, the more danger she will be in."
"She won't let that happen. She knows how to take care of herself, despite what my brother thinks. I trust her."
"I didn't say that I don't, but there is nothing wrong on ensuring it."
After their talk the two Fire Nation leaders saw most of their troops alongside riders of komodo rhinos and tanks advancing into the jungle. The army went between the wooden area standing alert always of any possible sign of the enemies they were looking for hidden somewhere near, but surprisingly no one was there. Their search continued for a while until they arrived to some large clear area. But what they didn't know was that they were spotted and watched from distance by their enemies first, and the worst thing was that they entered on their target sight. Randa was recording everything with a camera, a simple device for his 'true working' for some ones but for others that was advanced technology indeed, something that only his true organization (Monarch) was capable of. Of course he and his people couldn't allow themselves to reveal any of this to the world or let it to be discovered, especially to the majority of Fire Nation in these times. The Water Tribe captain saw the Fire Nation army entering their trap using his spyglass and through some light signals he gave the order for everyone to prepare the ambush. The Monarch group also installed their equipment: some other technological advanced devices to monitor and register the effects of the seismic bombs under the surface. Once it was prepared, Steve signaled Nieves that everything was ready for the operation.
"Ready for seismic charges." Nieves confirmed to the soldiers, so these signaled to the other groups to start putting the bombs on the catapults.
Once all strike posts were lock and loaded, the captain gave the order to initiate the attack. In no time, the forces of the Fire Nation saw lots of bombs falling over them. Some of them tried their best to intercept them, but it was too late for that. The bombs exploded near them and everywhere almost at the same time, catching them off guard. At the same time, the devices of the Monarch crew began registering the lectures sent by the charges.
"Are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Brooks asked to San while looking at the lectures of the machines surprised.
"The seismic response is incredible." San observed impressed too.
"Hey, Randa, you're not gonna believe this. The bedrock, it's practically hollow." Brooks said to his pal. This made Randa to become surprised and glad at the same time.
After the bombing, the Fire Nation forces became very affected by the explosions' effects; stunned, uncoordinated and confused. Even the komodo rhinos ran away scared and leaving their riders with the rest of the warriors, not talking that the tanks became nothing more than scrap head. Then the waterbenders, earthbenders and non-bender warriors appeared from every side and charged at them beginning the battle. This strategy allowed them to have the upper hand. Not even the firebenders were able to react properly in time as they were in the same state as their non-bender companions. Many of the ones that were watching the battle from safe distance and hidden smiled at seeing how great the strategy resulted and how troubled the warriors of Fire Nation were now. After a while, these had no other option but to retreat, back to where they came from.
"They're retreating! Now is our chance! After them!" The Water Tribe captain commanded.
The forces of the Water Tribes and the Earth Kingdom began pursuing them. However, the explosions of their bombs were also spotted by Iroh, Packard and his main battalion from the distance thanks to their spyglasses.
"Hum…interesting. I never expect such an unusual strategy." Iroh observed curious. "A perfect ambush."
"Indeed." Packard agreed. "Smart. They've used their surroundings very well. I admit it, that's pretty cunning." Then he chuckled a little again. "But we can do it better than that."
Iroh had no clue of what he was referring to by saying that, but he had the feeling that he was going to figure it out soon.
"Get ready, men! It's time to show our new secret weapon." The colonel instructed. At hearing that, Chapman and the rest started to bring something more from the ships.
"Secret weapon?" Iroh asked confused. "What are you talking about, colonel?"
"I'm talking about turning the tables." He responded.
With the Fire Nation army on the run, the groups stationed on high ground could go down back to some of the plain areas, still making sure to stay hidden just in case. A while later, the Water Tribe/Earth Kingdom continued pursuing the Fire Nation troops through the jungle terrain, but then everyone stopped dead when some shadows caught their attention from above, and when they looked up to the sky both armies saw some big red balloons with the Fire Nation emblem on the sides: Colonel Packard's new secret weapon. This was also seen by the ones that were hidden.
"Oh no, that cannot be good." Randa said seeing the air fleet approaching slowly but steady.
"This doesn't look good." Conrad said for himself.
At the moment they passed their ground forces the war balloons began dropping some of their own bombs in front of the Earth Kingdom/Water Tribe forces. Now it was their turn to run and their foes to pursue them.
"Retreat, retreat!" The captain shouted as everyone began running away back where they came from. "Go back to the mountains!"
The war balloons fleet started dropping more bombs while the army joined the chase, forcing both the enemy army and the hidden groups to run away back to the mountains. One of the bombs was dropped over nearby to where Conrad, Weaver, Lao, Poppy and Noriko/Ursa were hiding. Fortunately they saw it coming in time.
"Look out!" Conrad yelled as he and the others jumped out of the place before the explosion happened.
Unfortunately, the shockwave left them a little stunned and they didn't get aware that they become surrounded by a group of firebenders, ready to attack at them, until it was too late.
"Don't move!" One of the firebenders ordered.
They had no choice but to obey as they put their hands up as a signal of surrendering to them. Later shortly one of the war balloons (the one commanded by Slivko) landed and Conrad's group was brought onboard it as prisoners before returning back to the sky. About Colonel Packard and Prince Iroh, both of them were on the command balloon observing everything from above. The other balloons were commanded by the colonel's crew.
"Impressive, much impressive. We've turned the tables of this battle in no time, and so easily. You're certainly unique, Colonel Packard." Iroh congratulated. "You have my respects."
"Thanks, Your Highness. That's our specialty." Packard thanked before looking at the battlefield with a smirk on his face, with the flames of the explosion mirroring on his eyes. "I told you already. Our victory…is inevitable."
The forces of the Water Tribes and the Earth Kingdom kept running away from their pursuers and dodging fireballs, fire blasts and the bombs that kept falling down, threatening to obliterate them with a single boom. By all this, it seemed that the Fire Nation was gonna win after all and there was no hope for the explorers, but then…
"Incoming!" One of the soldiers on of the war balloons shouted before this was hit by a flying tree that came from nowhere and at high speed.
This caused the balloon to explode and fall to the ground with force. This was witnessed by other soldiers from other near balloon, which let them surprised, shocked and without words. They contemplated it falling down before something else caught their attention.
"Look out!" One of those soldiers exclaimed as a giant furred human-like hand appeared suddenly at their right and hit them with big force. It was so strong that it made the balloon to go spinning without control, forcing its occupants to hold on tight, but almost everyone flew away, leaving only two that survived the hard crash landing.
Everything looked like ended, but then the remains of the balloon started to get up for some reason, and it definitely was not because of earthbending or neither airbending. It was like something grabbed it and was raising it, something really big. The two survivors started to panic again as they could see that whatever attacked them was raising them in the air. Said attacker had fur covering most of his body, and at the end they could see his face; the face of a giant ape looking at them in pure rage with his dark brown eyes, that…truly left them frozen in fear. The ape raised the balloon's wreckage over his head, making one of the two survivors to end losing grip and falling to the ground. The last one tried his best to not lose grip, but at the end he fell too, but right into the ape's mouth while he let out a big and thunderous roar. Said roar also stopped everyone running, chasing and attacking, getting the attention of both armies and the others as they turned their sight at the morning sun's direction. Then…everyone was left speechless while a giant figure rose in front of the sun…a humanoid one, and his imposing shadow covered everyone, both at his feet and onboard the war balloons. It looked like a human, but…at the same time…it wasn't. What stood in front of them was a giant ape-like creature that stood upright like a human, with his incredibly long arms held at his sides, but he was also very reminiscent of a male gorilla. His fur was of light brown color and covered the majority of his body except for his face, chest, hands, and feet. His skin was of dark gray color, and he had large scars running across his chest. The ape had also small rounded ears on the sides of his head, one of which had a chunk taken out of it, and possessed many ape-like features on his face, such as a flat nose with rounded nostrils and large canine teeth in his mouth. The giant primate was 31.6 meters high. When Randa contemplated this, he knew that he was right after all. The balloons of the Fire Nation didn't stop their course, even if that meant that they were going right toward the massive creature. They were so stupefied of him that forgot to change course or maybe some part of them wanted to take a closer look at him. Even both Packard and Iroh couldn't believe what their eyes saw.
"Is that a monkey?" Chapman asked in disbelief.
The giant ape saw the war balloons of the Fire Nation approaching at him and taking positions at his sides as he clenched his fists. Shortly he became surrounded from everywhere by the red balloons, that wasn't of his liking and he snorted angrily a couple of times at his opponents, also trying to get each and every one of them at his sight. The balloons' crew chattered various things about the situation, mostly panicked or nervous chatter about the giant primate that they had in front of them at the moment. Once he observed and analyzed the situation, the giant ape saw all that as a challenge and let out a mighty roar at them, like he was saying that was not scared of facing the intruders.
"Fire at will!" Packard yelled in command.
Then all warriors of the balloons began unleashing fireballs at the giant mammal, forcing him to cover his face with his hands and arms.
"What in the world is that?" Cole asked alarmed.
"I don't know!" Mills responded alarmed too.
Very soon the giant ape saw himself receiving fireballs and fire blasts from every direction, trying to protect himself the best he could. He even seemed like a little confused. How could these humans been capable of shooting fire out of their hands? Where did they come from? And what were they doing in the island? Fortunately, even if he was a huge and easy target his enormous size allowed him to have some important resistance against firebending attacks, as it seemed that they had not much effect on him besides of burning some parts of his fur a little. At the end the ape had enough with just only enduring their attacks and roaring back at them and punched one of the balloons, pushing it hard to the ground and making it explode. Next he pounded his chest with his fists while roaring again, a signal that he wasn't fooling around now. That made Conrad, Weaver, Lao, Poppy and Noriko/Ursa wide their eyes in shock. At seeing this, Conrad knew that not even the Fire Nation could stand against that creature.
"Pull out now! Pull out!" Conrad exclaimed to his and his group captors in order to put everyone out of danger.
"I don't take orders from you!" Slivko responded back serious.
"Get us out of here!" Lao exclaimed too.
Then one of the biggest balloons (the one where Chapman was) was grabbed by the ape, but he released it soon as he received a big fire blast from one of its crew members on his hand. He looked at his burn before turning his sight back at the balloon spinning out of control and moving away in direction of another part of the island, into unknown terrain. The ape pounded his chest again at it before turning his sight down to the ground where the two armies were still paralyzed. Next the firebenders and their non-bending warrior teammates began attacking him back, so he grabbed a giant boulder from nearby and threw it at them. Because of this the earthbenders and waterbenders also started attacking him too. Surprisingly, this situation made enemies to forget about each other and fight together against a bigger threat. However, that was not enough to make the difference against that giant animal, as he used another huge boulder as a shield while he threw another one against them, forcing the survivors to run away from him before starting to be pursued by the giant gorilla. One of the Fire Nation balloons came near the crash site of one of the downed balloons and deployed some of his warriors in order to rescue the survivors by orders of their colonel.
"Don't worry, boys. We got men going out the door!" Cole reassured his comrades as they were seeing the rescue operation from above far from there. However, before they could get any survivor out of the place… "Oh, for Agni's sake!"
Without expecting it and off guard the rescuers were crushed by one of the ape's feet. Next he dodged a big boulder and water stream from the waterbenders and earthbenders barely, so he decided to go running at them on two legs and finish them all by stomping on them after roaring at them. Once done he turned his attention on Packard and Iroh's balloon, which was already shooting fireballs and fire streams at him.
"Kill this beast." Packard ordered in a serious tone and a frowned sight, as he seemed to have already enough of that animal's violent meddling.
"Colonel! Don't be a fool! We've to retreat! We'll never make it!" Iroh protested, knowing that was a battle they couldn't win.
But the colonel gave no order, and before the prince could say anything about it, they saw the ape coming at them on four legs and fast. It looked like he was charging at them, until in the last moment he leaped over them, making them to receive the fire attacks of one of the other balloons at the same time as it receiving their own hits. Both balloons ended on fire and colliding with each other before falling to the ground while the ape landed good. Next he grabbed one of the damaged Fire Nation tanks near him and threw it to another of the war balloons, taking it down in no time as well.
"Hold on tight, Your Highness!" Packard yelled at Iroh as he closed his eyes and tried his best to not get flying off as everyone else. "Brace for impact!"
Their balloon hit the ground hard but luckily there was no explosion. Conrad and the others continue seeing all the fuss from above. Maybe they were still as prisoners, but now that was the least of their problems. Also, there was no more sight of their forces, as it looked like all of them were destroyed by the giant attacker. Speaking of him, he was now chasing the rest of the foot troops of the Fire Nation.
"Run to the side, you idiot!" One of the three soldiers yelled at another before being crushed by one of the ape's feet.
Next the ape hit hard the nearby ground with his fists. The two remaining soldiers hid behind some tree log, the exact same place where Hakoda, Bato, Brooks, San, Randa, Nieves and Steve were hiding. At first at seeing those, the Water Tribe boys prepared their bone sharped Water Tribe typical swords and pointing them against the red armored warriors.
"It's not time for that right now!" Brooks exclaimed, knowing that moment was not the time for battling each other again.
Then he and the others widened their eyes and began running away from their hiding place with the Fire Nation soldiers still there, and when they turned their sight at their right…they could see one of the ape's giant hands dragging on the ground and coming at their direction. With a shake of his hand, they ended flying off without control, screaming and launching fire blasts as some intend to make fire rockets to regain balance and safe themselves without success. And they were going right at the balloon were Conrad and his companions were hostages, but even that was now nothing important.
"Hang on everyone! We're gonna get you all out of here!" Slivko declared to the group using firebending to free them from their ropes, as he didn't care about the orders anymore given the circumstances.
"Watch out!" Noriko/Ursa yelled pointing at the flying soldiers coming at them.
But it was too late. The soldiers hit the balloon hard making some holes on its surface and began to lose air through them, besides of the flames of the firebending that ignite its surface, making things worse and the girls to scream. They started go down and spinning too, losing control.
"Oh, my Agni! Prepare to crash!" Slivko advised to everyone.
Lao and Poppy closed their eyes and hugged each other together, Weaver held tight to the edge and Conrad covered Noriko/Ursa from whatever the worse that could happen when they ended hitting solid ground. Fortunately, their crash landing wasn't so bad as most of the other ones. Meanwhile, the ape didn't slow down in his efforts and lunges, roaring again fiercely at his adversaries.
"Fox Leader and Prince Iroh are down! Everyone prepare for pickup! We have them in sight!" Cole instructed the rest of the crew as their balloon prepared to go to the place where their colonel and Prince Iroh crash landed and rescue them. "Hold tight, Colonel and Your Highness, we are on our way!" He said looking at the crash site that was still far from them.
Speaking of those two, both of them luckily survived the impact plus another survivor and with their heads almost touching the ground, but they were on their backs and somewhat sore. Iroh used his firebending to free themselves from the ropes that had them hanging over the floor.
"Thanks, Your Highness." Packard thanked before getting up.
"It was nothing, colonel." Iroh said back.
"Hang on, Briggs. We're coming." Packard said getting up the fastest he could, intending to free his soldier crushed by the wreckage, the same as the prince.
But before they could this was grabbed by one of the ape's hands and raised from the ground in no time with the soldier within screaming, as that was the only thing that he could do. That left both the prince and the colonel widening their eyes in shock and without any word to say. Next the ape threw the wreckage against another balloon while roaring at the same time, the one where Cole and Mills were. And like the previous ones, this one ended spinning out of control, on fire and going down in direction of some other part of the jungle.
"We're going down! We are going down!" Cole warned as the crew tried their best to hold on tight and being prepared for the worst to come. "Listen, I want you to tell me something right now." He said to his pal Mills, who looked like going into panic, so he tried to tell him something. "Do you love your mama?"
"I love her!" Mills answered immediately not thinking it twice.
"How much do you love your mama?"
"I love my mama so much!"
It was that some method to call him down? Or some kind of prank? Something to try to not see how badly things were or were about to get? (Honestly, I don't have a clue of it, but that situation sounds funny for me for some reason, something that even I don't know why.) Who knows. Anyway, they ended hitting the ground hard, just like the rest. Meanwhile, the giant ape continued with his rampage assault. The war balloons were now scattered and uncoordinated, and that made things worse for them. The ape roared while jumping high and took down another balloon hitting it with his fists right to the ground. Next he grabbed some of the destroyed Fire Nation tanks that were near to his feet and threw them to another one, and next he grabbed another one of the big ones and used it to hit another one, engulfing both of them, their crews and tearing them apart in another big explosion followed by another of his roars. At this moment, the entire army was mostly destroyed, all done by a single creature. All the remaining soldiers ran away from the place, but Packard didn't. While everyone tried to escape from that chaos, he stood on his same place, motionless and with his eyes full in anger and hate nailed on that gigantic furred creature. That was supposed to be his victory. That was supposed to be an important day for the Fire Nation, maybe one of the most important ones of its history. But now…all that was not anymore. Everything he prepared, everything he had: his plan, his fleet, his army, his secret weapon, and most importantly…his men, the ones that were like a family for him…all torn apart, because of that monster. All that happened at his surroundings seemed like had no sound, or like if time slowed down suddenly. Prince Iroh tried to snap him out of it, but no use. The colonel had his sight only focused on the one responsible of all their misfortune: that giant beast that destroyed each and every one of their forces so easily. He watched him tearing apart the last of their war balloons with his bare hands before roaring a few times, letting the crew to fall from a great height without caring a bit for them. Next he hit the ground hard with the two halves, unleashing a great explosion in front of where the prince and the colonel stood. Iroh walked backwards a few meters intimidated by this, but Packard didn't, as he looked at the giant beast between the flames right to his eyes with pure rage, the same as him while showing his big teeth and gritting them. As everything was over and the victory was his, the last thing the ape did was letting out another mighty roar that was heard everywhere around and beyond.
So, do you liked how King Kong faced everyone? I hope so. And now…it comes the real thing for the survivors, as they're going to discover what's the real face of Skull Island.