Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Avatar or Its Characters
"Care to explain why you're wearing that creepy mask again?" Sokka was giving Zuko a judgemental look. "Because the village that's near us, is called Gaipan. It is a Fire Nation military outpost. By siding with the Avatar, I'm basically betraying my nation. I don't need them hunting for me as well." The exiled prince blandly repeated his explanation once more to his acquaintance. Zuko had to admit that Sokka's lack of trust on him was starting to annoy him.
"Walking stinks! How did people go anywhere without a flying bison or a dragon?" Aang whined from the back as he walked alongside with Katara. "Oh, I don't know, Aang. Why don't you ask Sokka's instincts? They seem to know everything." Katara teased. Sokka was about to retort when he abruptly ran into Zuko's back. He groaned his pain as his nose hit the young prince's back. "Gah! What the hel–" Zuko shushed the water tribe boy before he could complain. "We're not alone..." The prince whispered at a volume that only four of them could hear it. The trio became vigilant as he scanned the trees that surrounded them. With his silent signal, Druk nodded and ran into the forest without questioning. "...Stay on guard and head for a different route. I'll scout around and regroup with you guys later. Be careful."
Zuko said his piece and left the group as he skilfully climbed a tree and disappeared from their sights. "Come on, guys. Let's get going." Sokka ushered as he continued the path ahead of him. "But Zuko told us to take a different path." Katara pointed out. "Well, he's not here now is he?" His ignorance earned him a frown from his little sister. Sokka was being unreasonable as he decided to disregard the firebender's warning and continued their path. He broke the awkward silence by trying to justify his action, "Look, for all we know, he might be wrong. I didn't hear or see anyone..." As soon as he brushes pass the bushes, the group ran into a Fire Nation camp.
Like a gazelle caught in the firelight, the trio froze on their spot as the Fire Nation soldiers stared at them for some time before arming themselves with swords and spears. "Run!" They were about to turn tail and run when the captain ignited the bushes behind them by shooting a burst of fire from his palm, thus blocking their pathway and prevented them from escaping. "I told you we should've taken another path, stupid Sokka's instincts." Katara growled as she uncorked her waterskin and readied herself for a fight.
But suddenly like a marionette that was detached from its strings, the captain slumped and kissed the ground after he let out a soft groan. "What did you do, Sokka?" Aang asked. "Uhh...nothing?" Even the young water tribe warrior was bemused by that. "Look!" Aang, Sokka, and the Fire Nation soldiers turned their attentions towards the direction the water tribe girl was pointing at.
On the tree branch, stood a young boy who's around Zuko's age. He had a strand of straw in his mouth and he wielded a pair of hook swords on his hands. Using his swords, the young man grappled onto the branch as he dropped from it. With the momentum of his swing, he tossed himself forward and set his feet on two of the soldiers as he landed on them. While the remaining soldiers were still surprised by his appearance, He dashed forward attached the curved tips onto two additional soldiers' ankles as he pulled his hands in an upward motion. Without breaking his flow, he did a front flip, he tossed the soldiers crashing into their fallen captain. "Down you go." He said it with a smirk as he landed with style.
The soldiers became disarrayed when more children descended from the trees and ambushed them. Some soldiers had their weapons shot out of their hands by a young archer that was sniping them from above. A titanic boy who battled against the soldiers with a simple wooden log. The one-sided brawl ended when the Fire Nation beat a hasty retreat.
The young boy with the hook swords called himself Jet and introduced the Avatar team to his Freedom Fighters. After the group finished looting the Fire Nation's camp, Jet invited the trio to their hideout which was located at treetops. After having some exchange, Katara felt connection between her and Jet as they both lost their loved ones to the Fire Nation.
Much to Sokka's dismay, his baby sister has developed an infatuation on the Freedom Fighters' leader. He could feel the irritation within him was growing when he remembered how Jet stole his thunder in the previous fight against the Fire Nation soldiers. During night-time, they threw a feast as the leader delivered a charismatic speech on how they bested the Fire Nation.
"The Avatar, huh? I might know a way that you and Katara can help us with our struggle." Jet suggested. "Unfortunately, we're leaving tonight. We still need to find our friend, Z...Lee." Sokka recalled the last second on how Zuko requested them to address him as Lee when they were with strangers.
"Sokka, you're kidding me. I need you on an important mission tomorrow. I'm sure your friend, Lee is fine." Jet
"No, Sokka's right. We still need to find...Lee." Katara stood up and began walking away as she became worried about Zuko's whereabouts. But Jet stopped her when he held her wrist, "Wait, Katara."
"Look, it's late already. Why don't you guys just stay here for tonight. It's safer this way. You guys can leave tomorrow. But if you ever change your mind, you can come and find me. We could really use your help." He ended it by eventually letting her go.
"You guys ready?" Sokka checked on Katara and Aang as he was done with packing up his things. "So...this is it, huh. You guys are leaving..." When they left the tree house, they were greeted by Jet who leaned against the tree trunk. He grunted in pain as he rested his hand on his side. "Jet, what happened?" Realising that he was injured, Katara dropped her backpack and approached him with concern.
"We were attacked while we're on a mission...by someone or something...a horned demon. He came out of nowhere and took out Pipsqueak, Smellerbee, and I like it was nothing..." Jet explained. While Aang and Sokka were looking at each other with their eyebrows raised, Katara frowned upon hearing that. She has seen the horned demon before as it...he saved her life once. 'Zuko? But why would he attack the Freedom Fighters?'
"Why did he attack you?" Katara questioned him. "I don't know. Maybe he's sent by the Fire Nation to eliminate me." Katara shook her head in denial when she caught what he said. She believed that if Zuko really wanted Jet dead, he wouldn't even be standing in front of them. Jet however mistook her action thinking that she's just worried about him. "I'll be fine." He assured her.
"But please, I could really use your help now." He pleaded. "The Fire Nation is planning to burn down our forest. If the two of you could use your waterbendings to fill the reservoir, we'll have the chance to fight the fire. But if you leave now...the whole valley will be destroyed." Jet elucidated further.
All three of them looked at each other with difficult looks on their face. Eventually, Aang and Katara agreed to help. Sokka was the only one that remained sceptical about Jet's information. "Thank you..." Jet gave them a bob of his head.
Jet told Katara and Aang he'll bring them to the river side on the next day. He then returned back to his hut to recover. At night, Sokka was woken up from his sleep when he heard Jet's voice coming from outside. He gently lifted the door cloth to see Jet and few of the Freedom Fighters grabbing onto the rope lines and descended to the ground. Finding their actions quite suspicious, the young water tribe warrior decided to follow them. He noticed the group were pushing a cart that's filled with barrels of blasting jelly.
"Listen, do not blow the dam until I give the signal. If the reservoir isn't full, the Fire Natiom soldiers could survive."
"But what about the people in the town? Won't they get wiped out too?" A young kid called the Duke asked innocently. But Jet reassured the boy by resting his hand on the kid's shoulder and said, "Look, Duke. That's the price for getting rid of the Fire Nation in this area." Hearing enough of it, the young water tribe boy tried to sneak away to warn Aang and Katara. Unfortunately, he was caught by Pipsqueak. Sokka was pushed out of the bush and was brought to his knees when Pipsqueak and Smellerbee presented him to their leader.
"…I've heard your plan to destroy the Earth Kingdom's town." Sokka scowled at him.
"Our plan is to rid the valley of the Fire Nation." Jet corrected.
"There are innocent people living there, Jet. Mothers, fathers and children."
"We can't win without making some sacrifices, Sokka."
"You lied to us about the forest fire!" Sokka accused the leader furiously.
"Because they don't understand the demand of war. Not like you and I do." Jet offered him the charismatic smile. Trying to convince Sokka and have him understood his perspective.
"Are you listening to what you're saying? You're nuts! I don't and will never agree on killing innocent people!"
Jet sighed when he heard that. "I was hoping you'd have an open mind. But I see you've made your choice. Pipsqueak, Smellerbee. Take him for a walk. A long walk." Obeying their leader's order, the two Freedom Fighters tied Sokka's hands behind his back and escorted him away.
In the morning, Jet brought the two young benders to a very shallow river, which was connected to the reservoir. The Freedom Fighters' leader lied to the two of them when he told Katara and Aang went for a scouting mission with Smellerbee and Pipsqueak. Once they've reached their destination, Jet instructed the two of them that he needed the benders to bend the water that was trapped beneath the geysers around them. Though Katara initially doubted her capability do bend water she couldn't see, but with Jet's word of encouragements, she and Aang did it without any trouble. Upon successfully releasing the water from the vents, the water started flowing and filling up the river that led into the reservoir.
While Katara and Aang were doing their job, Sokka was still being escorted by Smellerbee and Pipsqueak. They stopped dead on their tracks when the three of them heard the threatening growl of a beast. "W-w-w-what the hell is that?!" Pipsqueak tremulously pointed at crimson monster that emerged from the forest. It was the snarling Druk. "Just leave him and run!" Wanting to use Sokka as the bait, Smellerbee pushed the boy forward and ran away with Pipsqueak following closely behind her.
However, the big boy didn't get far when his vision went dark as someone planted a knee into the back of his head. "Y-You-" Smellerbee recognised their masked attacker. She tried pulling out her knife to fend the attacker off, but the masked figure's quickness took her by surprise when he restrained her hand with his rigid gripe and smashed his forehead against hers. As he watched how they easily bested, Sokka immediately unbound himself from their loose tie. "Thanks, uhh...friend." Sokka timidly patted the crimson dragon on the nose as the latter one let out a proud huff. His eyes widened once he saw Zuko walking past and got onto Druk.
"Zuko! Where have you been?!"
"Observing. From a distance."
"Wait, you were watching us this whole time? Why didn't you just join us?"
"Because like you, I don't trust strangers easily." Sokka smirked when he heard that comment. "...Jet said something about them being attacked by a demon. Was that you?" The young warrior raised his eyebrow when he saw the firebender nodded. "Why?" He pressed on.
"They were about to mug and assault an old man. So I decided to stop them." He defended his action composedly.
"Pfft. So much for being Freedom Fighters. Nothing but a bunch of thugs."
"We don't have much time. I'm taking Druk and we're heading straight for the reservoir to stop them."
"I'll get Appa and find Katara and Aang."
The two teenage boys parted swiftly with an agreeable nod.
Though Jet initially told the two of them to meet up at the hideout once they're done, Katara thought it would nice for them to a surprise visit at the reservoir since they finished their task sooner than expected. Once they reached the edge of a cliff that overlooked the dam, Katara and Aang spotted several Freedom Fighters were setting up barrels in front of the dam.
"What are they doing?" Katara became bewildered by what has transpired before them. Aang let out a short exclamation of horror when he realised that those were the blasting jelly barrels that the Freedom Fighters stole from the Fire Nation camp. "Why would they need blasting jelly?" Katara became more confused than ever. "Because Jet is going to blow up the dam." Aang muttered in terror.
"What? No, that would destroy the town. Jet wouldn't do that! Jet wouldn't do that..." The young waterbender was in complete denial of the truth in front of her while Aang flicked out his glider to try and stopped the catastrophe from happening.
His attempt however was foiled when Jet darted past him and stole his staff. "Sorry, Aang. But I'm keeping this for now." He said it as he placed the glider behind his back.
"Why Jet? Why would you do this?"
"Katara, you would too if you stop and think for a second. Think about what they did to your mother. We can't let them do that to anyone else ever again."
"This isn't the right way."
"This is the only way! Don't you see, Katara? A world without the Fire Nation, is a world of peace!" Jet yelled. "I want you to understand me, Katara. I thought your brother would understand..." His tone softened immediately when he implored.
"What did you do to Sokka?" He didn't answer. Jet merely approached Katara and touched her cheek as tears fell from her eyes. Betrayal. Frustration. Disappointment. Anger. Hatred. These were the emotions she felt, rushing through her heart when she shut her eyes with a frown. "Aargh!" In her rage, she uncorked her waterskin and blasted Jet away with her water.
Aang tried to reach for his staff but Jet intervened once again when he got up and grabbed it with his hook swords. "I won't let you, Aang. Today is the day we free this valley from those Fire Nation troops."
"I won't let you! Give me back my staff! Now!" Aang demanded. "You want it? Come and get it." Jet prepared himself for the fight as he got into his stance. Aang wasted no time and unleashed a blast of that pushed the leader of the Freedom Fighters back. But Jet managed to regain his footings after a few rolls and he escaped into the forest. "Jet! Get back here!" The Avatar pursued him.
Meanwhile, Zuko and Druk finally arrived at the reservoir where barrels of blasting jelly were stacked up nicely before it. "Druk, could you help me roll these away from the dam?" Just as they were about to move the barrels, an arrow whizzed through the air and headed straight for Zuko's head. The young man shifted his position as he sharply drew out his broadsword and deflect the arrow in a flash. "Of course, it wouldn't be that easy..." Zuko grumbled in annoyance as he turned towards the direction where the arrow came from. Crouching on top of a tree branch was a young man wearing a conical hat, armed with bow and arrows.
"Hey Druk, do you want to take the barrels or play with him?" Zuko gave his friend the option as he used his broadsword to point at the barrels, then at the boy on the tree. Without wasting a millisecond, Druk sped towards the bow kid. "I guess the barrels' mine." Zuko smirked and shook his head as he watched the boy running away after seeing his arrows broke like twigs when they hit Druk's crimson armour. "So how am I going to deal with these?" The young banished prince wondered and looked around as he laid his eyes on an abandoned cart. "Barrels, cart, Druk..." Then, an idea came to him when he glanced to the sky. He started his work by loading the barrels into the cart.
The young boy then spotted Jet climbing one of the trees. With him being an airbender, Aang caught up to Jet with ease and reached on top of the branch after he made a few high leaps. But this time, Jet made the first move. He took a step forward and swung his swords at Aang with the intent to hurt him. "Jet! Stop this! This is wrong!" He begged as he kept avoiding the strikes. Moving his hands together in a circular motion, Aang created a compressed and shaped the air around him into a ball. When Jet advanced and tried to slash him from both sides, the young airbender pushed his hands forward and launched the air ball onto the young man's chest. The air ball burst and knocked Jet back, slamming him to the tree trunk. A groan escaped from his mouth when he felt the pains ran through his chest and back. The impact did successfully knock Aang's staff off Jet's back. Once he saw that, the airbender quickly dove to retrieve it. Jet followed along and plunged at full tilt towards Aang. As he finally reached the Avatar's level, Jet grappled onto one of the branches with his hook swords and delivered a swinging kick into the kid's stomach. That altered Aang's diving course as he crashed onto the ground just few meters away from his staff.
Though the minute Jet reached for the staff, the water from the small stream next to him rose and blasted him back. He stumbled a few steps backwards. But before he could register what just occurred, Jet was continuously bombarded by a barrage of water blasts. The blasts forced him to totter and set his back against a tree. He raised his head to see Katara was standing in front of him. She was seething. The young waterbender took a deep breath and exhaled, turning the air into a cloud of cold mist. The puddles beneath her and the water on Jet's clothes froze almost right away. She has pinned him to the tree
"I can't believe I trusted you. You lied to me. You're a sick monster and I trusted you!" Katara rebuked him harshly for his betrayal on her trust. But before she could lash out any further, Katara was alarmed when Jet started whistling like a bird. "What are you doing?" She asked. "You're too late, Katara. I've given them the signal. The dam will blow up any seconds now."
"No!"
"You should rejoice, Katara. We've just won a great victory against the Fire Nation today." Jet smirked as he waited for the loud bang. But seconds passed and silence was he could hear. It was only minutes later that they heard the sound of an explosion. But everyone had nonplussed looks on their faces when they saw an explosion happened in the sky rather than by the dam.
"You're plan failed, Jet."
"What?!"
" "Sokka!" "
Aang and Katara beamed when they saw Sokka was sitting on Appa's head as they're descending from the sky. Jet scowled when he saw the young warrior.
"Sokka, you fool! What have you done?! You've betrayed us all! We could've freed this valley!"
"Who would be free? Everyone would be dead."
"You're a traitor, Sokka! You hear me? Traitor!"
"No, Jet. You became the traitor when you stopped protecting the innocents. You and Freedom Fighters are no better than thugs when you guys nearly assaulted an old man. Worse of all, you are nothing but a delusional terrorist who thinks he's playing as the hero."
"SOKKAAA!"
"Let's go, Katara. We're leaving." Ignoring Jet's outrage, Sokka turned to his little sister and asked her to get on Appa. "Katara, please...help me." The Freedom Fighters' leader quickly pleaded to her once more. But the young waterbender never bothered turning her back as she climbed onto Appa and left, leaving the young man frozen in the tree all alone.
"How did you stop the explosion, Sokka?" Aang asked. "And what about Zuko? Where is he and Druk?" Katara added worriedly. "I didn't. He did." With a grin on his face, the young water tribe warrior he jabbed his thumb to the side just as the crimson dragon was flying next to them. "Zuko! Druk!" Katara's mood promptly lightened up when she noticed their presence. A bit surprised by her reaction, the young man raised his eyebrow momentarily before finally replying her back by slightly curving up the edge of his lips.
Please Read & Review m(_ _)m