Looking out into the sunny, clear blue sky, Aang tried not to show it, but he had so much on his mind it almost pained him to think about it. They'd been flying for almost two days straight heading out to find Aang, a waterbending teacher. Everyone finding out he was the Avatar was one of his greatest fears brought to life and yet, they didn't look nor treat him any differently than before. Sure Kyojuro and Katara insisted that they immediately head to the north pole in search of a waterbending master for him, but besides that they remained the people he's grown to enjoy and care about.
"Aang, are you ok? You've dazed out a few times today and we haven't even landed yet," Katara asked.
"Who me? Hahaha, Katara, I'm fine you don't have to worry about me, I promise. I'll feel better once we finally land and get some rest," Aang smiled back at her.
Deep down she knew he was lying, but commenting on his mental space probably wasn't the best idea right now. Everybody grieved differently and she of all people understood that.
The visit to the southern air temple if it could be described in just a few words would be heartbreaking, eye opening and horrifying among others. Aang realizing that he truly was the last of his people was nothing short of depressing for him and even as it'd been about a week since then, he still has yet to come to grips with his own failure in stopping the massacre of his people.
"Well...just remember that you don't have to keep things bottled up if you don't want to. Sokka, Kyojuro and I are here for you whenever you're ready to talk," she placed a hand on his shoulder before sliding back inside the saddle.
Sokka, Kyojuro, his newest pupil in Zuko and their newly found companion in a small flying lemur that they decided to name Momo were all sleeping soundly awaiting their next stop. Zuko was the first of them to stir, partially due to Kyojuro literally hugging him in his sleep.
"Will someone please get him off of me?" he whined.
"Not a chance," Katara teased. "You should know by now that once he has you on lock, there's not much we can do about it. Kyojuro always did have an iron grip."
Zuko opened his mouth to try and argue, but soon had Momo land on the front of his face, barring any foul words from coming out of his mouth.
"Oh and I wouldn't try firebending him off if I were you," Katara warned. "Causing a commotion atop of a giant flying bison could spell out disastrous for not only us but you too."
She could see in his eyes he wanted nothing more than to heat up his body temperature and attempt to force everyone off of him, but Zuko quickly pondered over the results of this attempt before resigning himself to his fate. The fiery spark in his eyes died down and he slowly fell back into the little comfort he had while being embraced by Kyojuro. He huffed to nobody but himself and glared daggers into Katara who only snickered at his plight.
Hearing Katara laugh caused Sokka to slowly reawaken which caused Zuko to internally groan this time. Now the idiot was going to make fun of him next. Just great.
"So how's Mr. Jerkbender doing?" he yawned. He fully sat up, rubbed his eyes and frowned, "And why are we still in the air!? We were supposed to be near land by now?"
"Calm down, Sokka," Katara shot back. "Aang and I figured that it'd be better to get some more flying done before we settle down for camp again."
"And who gave you two permission to do that?" Sokka asked. "After Kyojuro, I'm the second oldest so I should be the one giving orders." He looked around annoyingly before making eye contact with Katara.
"And why haven't you sewn the hole in my pants back together? That should've been done before I woke up since you had sooooo much time on your hands."
"Sokka, why does Katara need to sew your pants?" Aang asked curiously.
"That should be obvious!" He shouted.
"Yes, Sokka, please tell us why I should be the one sewing your pants back together…" Zuko didn't know them all too well, but from the little he'd interacted with them, he'd figured out that Katara had a temper and one that could possibly rival his sister if left unchecked. He didn't care for any of them, but deep deep down, he wished that the idiot would sometimes just keep his mouth shut.
"That's easy! Girls should always be the ones who handle stuff like cooking, cleaning, sewing and all that other junk us men don't have time for."
Zuko could see a small vein rising alongside Katara's face and knew Sokka had tripped over a landmine.
"Huh well that's funny since Kyojuro explicitly stated that women should be treated the same as men no matter the circumstances! Didn't he mention he used to fight alongside women?" Katara pushed.
"Kyojuro just doesn't understand how things work with us watertribe men," Sokka started. "Plus I have yet to see a woman that could beat me in a fight so until that happens, I'll continue to think exactly what I want, regardless of what he says." He grinned happily to himself not noticing a very similar grin coming onto Katara's face.
"Fine then I guess you don't mind sewing the hole in your own pants from now on, right?" She leaned back and snickered again knowing the smile covering her brother's face had all but vanished leaving confusion in its place.
He looked next to him and saw the same pants he had desperately needed fixed, still in tatters with a giant hole right at the bottom. "Wait, you can't do this to me!" he pleaded. "What else am I supposed to wear?"
"Oh I don't know, maybe you should ask a woman who'd be willing to deal with the sexist and nasty attitude you have!" she fired back. Sokka turned to his right and could've sworn he saw Zuko snickering too. He didn't have time to deal with that right now.
He had a giant hole in his pants and his dear stubborn sister was now refusing him service.
"Wow, real mature!" he sat back with the hole in his pants miffed that she was really about to do her own flesh and blood like this.
"Don't worry, Sokka. Where we're going, you won't need pants," Aang said while maneuvering Appa towards an island where it looked like they were going to be sleeping. Once they landed everyone save for Kyojuro and Zuko,who was still being hugged while Kyojuro slept, were now off of Appa and somewhat confused as to what they were doing here.
"Um, shouldn't we get some more flying done? If we keep making stops like these, then we'll never make it to the North Pole before spring," Sokka warned.
"I promise we won't be here long, but there's a reason why I brought us all here-," Aang began undressing all the way down to his underwear with a huge smile on his face. He pointed out to the ocean where multiple large fish swam about.
"I really really really wanted to ride the Elephant Koi and figured we could make a tiny little pit stop to factor that in."
He walked over to Appa and tapped him, "Plus Appa's pretty tired from flying all day, aren't you boy?" Aang never was a good liar.
Appa missed his cue so Aang tapped again which finally got the flying bison to respond in a rather unconvincing way. He lazily yawned and normally nobody would buy something like this, but seeing as this was a mythical creature the world thought was lost long ago, nobody could really dispute whether or not he really was tired.
Sokka sighed before responding, "I can't argue with that."
"Well I don't see the harm in waiting a few more hours before we hit the road again!" Kyojuro shot up out of his sleep much to the annoyance of Zuko who was almost thrown out of the saddle.
"How on earth do you do that!?" Zuko barked in annoyance.
"Simple! My instincts allow me to hear better than most while I'm sleeping, so you don't have to worry about explaining everything to me. I have no problem allowing Aang some time to have fun!"
"That doesn't even make sense!" Zuko groaned.
"Ah, but of course it does, Zuko! How else do you think I continue to stop you while I'm still sleeping?" Kyojuro asked. He smiled and placed a hand on the small amount of hair that was now growing on Zuko's head.
"It seems like even after I've already explained my breathing techniques, you still misunderstand them…"
"No matter!"
"I'll just have to drill it into your head another way! Eventually, just like Sokka, I'm sure you'll be able to use it to match my intensity one day!"
Kyojuro had spent the past few weeks trying to explain Total Concentration Breathing to Zuko during their daily sparring sessions, but although the boy was physically gifted in combat, he lacked that certain something needed to bring his flames to the next level along with the fact that he also lacked the intuition of how to use breathing techniques.
Zuko understood the concepts somewhat, but it all sounded so far-fetched that adjusting his breathing would allow him to move at speeds faster than his own and enhance his senses beyond what they are currently.
"Sure, I'll believe that as soon as you release me from being your captive!" he barked back.
"Hahaha! Now we both know that cannot happen until you've made overall improvements in your very being! Do you really not wish to become stronger than you are now? Don't you have something worth protecting or a goal worth pursuing?" Kyojuro asked.
Kyojuro could see Zuko hesitate and scoff before answering, "There's nothing you can do to help me with the problems I have. It's...beyond anyone's control at this point."
Kyojuro's face grew serious while retaining the kind aura he continually gave off and he looked toward Aang who by this point had completely dived into the sea and had begun riding one of those giant fish laughing and enjoying himself to the fullest.
"Is it because your problems are tied to capturing the Avatar?" Zuko all but jumped away from him now upset with what he was hearing.
"How do you know about that?" he growled. As agitated as he was, he grew extremely uncomfortable with the subject and Kyojuro could tell it was very touchy for the young man.
"My reason for knowing and how I know is of no concern to you, but I promise I haven't told any of them the real reason you were in the South Pole. I can also tell that even though you threatened numerous civilians you had no intentions of actually hurting them, am I right?"
Silence filled the air between them as Zuko clearly had lost control of the conversation and had no clue how to respond to that.
"I...I only want to capture him to return home. Peasants do not concern me so I leave them alone if possible."
"I knew it! Deep down, you are a good person, Zuko!" Kyojuro beamed.
Zuko really was starting to hate how bright the man's smile was.
"What are you talking about?" Zuko asked, confused.
"I won't tell the others, but I know all about why you were banished and how you gained a scar such as the one you have covering your face…"
Before he could even speak, Kyojuro clasped the boy's shoulders and looked him eye to eye before responding, "I just want you to know that no matter what you may think or how you may feel about the matter, you did not deserve what your father did to you. It's an absolute abomination on so many levels and if you haven't heard anyone tell you this before then allow me to be the first-"
"Your father had no right to do something so cruel and vicious to his own son!"
"Let go of me…" The words came out extremely soft and the sight of a clearly damaged teen finally began to bleed through this facade of strength he'd been putting up.
The way Zuko almost fled back into himself reminded him of how Senjuro would retreat into himself mentally whenever his father grew angry and the alcohol became too great for his mind to handle. It broke Kyojuro's heart on so many levels and regardless of his mission from Agni, he would have reached out to this young man even if they weren't connected to each other.
"Sorry about that!" He released his hold over a greatly uncomfortable Zuko, but would not take his eyes off of him.
"I got extremely worked up and my emotions got the better of me for a moment! Even so! No matter how long it takes, I will get you to understand just how wrong things really are at the fire nation!"
Zuko held his tongue and turned away from Kyojuro feeling emotions he had once thought locked away and buried deep within himself after the Agni Kai and banishment resurfaced. It seemed like his inability to control his emotions was another thing his father was right about.
"Plus if I can't take care of my newest pupil then what kind of teacher am I!"
"A lousy one," Zuko mumbled.
"Hahaha! Exactly!" Kyojuro replied back happily.
Seeing Zuko most likely wouldn't open up to him as of now, Kyojuro decided to just sit beside the tied up young man and just enjoy the fresh air and sunny day that lied in front of them. Of course seeing a massive growing figure in the lake caused massive alarm as his danger sense shot into overdrive.
"What kind of creature could that possibly be?" Kyojuro panicked.
Kyojuro and Zuko watched in awe as a giant snake-like creature emerged from the water which absolutely dwarfed the elephant koi. Aang shot forward and used his airbending to run across the water as fast as he could hoping to not be eaten by the large creature.
"Aang slow down!" Sokka shouted before Aang crashed into him with a loud thud causing both men to crash into a tree.
"Ugh...that hurt," Aang mumbled while rubbing his head.
"Says the one who crashed into me!" Sokka replied while removing Aang from himself so they could both sit up and recover.
Before anyone could make another move, multiple strange dressed warriors emerged from the trees surrounding them and landed in front of everyone. They dashed forward and quickly made short work of Katara who didn't have any sort of time to prepare her bending. She was subdued, tied up and blindfolded before moving on to the rest.
They dashed forward and two assailants snatched Zuko who was already tied up with rope and carried him away from Kyojuro's location. The way they moved seemed so familiar to Kyojuro and yet so distant. He knew he'd seen this type of combat before, but for now he'd continue to observe until it finally came to him.
"Interesting!" he thought.
Three warriors surrounded Sokka and Aang, blitzed them faster than they could react too. Sokka attempted to use his breathing technique, but seeing as they were not giving him a sufficient amount of time to get warmed up, he was easily overpowered, subdued and tossed where the rest were.
Aang, thanks to him still being groggy from the collision running into Sokka was also easily subdued and thrown into the pile now leaving only Kyojuro remaining while quickly being surrounded by multiple warriors.
Two others made a move to grab him, but he swiftly dodged and parried their attempts to grab hold of him. "I'm afraid you'll have to do much better than that if you wish to capture me!"
Four more warriors joined the fray and dashed together in unison to capture him and almost like deja vu, Kyojuro dodged everything they tried with ease while smiling and giving words of encouragement which did nothing, but continue to agitate them.
"I'll admit, your speed and agility in combat are great, but your movements overall are lacking in fluidity! If this is the best you can do then you can forget about touching me let alone capturing me! I'm far too strong for you all to handle right now!" He smiled and began to walk forward to them with no ill intent in mind.
"Don't listen to the enemy belittle your hard work! Attack!" They all moved to his location hoping to end this little game of his and take them in for questioning, but Kyojuro just smiled and readied himself once again.
"Fine! It seems like I haven't made myself clear…" He blitzed forward faster than they could see and began slightly touching them to prove his point.
"1, 2, 3, 4," They tried to attack, but they could barely keep track of just how fast he was moving between them and even though he was touching them they weren't taking any damage.
"5, 6, 7, 8," More warriors made their move and although they coordinated their attack patterns in a way that should've left him no other option, Kyojuro swiftly maneuvered through them and continued tagging them.
"8, 9, 10!" He finally finished it off by tagging who from what he could tell was the leader of this group of warriors and stood over her, "Before you all continue to attack, take one moment to ponder what has just transpired. I managed to tag each and every last one of you faster than you could defend against and you are all unharmed!"
"If I was serious, you'd be unconscious on the ground unable to move, but I'm showing leniency due to my curiosity being piqued! Please stand down and allow me to talk to you because I think we've got some sort of huge misunderstanding going on!"
Kyojuro placed both hands forward in submission with his bright and prideful expression hoping that it'd finally gotten through to them that they were no match for him and he only wanted to talk. Of course people always did tend to take it the wrong way and viewed it as him looking down on others.
"Are you mocking us because we're women?" the leader responded in anger. "Don't take us lightly, we haven't even gotten started yet!"
"I believe you're mistaken! I only wished to-"
The leader shot forward with her combat fans in hand as the other warriors followed her lead. She took multiple swipes at Kyojuro as her followers had broken apart into sections while surrounding him and had done the same. Dodging them was no issue at all and from what he could tell, these warriors stood no chance of capturing him and even as he evaded their attacks, something about them was extremely familiar and the passion they put into their techniques resonated with him for some reason.
The one leading the charge punched at him with her fan and as Kyojuro moved to dodge she moved right along with him, angling her fan causing him to sway backwards in order to dodge it. Before he could finish the dodge however, another warrior behind him tried to slash at him in conjunction with him swaying backwards, causing him to leap into the air to avoid the attack.
"Keep at it, don't give him time to think!" the leader ordered.
Three more warriors met him as he leapt into the air and tried to capture him while he was still in motion. They managed to temporarily grab hold of him and tried to restrain him, but Kyojuro was far too resourceful and skillful to allow this to happen so he simply spun in mid air, sending all three flying in different directions but not far enough to do any serious damage.
Landing and gauging his current enemies, he barely had time to notice two more warriors coordinating behind him, although he pushed and parried them away from him, he failed to notice the leader of the bunch, dashing forward while throwing both of her fans towards him. Kyojuro caught both of them just before they made contact and as she came close to coming into his range, she changed direction and went left as another warrior entered his view giving him very little time to react.
"This is…" Memories came flooding back into his mind, filling him with an overwhelming sadness and an even greater sense of happiness at the same time. He never thought he'd see techniques of fellow Hashira being used here.
Kyojuro grabbed hold of the decoy warrior and tossed her away before turning his eyesight over to the leader who had picked up another set of fans and was already back in his range. She threw multiple slashes and while not coming close to him, Kyojuro grew extremely happy in seeing just how hard they were working to land a hit on him.
Two other warriors threw their fans at him and Kyojuro evaded them all and at the same time this happened, the leader ducked below him, grabbed hold of his leg and pulled him off balance causing him to hit the ground. It was all in one swift motion that it almost seemed...serpent like to an extent.
He could not explain this sensation he was feeling, but from his perspective, it felt like the leader was the head snake who was leading a bunch of other snakes to weaken him and provide openings for her to attack.
"I...I know this style of fighting all too well…" Kyojuro mumbled to himself while staring up at the sky.
"Surround him and be prepared for anything!" the leader ordered.
The warriors surrounded him as he lay there and tears slowly welled up in his eyes. He sat up and made eye contact with the woman who managed to knock him off his feet. Even if he wasn't going anywhere close to full out, the fact that she managed to coordinate something like this was truly commendable.
"What's your name, young warrior? The fact that you managed to knock me off of my feet is a feat well worth the praise and then some! I haven't been knocked down in over two years. Not even my pupils managed to pull this off!"
The female leader walked forward with her fans in hand and aimed them at his face.
"We are the Kiyoshi Warriors and we are placing you under arrest," the leader informed. "If you continue to resist, we won't hesitate to incapacitate you until you are no longer able to move."
"Huh...well would you look at that? It seems like fate managed to reunite us again…"
The tears he was holding back began to fall and he smiled a pure and kind smile towards her.
"It's been a while...Iguro." Even in a strange new world, these individuals managed to replicate the fundamental aspects of his Serpent Breathing and even if it wasn't perfect, it heavily reminded Kyojuro of his comrade he could never see again.
"Fate? Did you hit your head on the way down?" she asked.
"He may be delirious so he might try something. Be prepared to continue to attack if he keeps fighting," she ordered her warriors and they all nodded.
He wiped his eyes and looked toward the leader again with his expression never changing. She didn't know why, but something inside of her was almost screaming at her to stand down and talk with him. He didn't seem evil or have any sort of dastardly intentions, but she couldn't be too careful especially with how nasty the war had gotten. Protecting her home came first and foremost.
"So you call yourselves the Kiyoshi Warriors? Allow me to be the first to praise your fine teamwork and above all else, your skills in combat! Your fighting technique is quite effective especially when it comes to using an opponent's strength against them along with manuerving and coordinating multiple chaining attacks!"
"But!"
"I asked for your name, young warrior! The others are great, but without you leading them, the opportunity to flip me on my backside would've never arisen!"
The leader almost scoffed at his request, but upon seeing him smile again, figured that no harm could come from telling him who she was.
"My name is Suki and I am the leader of the Kiyoshi Warriors. You don't seem like a bad person and I can tell you're quite skilled yourself. I still have to take you in for questioning and a trial so please don't resist any longer."
Kyojuro lifted his head back before beginning to laugh. It wasn't one born from malice, but from genuine happiness instead.
"Hahaha! While I gave you all the praise you rightfully deserve and earned, did I say anything about being beaten here today?" He tried to stand up and was met with multiple sharp fans aimed at different parts of his body, halting him from moving any further.
"Give up. You're outmatched and outmanned so I suggest if you want to remain in one piece, you come peacefully with us," Suko warned.
"Come now, there's no way you think these fans can seriously harm me!" Kyojuro replied.
Surveying his surroundings, he came to the conclusion that in order to stop the warriors from attacking him any longer, he would need to collect some sort of...collateral as protection. Plus he was very very curious about this group of women that fought so much like Snake Pillars from back home.
"Attack the head and the body will follow closely behind it!"
"Huh? I think you have a few screws loose, sir," Suko said.
"Hahaha! You have a lot to learn, young Suki! Had you fully understood what that saying meant, you probably would have moved away from me by now!"
"What are you talking-" She was cut off by Kyojuro literally vanishing from their sight and her being swept off her feet bridal style now away from her comrades and into the arms of the enemy.
"We didn't even see him move," one warrior said in disbelief.
"Fast," another muttered.
In the blink of an eye, Kyojuro had managed to escape the entire group of warriors with fans aimed at him and nab their leader all before they could even process what happened.
Suki attempted to break free and thrashed about in his tight embrace before feeling a swift chop to the neck causing her to go limp in his arms, now unconscious.
"Do not fear, she is ok! I only knocked her out temporarily so we could talk! I don't like doing this, but you left me no choice in the matter."
Kyojuro walked over to the group of warriors still on guard with their fans at the ready and shockingly he placed Suki in front of them softly on the ground before moving over to his friends who were still tied up. They looked at each other confused as to why he just returned a captive to them after he went through all that trouble to take her from them in the first place.
"You may be confused, but you have my word as a Pillar that I truly mean you no harm! I only want to talk things out and figure showing you that in my own way might help us out a bit." He smiled at them before beginning to untie everyone including a now severely pissed off Sokka.
"Kyojuro, let me at whoever did this! I'll crush them-"
"No!" Kyojuro broke.
"No? What do you mean no?" Sokka was furious. He was beaten so easily by what he could hear, girls and his pride as a warrior and a man had been extremely crushed.
"There will be no revenge or retaliation here today! What this was, was nothing more than a simple misunderstanding that will surely become resolved once we work together to figure out what went wrong!"
"Kyojuro, are you nuts?" Sokka angered slightly. "We just got ambushed and you want to talk things out with the enemy? That's crazy talk!"
Taking a moment to think about something, Kyojuro grinned in amusement before replying to Sokka's response. He had just the solution to this growing problem that was Sokka's attitude.
"You see that woman over there?" Kyojuro pointed towards Suki who was being tended to by her fellow Kiyoshi Warriors.
"Yeah, I see her so what?" he looked half caring about the girl lying on the ground.
"I suggest you take a better look at her than that. After all, she was the first person since my arrival to actually knock me off my feet in a fight!"
Sokka's eyes grew wide upon hearing what just came out of his mouth, "She what!"
"How the heck did she pull that off!? I've been trying to do that for over two years and even with my total concentration breathing, I still haven't been able to do it. You mean to tell me that she managed to do it in her first attempt!?"
"Well, she did have some help from her warriors, but it was her combat prowess and genuine fight intuition that caused the blow that made me stumble flat on my back!"
Sokka turned back to Suki again, this time in disbelief at knowing a girl being able to accomplish something that he'd been chasing for so long and was good enough to even earn praise from him.
"So what do you propose we do now?" Katara interrupted. "I mean shouldn't we get out of here before she wakes up and starts attacking us again?"
"Actually, I don't think that's such a good idea," Aang added. "It would be wrong to just leave them like this after we were the ones who probably broke some sort of rule trespassing here."
"Excellent observation, Aang! I see great minds do think alike after all and I'd expect nothing less from the Avatar himself!" Kyojuro joined.
"The Avatar? The Avatar hasn't been seen in over one hundred years. You can't be him," another warrior rudely shot back.
Sensing introducing himself back to the world would be the best possible solution to their problems, Aang formed an airball and leapt atop of it before shooting forward in a playful manner. Nobody had seen an airbender in over one hundred years so the Kiyoshi warriors were once again left speechless at the boy's use of a supposedly extinct bending style.
"He's an airbender," a girl gasped.
"That can't be right, can it?" another replied.
"But you just saw him use airbending! Maybe they're telling the truth."
Aang hopped off of his air scooter and floated down in front of the warriors before bowing respectfully, "We don't wish you any harm and deeply apologize for causing you all so much problems."
He turned back to his friends before continuing, "I'll accept any punishment you deem fit, just please let my friends go."
"Aang, are you nuts? Let's just get out of here!" Sokka wanted nothing more than to leave this place that was causing him so much embarrassment.
"No, it's not right. We landed here unlawfully and who knows what other laws we broke that might've caused them to show up," Aang stated.
"Hahaha! What kind of master would I be if I let my pupil take the fall all by himself? If you arrest him, then arrest me as well!"
Katara and Sokka looked at each other and sighed knowing that Kyojuro was dead serious about getting arrested along with Aang.
She nudged him before beginning to walk forward to join them. Sokka grabbed her by the arm hoping to speak some sense into her, "Katara, don't tell me you're about to do what I think you're about to do."
"Well it's not like we can just leave them here," she shrugged and made her way over to where the others were.
Sokka facepalmed and sighed before walking toward the rest of his group where they now had a multitude of other problems to deal with.
The Avatar returning had sent the fire nation army and government into a sort of controlled chaos as they were sent into overdrive trying to pinpoint his location and eliminate him before he interfered with their plans.
Generals, captains, commanders and admirals all scrambled to come up with strategies to deal with the now looming threat towering over their empire. Of course none of them had the mind and cunning of a certain fourteen year old girl who was already one of the strongest benders in the fire nation along with being blessed with blue flames signifying her spiritual ties to Agni.
Kneeling before her father who had summoned her in order to discuss some things that he felt only she was suited to hear, Azula smirked knowing just how special she was viewed in her father's watchful eyes.
"I'm honored that you would summon me, father. Is there something you need me to do?"
Ozai sat on his throne, while remaining stoic as ever, but the air around him felt dark. Now, don't get her wrong, Azula always understood just how ruthless he could be, but something about the way he looked was extremely off putting and for the life of her she didn't understand what she was feeling.
"Calm down, you've met with him hundreds of times already, so why are you nervous?" she asked herself, unable to determine why her nerves were so on edge.
"Azula, you know I've always valued you over anyone else," he finally spoke.
"Unlike your idiotic and worthless brother who managed to get himself captured by the enemy, your intellect and bending is head and shoulders above the rest. I have a mission for you that I need your full attention towards, but if you feel like you aren't ready for such responsibilities then say so now before I speak it."
"No, father, I can handle whatever task you require from me," she said, still bowing her head.
"Good. I knew you wouldn't back down from a challenge. You always were special to me," he smirked.
"As you know the Avatar has returned and he puts a massive hamper in our future plans when Sozin's comet arrives before Summer's end. Before he showed up, our victory was all but assured as we would eradicate anyone who dared stand in our way using its power."
"Unfortunately now that he's here, he needs to be dealt with before we reach that point in time. I want you to find and eliminate him to ensure that nothing and no one can stand against us before the comet arrives."
Azula nodded her head, but didn't dare meet him eye to eye. For some reason, something within her was almost screaming to get away from him as fast as humanly possible, but she forced whatever the hell it was to the far corners of her mind.
"Your brother is also an issue that needs to be dealt with, but I've already put Zhao on it so you need not worry about that. I'm sure he's working tirelessly to bring him home," Ozai lied.
"That's...good news, father. I'm really happy he'll be home soon," Azula forced out. In reality she cared very little about her brother and being honest, she knew her father cared very little about him either.
"Moving on to more pressing matters, I'm sure you remember your uncle, Iroh?"
"Yes, father."
"From this day forward, you'll be travelling together in search of the Avatar and your brother."
Her eyes widened in shock at the ridiculous request, "What!?" She lifted her head to look at him not realizing the mistake she'd made. She froze as her eyes locked onto his and a strange sensation rushed through her causing her to break out in a cold sweat. Her breathing became short and everything that she'd been forcing to the back of her mind broke through once again.
Run.
Escape.
Leave.
Killed.
Death.
"This feeling…" She didn't know what was coming from her father, but whatever it was, she had the feeling that if she didn't lower her tone, bow her head and apologize this instant, she'd be killed where she stood.
"Sorry, father! Please forgive me for my momentary lapse in judgement," she said while placing her head all the way on the floor while kneeling.
The room they were in grew silent as Ozai simply watched what she was doing while Azula prayed that she hadn't just made a fatal mistake.
"It is fine, Azula. You can raise your head from the floor."
"Thank you for your forgiveness and understanding, father. I assure you that this mistake will not happen again-"
"However," The feeling of dread made itself known again and she stopped mid sentence, paralyzed by fear.
"If you ever interrupt me like that again, I cannot promise punishment will escape you next time…"
She was smart enough to read between the lines of what he hinted at. People who make Ozai mad tend to disappear. Her brother was no exception so that meant that if she messed up like he did she would be next and there was no way she'd ever end up sharing the same fate with that failure.
"I...I understand and promise on my honor that it won't happen again," Azula begged.
"Good."
"Now that you understand your mission, I want you to lead a ship and rendezvous with your uncle who's still stuck in fire nation waters. I forbade him to leave after that debacle that caused my son to become captured and he's already awaiting your arrival. Once you meet up, I want you to take charge of his ship and make sure my foolish brother can't screw anything else up like he did all those years ago at Ba Sing Se."
The fact that her father even mentioned that colossal failure to her was shocking as it was such a touchy subject to the family. A son lost to war and a sin hundred day siege all for nothing as the walls held true leaving her nation with an embarrassing loss.
"Yes, father. I will not let you down."
"Good. You are dismissed," He ordered.
She bowed her head once more before getting up and leaving out for her new mission personally assigned to her. Once outside his chambers, she made her way back to her room and began packing for her trip.
"It's bad enough, I have to formulate a plan to deal with the Avatar, but now I have to endure the delusional ramblings of a deranged old man…" She looked in the mirror, checking her face for any blemishes and decided to shower seeing as her entire body was covered in sweat thanks to whatever the hell she was feeling coming from her father.
"Just take things one step at a time, Azula. You always come out on top and this shall be no different."
She believed in her skills and knew no regular bender could match her in a fight, so why was she getting the feeling that something deeper was going on in the background that her father failed to mention to her. Whatever that may be, she didn't have time to figure it out right now and decided to cross that bridge later once her goals had become accomplished.
"Again!" Kyojuro ordered. "You all are almost there! Just push forward a little more!"
"What's with this guy?" a Kiyoshi warrior groaned. "We've been running for over an hour!"
Kyojuro had been making the warriors run over fifty laps as part of the training he offered them.
The earlier incident between the two groups ended up becoming resolved once Aang and company were transported over to their village where he revealed he was the Avatar. People praised his return and welcomed him with open arms instead of being food for that giant water creature that had been named, Unagi.
The people allowed them to eat and relax as much as they wanted until their stomachs were full and bodies satisfied. Katara and Aang had gotten tangled up in some jealousy based spat that Kyojuro decided to let the two work out. Kyojuro deciding to loosen the leash on Zuko, gave him restricted movement around the village, but he had to stay in proximity of Katara and Aang. If he tried to escape, Kyojuro told him he would blitz over and capture him once again as until he completed his training with him, he was still technically a prisoner.
Kyojuro and Sokka decided they were going to see what the Kiyoshi Warriors were really about and chaos ensued shortly after.
Grateful for the gesture of forgiveness, Kyojuro had already taken a liking to the warriors that he had battled with and decided to attend one of their training classes to observe just how these warriors train day to day. Suffice to say, he was severely dissatisfied in their lack of structure and stamina training in his eyes. When he opened his mouth to voice his frustration in what he was watching, they took offense to his questioning of their methods and ordered him to leave.
Kyojuro outright refused and instead offered another solution.
Seven Days earlier
"I do not wish to insult you group of warriors, but I can't in good faith allow this to go on any longer! While your methods are good, I feel like they can be fine tuned just a bit more and I have some great ideas on how to advance your training to the next stage!"
Normally the warriors wouldn't hesitate to kick out anyone who insults their training methods, but Kyojuro was an odd one who single handedly beat them without really trying on his part. He gave them continuous amounts of praise and as much as they refused to admit it, they all knew that he was above and beyond the strongest person they had ever encountered.
Suki walked forward with her hands on her hips in a judgemental manner, "Oh yeah? Well don't just stand there big guy. Explain what we're doing wrong."
"Thanks for allowing me to speak to you all!" he grinned.
"Well for starters, the most glaring issue I see you all possessing is your several limited stamina reserves! We had only been fighting for around three to five minutes and most of you were already out of breath."
"Unacceptable! Warriors such as yourselves should be able to fight hours on end without losing focus on whatever you need to do! Getting tired as quickly as you do only stands to hurt you all in the very near future. Let's say you run into a master firebender who has decades of experience under his belt, if you run out of stamina before them then you'll most likely be captured or killed."
"Having a large stamina reserve would give you the chance to retreat and regroup to fight another another day especially if you feel like you're outmatched!
"That...actually makes sense," Suki admitted. "That always was a glaring issue that eventually needed to be addressed. I planned on touching on it some day, but it seems like Kyojuro managed to pick up on it immediately from a single fight."
Suki smirked at him realizing that he may be more useful than she originally thought.
"Another thing I found when engaging in combat with you is that the fighting style you're using, while good, is extremely incomplete! I think I get the gist of it however. Using your opponent's force against them while delivering your own attack as a trade off. A fighting style that requires great flexibility and stamina to continuously maintain, but the uniqueness of it allows you to slither through even the mightiest attack to deliver devastating strikes!"
"However from my viewing, the only warrior here who managed to actually use it somewhat correctly against me was Suki here! She moved her body as if she was a serpent herself and flipped me to the ground. Excellent! With just a few more conditions that need to be met, I'm sure I can hone this style of yours into something greater!"
"So...my fighting style is incomplete?" Suki placed her hand on her chin as she thought about what he meant by incomplete. "Avatar Kiyoshi taught this style to us hundreds of years ago and it's been passed down ever since. How can it be incomplete?"
"Do you remember how I seem to be superhuman by your standards? How my speed, power, stamina and anything else greatly exceed your own?" Kyojuro asked.
They all nodded in unison. Kyojuro to them looked like something out of a fairy tale and fought like he was out of a fable.
"The technique I use to fight like that is something called Total Concentration Breathing and because I alter my breathing in certain patterns, it allows me to do some absolutely incredible things like you saw earlier! Sokka and Katara can attest to this fact if you don't believe me. I've been with them for over two years now and both of my pupils have seen it in even greater action than that!"
Sokka, who was standing in the corner, still clearly peeved at being bested by a woman decided it was time to interrupt their little conversation.
"Yeah that's right! You beat me because you ambushed me and I couldn't get warmed up. I've been personally taught by Kyo and none of you here would stand a chance against me now that I'm prepared," he boasted.
"Oh yeah? Well how about we put that to the test?" Suki threatened. She invited Sokka over to spar with her before Kyojuro shot his hand forward signaling for them to stop.
"Suki, I understand you are skilled and far more tactical than my pupil here, but with his ability to use Total Concentration Breathing you will have a very small chance to actually beat him."
Sokka grinned at the warriors smugly and this didn't go unnoticed by Kyojuro. This sexist attitude eventually needed to be nipped in the bud and now would be a good time to test something out.
"Suki, may I have a word with you in the corner?"
"Sure, big guy."
They both walked away from where people could hear them and Kyojuro kneeled down to her level in order to give the girl some much needed advice.
"Listen, in just a few moments, I'm about to have you spar with my pupil as I want you to knock some sense into him! He's a gifted fighter, but his attitude towards women is not a good quality for a man to possess and quite frankly I've had enough of hearing his derogatory remarks towards them!"
"The problem lies in his ability to fight being lower than mine, but higher than most. Me, beating some sense into him would accomplish nothing since he'd just view it as another man beating a man, but if a girl such as yourself gave him a humiliating defeat then he wouldn't be able to continue thinking like this if a girl was now stronger than him!"
"Well if you say he's far stronger than me with this breathing stuff you keep talking about then what chance do I have of beating him?
"Hahaha! While Sokka is strong, he also has his own glaring weakness that you will be taking advantage of. Your fighting style also hard counters his and if you follow my instructions completely, I can guarantee your absolute victory over him!"
Turning her head and watching Sokka stick his tongue out and taunt the girls as they stood by irked that he was being so petty, she grew angry and agreed to his plan.
"You've got a deal," Suki agreed. "Now just what do I need to do."
Kyojuro began informing her of the plan he had concocted to deal with Sokka and little did he know, he was in for a rude awakening.
Both fighters stood across from each other and stared the other down with very different intentions in mind. Kyojuro stood to the side along with the other warriors to observe the clash between the two, smiling already knowing what the outcome would be.
Sokka took his stance as Suki took hers and the smirk he had on his face made her want to rip his head off. He was being even more obnoxious than normal.
"Sure you don't wanna back out?" he teased. "This may hurt and I'd hate for such a frail girl such as yourself to start crying after I beat you."
"The nerve of this jerk!" she thought to herself before calming down. She smirked back at him before responding.
"Oh no, I was just thinking the same thing about you," she teased right back. His smirk fell from his face in embarrassment as the other warriors started laughing at her joke.
"I'll wipe that smirk off your face," Sokka warned.
"I'd like to see you try," Suki replied, still smirking at him.
Kyojuro placed his hand in the air to signal both fighters to take their stances. Suki took hers and Sokka was already in his stance to begin running. He dropped his hand downwards, before shouting,
"Begin!"
Sokka immediately began running around the room building himself up in order to use his pseudo Total Concentration Breathing while Suki decided she'd stand still and observe.
He continued to work up a sweat and he slowly felt the effects of his technique build up within him. "Let's see how you deal with me once I'm fully worked up," he thought. He wouldn't be humiliated for a second time.
Before the match, Kyojuro informed her of how Sokka needed to fully get warmed up before being able to move like him which was not only a massive weakness that could be exploited, it also made him very cocky if he actually managed to reach his peak.
"Wait for your opportunity and strike!" The words Kyojuro spoke to her from earlier was the only thing that was running through her head as she would finish him in one swift motion. It was a gamble because if she messed up, the only one who'd be on the floor would be her instead.
"The timing has to be perfect and your nerves must be one of complete and solid steel! Focus, Focus, Focus!"
Sensing his stamina and breathing sufficiently built up, he stopped running and glared Suki down. "Are you sure, you don't wanna surrender? Things are about to get really really ugly and Kyojuro won't be able to save you if I hit you a little harder than normal."
She simply motioned her hands as if to say bring it on and Sokka shook his head in annoyance. "Fine, have it your way."
He shot forward faster than ever, hoping to land a blow on Suki's face while she stood completely still awaiting for her opportunity to strike.
The closer Sokka got, time seemed to slow down as his words rang through her head. She tightened her guard and brought her fists in close, feeling the time to strike approaching.
"Think of yourself as a slithering snake and find an opening to strike! When he comes forward he'll most likely throw a right punch and I want you to watch and time a counterattack to meet his. If you are too slow he'll have enough time to pull back meaning you'll have missed your chance, but on the flip side, if you come in too fast, then you may take double the damage if his punch hits you first. Truly a deliberating all or nothing gamble!"
Sokka got into her range and threw a punch aiming straight for his face. "There's no way she can dodge this. I win!"
Kyojuro observed with great intent wanting to see something with his own two eyes. "Does this girl have the potential to learn your breathing technique?" He thought of Iguro and how beautifully he'd slink through demon attacks before finishing them off in one go and his heart and blood began to beat and boil with passion and excitement.
"Does she have the potential needed to be as swift and cunning as a snake in motion? That's something I have to see for myself!"
Suki tightened her guard even more as Sokka's attack was mere inches from meeting her.
"Be like a snake...Focus, Focus, Focus….Pierce that point!" She moved to the inside of his punch and the moment his punch missed she threw a left cross while he was still in the motion of completing his attack. The punch landed on Sokka's face with a sickening crunch. His head cocked back as his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he dropped to the floor with a thud.
Suki pulled her fist back and turned over to Kyojuro before giving him a sassy thumbs up. "So, how was that? Did I do it right?" she bragged to him.
If Kyojuro wasn't sane, he would've sworn in the moment she'd struck him, Iguro himself had taken her place for just a split moment.
"Incredible…"
"Suki, that was… absolutely Incredible! Not only did you manage to perfectly execute a strategy worthy of a Pillar like myself, you managed to finish my star pupil in a single blow!"
He ran over and brought the girl into a hug that lifted her off the ground. "Your potential for growth is extraordinary and under my teachings I'm sure you can master this technique."
"So, what? Are you planning on teaching me this technique you think I'm so suited to learn?" Suki asked.
"Correct!" Kyojuro boomed. He released her before picking up Sokka and throwing him over his shoulder.
"Starting tomorrow, training starts at 8:00 am sharp! Do not be late as the training will be quite grueling so it'd be best to be on time in order to get your bodies acclimated to the harsh task at hand!"
"Wait, who said anything about you training us? Suki started. "We didn't even agree-"
"Suki, as you'll be learning Total Concentration Breathing, you'll need to be here before the sun rises every day until our departure! As my next pupil, I'll teach you everything I know including how to increase your fighting potential ten fold!"
"See you all tomorrow! Goodbye!" He turned and left the room leaving Suki and her warriors stunned in silence and confusion at how boisterous and somewhat tone fear Kyojuro really was. Then again who were they to turn down training from a man as skilled as him and Suki very much wanted to learn what that sensation she felt earlier before she knocked out Sokka.
After the final batch of Kiyoshi warriors all but collapsed across the finish line, Kyojuro felt pride swell up within himself and smiled at them. "Excellent work! That was much better than yesterday and even though your bodies are surely sore, your minds are becoming stronger and stronger!"
"Running fifty laps within an hour is no easy task and the fact that you all are already able to do that speaks volumes of the conditioning you now possess. Of course you'll all need to work even harder if you plan on reaching my level of three hundred laps within the hour time limit!"
Multiple girls felt their faces turn green in nauseousness as imagining running any more laps made their stomachs turn.
Groans broke out in a ripple telling him they had enough for one day and wanted to relax.
"Hahaha! Ok, I get it!" He apologized and let them out for the day.
After the warriors had dispersed, Kyojuro made his way over to where he had Suki training and saw she was working extremely hard to get the hang of Total Concentration Breathing and still far away from Sokka's level, she took hold of his teaching quite faster than him.
"Suki! How are you feeling?" Kyojuro asked.
"Just fine until you interrupted my concentration, Kyojuro."
"Sorry about that! I only wanted to inform you that I released your warriors for the day!"
"That's fine, but I was on the cusp of that feeling again before you interrupted me," she said.
"Oh, so you finally understand what you must feel in order to use it?"
"It's not that..or maybe it is, I'm honestly not sure," she admitted. "When I punched Sokka, it was like my body was different. When I struck him, it was like I could visualize myself as a snake and that allowed me to maneuver through his attack to finish him. The feeling was weird, yet powerful and for the life of me, I haven't been able to replicate that."
"What am I doing wrong?" she slumped to the ground clearly annoyed at her failures.
Kyojuro walked over and placed a warm hand on her shoulder, "Serpent Breathing is one of immense patience and mastery over it will not happen overnight. The fact that you managed to temporarily use it without using Total Concentration Breathing is astounding and commendable!"
"The adrenaline you felt at the time more than likely helped you accomplish this feat, but from now on, you'll need to master the basics of it before you're able to use it again."
"Do not worry! As long as you are willing to learn, I will put forth my very best effort into training you!"
"Well…" she looked up at Kyojuro and grinned, "At least I have such a capable master willing to teach me," she teased.
Kyojuro helped her off the ground and the two continued their training for the remainder of the day. Making their way back to the village after a long and exhausting day, they were met with Aang crashing into Kyojuro, distressed about something.
"Kyojuroyouprobablyaren'treadytoleaveyetandIknowwehaven'tbeenherethatlong-"
"Aang-" Kyojuro tried, but the boy just refused to stop and kept going.
"ButweneedtoleavebecauseBumiisintheearthkingdomandIhaven'tseenhiminoveronehundredyears-"
"Aang, maybe you should-" Suki was also ignored as he continued to ramble.
"IneedanearthbendingteachertoosoweneedtoleaveassoonaspossiblesowecangetohimandIcanseemyfriendagain-"
Aang! Calm down and get off of him!" Katara yelled.
Stopping to actually look at what he was doing, he blushed and got off of Kyojuro, having been tackled to the ground by the young monk. "We need to leave as soon as possible," Aang said.
"Why do we need to leave so soon?" Kyojuro asked. "I still have so much to teach my pupils and Suki is on the cusp of something great! We cannot leave yet!"
"But, Kyojuro Aang needs to learn earthbending and master the other elements so he can end the hundred year war. We've spent enough time here already and we have to go. Plus weren't we headed to the North Pole anyway?"
"But!-"
"Kyojuro it's ok. We know you guys have a long journey ahead of you and know we can't keep you here forever," Suki tried.
Sokka was already atop of Appa still sulking about his loss and an added bonus of his broken nose that was taking forever to heal. Using Total Concentration Breathing was speeding up the process, but it didn't take the sting out of his embarrassment at all. He was just ready to leave.
"Cmon, Kyojuro we have a tight schedule to keep," He turned his head to see Zuko snicker under his breath at how weird a broken nose made his voice sound.
"What's so funny?"
"Nothing," Zuko lied. He glared back at Sokka before the two settled into Appa's saddle waiting for everyone else.
"I know this seems sudden, but we figured it'd be better springing it on you like this since otherwise you'd have somehow managed to convince us to stay even longer. You're really annoying when you do that," Katara told him.
Aang jumped and floated to the front of Appa's head where he readied themselves to leave and start towards Omashu. Katara climbed on afterwards and the only one who remained was Kyojuro himself.
He walked over to where Suki and her warriors were standing and she didn't miss a slight glimpse of sadness cross his face.
"It seems as if our time is being cut short…"
"However! I want you all to know that even though we haven't known each other for long, I'm proud and impressed at the courage you display and the heart you all possess to never give up! As warriors, even those as young as yourselves, you risk your lives to keep the peace and protect this place with a burning fire in your heart and you should never forget that!"
"As long as you continue to train and take my teachings to heart, each and every last one of you will become stronger versions of yourself! Even if it's a slow, painful and monotonous process, keep going and push forward because at the end of the tunnel, the thing waiting for you at the very end of it, will be the thing you wanted to get stronger for!"
"Whether that's a person, place or anything in between, if you want to protect it, then the work must be done in order to make it become possible!"
He kneeled down on one knee and smiled at them, "I believe in all of you!"
Suki rushed forward and dove into Kyojuro, embracing him in a hug, "Take care of yourself too, big guy."
"Hahaha! Of course and make sure you all continue your training each and every day!" he replied back.
Releasing him, Suki and the others watched as Kyojuro leapt onto Appa and waved to them as they began to take off. Of course she did have one more thing to do before they left.
"See you later, Sokka! I hope we can spar again sometime!" she teased knowing it'd get a rise from him.
Sokka felt his blood boil in anger and his nerves begin to race around, but remembering something he calmed down. A slight smile formed on his face when he thought about finally having a rival of sorts to duke it out with. Kyojuro was far above him and Zuko, Katara along with Aang showed no signs of being able to use breathing techniques, but Suki was different. She was special just like him and he'd be sure to win next time around.
"Yeah...take care of yourself, Suki! The next time we meet, I'll be sure to beat you!" he yelled while flying away. "That's a promise!"
"I'll hold you to that!" she shot back.
She smiled back at him as they soon reached the starry night sky, now headed to the great city of Omashu.
It's not everyday you see a giant animal flying in the sky, but then again Azula never was one to judge things as weird as that. She was friends with Ty Lee after all and she was far weirder.
"Princess Azula, did you see that?" a soldier informed.
"Of course I did you dolt! A flying sky bison is pretty hard to miss at the sunset," she jabbed.
"Change course for that island that it came from and someone go wake up my bumbling uncle from whatever tea induced stupor he's found himself in. We've just made a breakthrough in the search for the Avatar and my brother."
Azula watched as the sunset dipped and the moon made itself known once again. "I don't know what you were doing here, but I'll be sure to find out…" She walked to the edge of the ship and eyes the town with a devilish smile.
"I will make father proud and show him I'm worthy of becoming his successor."
"I have too…"
First off I want to apologize for the super late chapter. Band Practice became far more hectic than normal thanks to these dumbasses wanting to show up and perform in a 60,000 seat stadium for battle of the bands on Sunday. I've gotta fly all the way from Florida to Texas and try not to get sick so that'll be fun lmao.
Also for those curious, yes, Suki temporarily used a variation of Serpent Breathing to knock Sokka unconscious, but it's still very underdeveloped. The martial arts, used by the Kiyoshi warriors involved using one's own power against them and delivering devastating counterstrikes. Suki used this a few times during the show, but never was expanded on and the fact that she only recently got her own solo comic is criminal. I had to give my girl some love as Obanai and his style, I felt would go really well with those super sharp with those fans of theirs. I can't wait for Suki to get a better grasp on Serpent Breathing. They'll need all the help they can get when we reach Shibuya- I mean the Northern Water Tribe arc lol.
Next stop we head to the Great City of Omashu and hopefully I see you again next week!