I Do Not Own Miraculous or Avatar.

Chapter Sixty-Three: Rendezvous

"It seems like you slept better." Marinette said with a smile as Aang joined the group.

"Like a baby moose lion." Aang agreed, "Ready to face the Fire Lord." Marinette just laughed. Sokka came up and peered off the cliff. He new that the invasion force was supposed to arrive at any moment now. He was pretty excited to see his dad again and start leading the invasion he and Marinette had been putting together for so long.

"So, Aang? What's your strategy for taking him down? Going to get your glow on and hit him with a little Avatar state action?" Toph asked, while dramatically demonstrating the strategy.

Aang winced.

"Yeah, I can't. When Azula shot me with lighting, my 7th chakra was locked, cutting off my connection to all the cosmic energy in the Universe." Aang explained. Toph looked confused at that response.

"You know what I just heard?" Toph asked, "Blah, blah, blah spiritual mumbo jumbo blah, blah, blah, something about space."

"Honestly, same." Adrien chuckled.

"Come on guys, we need to start setting up so the invasion can dock and we can get this all started on time." Sokka said, "Toph, Aang. We need docks and a platform. Katara, make sure the water levels up so they can safely come into the bay. Mari, grab the maps. You are with me. Adrien, you transform to. Get the potions Marinette made and store them away, after that, I'll need your help in saddling Appa."

"Aye-eye captain!" Adrien said with a salute. Team Avatar broke to complete their various tasks. Sokka smiled, pleased that everything was going so well already. Today was a very good day. Perfect for an invasion. All that they needed was an invasion force.

As if the universe had read Sokka's thoughts, a hazy fog spread over the waters. Sokka's smile only grew.

"Oh no," Katara said, noticing the fog, "Sokka, do you think the fog will delay the invasion?"

"No, that is the invasion!" Sokka cheered. Sure enough, out of the fog came several southern water tribe ships. He could see his dad on the deck of the main ship, waving towards Sokka to get the team's attention. The ships quickly docked and everyone got off. Adrien was pleased to find his father there and gladly went off to speak with the man. Sokka and Katara went to greet their own dad.

"You made it dad!" Katara said, embracing the man.

"Were you able to locate everyone I told you to find?" Sokka questioned.

"I did." Hakoda chuckled, "But I'm a little worried, Sokka. Some of these men aren't exactly the warrior type." The watertribe man looked back at the swampbenders, who had become interested in a rock.

"Is it just me, or are those fellas a little lose in the leaf head?" Hakoda wondered aloud.

"I just wish they would wear pants." Bato agreed.

"Pants are an illusion, and so is death." Hue called to the water tribes men. Sokka just chuckled.

"Yeah, I get what you mean, but trust me. They can help us."

"Hey, look! It's Haru!" Katara said, dragging Marinette to meet the Earthbender.

"Hi, Katara." Haru said with a wave. Sokka was surprised by the man's appearance. Last he'd seen Haru, he'd been a young teen who hid his Earthbending from the Fire Nation before leading a rebellion with his father. Now, he seemed like a young man who'd grown substantially since their last meeting. He even had a mustache to prove it.

"Haru, it's so good to see you!" Katara said, hugging to Earthbender.

"Toph, Marinette, this is Haru. When we met him, his town was controlled by Fire Nation, so we had to hide his Earthbending." Aang explained.

"Katara inspired me and my father to take back our village." Haru said with a smile. His father put a hand on Haru's shoulder, beaming proudly.

"You helped us find our courage, Katara. Now we are here to help you." His father, Tyro, said.

"Yeah, that sounds like Katara." Marinette said, "She can be inspiring when she wants to be, now, if you'd excuse me, I need to talk to Plan Guy Number One about our mechanical friend" Marinette walked to him.

"So, where's this… Mechanist… you told me about? I want to see if our plans will actually work." Marinette asked. Sokka smiled.

"I'm glad you asked, come on!" Sokka went towards the boat when there was a loud explosion heard. The Mechanist and his son, Teo came out of the ship coughing. Pipsqueak and the Duke followed.

"Was that a new invention?" Sokka asked.

"Yes." The Mechanist replied, looking back at the mess it had created, "But unfortunately the incendiary capabilities of peanut sauce proved to be a failure."

"Wait…" Marinette trailed, examining the mess,"You are making peanut butter bombs? Huh, not the weirdest thing I've encountered."

"They are destructive." Pipsqueak piped up.

"And Delicious." The Duke agreed.

"Marinette, this is Pipsqueak and The Duke. They used to be members of Jet's Freedom Fighter gang." Marinette's gaze softened upon hearing that.

"It's an honor to meet you. I'm Ladybug. I'm sorry about what happened to your friend." She said kindly.

"It's fine." Pipsqueak said, "Jet's a hero now. Like he always wanted to be."

"He sure is." A new voice inserted. Sokka nearly jumped upon Gabriel Agreste entering the conversation.

"Hawkmoth. I was an acquaintance of Jet when he came to the city. I'm pleased to meet two more of his legendary freedom fighters."

"Yeah, anyways…" Sokka said, interrupting the moment as he turned to the Mechanist, "Were you able to complete the plans I sent you?"

"Yes, I was and I think the Fire Nation will be quite surprised." The Mechanist said.

"That's great, I did have a Plan B and C, just in case you didn't, but I'm glad you did!" Marinette said cheerfully.

"Speaking of plans, Miss. Dupain-Cheng. Sokka. A word?" Gabriel asked.

"Uh, sure thing!" Sokka said. They followed Gabriel away from the group, where several people were reuniting and catching up. He stopped abruptly once he was away from the group and looked at Sokka and Marinette with a very distant, yet dark stare.

"I have a concern." Gabriel suddenly said.

"A concern?" Marinette asked aloud.

"I sense… something unsettling. Something seems wrong about all of this. I'm not sure if it is my Miraculous or if it's just nerves, but something is wrong. This plan, it sounds like it will work, and with the joint of you, Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Sokka of the Water Tribe, I'm sure it will work well. The problem is, something in me tells me this operation could be in jeopardy." Gabriel explained.

"What do you mean?" Sokka asked.

"Not too long ago, I felt the emotions of Prince Zuko. I was just discussing with Adrien that I believe he could very well be in grave danger. There was a… change in him. A change that occured only days ago. He is conspiring to betray someone yet again, and this time, I believe Zuko will pay the ultimate price for his betrayal if he is not careful."

"So? Who cares what happens to that jerk?" Sokka asked, "After all that he's done-"

"Sokka, that's not all." Gabriel said, "The thing was, Zuko's emotions were the only ones I could properly sense in the Fire Nation. The capital has been some distance away, so I just assumed it was because he's a very emotional person, but… now that we are closer to the capitol, I sense something is amiss. They are calm. They believe they are safe."

"So?" Sokka asked, "That's a good thing, right? That means they definitely won't expect this!"

"I can't be too sure." Gabriel admitted, "It is strange, but… I want to be certain… do you two have any plans about what you'll do if we get there and discover they were ready for us?" Marinette and Sokka exchanged looks.

"You think they are ready?" Marinette said, biting her lip.

"I'm not sure, but I want you both to be ready for the possibility. A lot of people are putting their faith in your plan, but things could easily go wrong, even if we plan every possibility out. After all, Ladybug, this time, luck is against us." Marinette stiffened. Sokka was confused.

"What do you mean?" Sokka said, "Marinette is the wielder of good luck and Cat Noir balances her out! So that means luck is on our side, right?"

"No." Gabriel said, "It isn't. I am honestly surprised Marinette and Adrien neglected to tell you."

"Tell me what?" Sokka asked.

"Gabriel, Adrien was being superstitious! He can't possibly be-"

"He is, Marinette." Gabriel said, "Adrien is jinxed. He used a forbidden power and brought us to a place were the balance no longer exists and destruction and misfortune reign supreme. Sokka, as long as this war goes on, Ladybug's good luck will not be the thing that affects us. Here, the battle is decided by Cat Noir's bad luck."

"Wait, so you are saying that because of the war… Ladybug's good luck powers aren't working?"

"They are, just not enough. Her and Adrien are currently imbalanced. Things will go wrong instead of right. You must be prepared to handle any deal of bad luck you are handed in the fight ahead."

"Mari? You knew about this?" Sokka asked. The Miraculous holder looked away.

"Sokka, I'm sorry I didn't say anything… I thought Adrien was just paranoid. I… I should have told you, but… I did account for it in case Adrien was right. I took the liberty of making a Plan M. It's the last one in your papers." Sokka rummaged through his maps and documents and found Plan M.

"Marinette, you can't really mean this-"

"It's the only way. If this fails, we'll be back to square one. If Adrien and I become a problem… we will have to remove it. But… if we can restore the balance and if Aang wins, it won't matter and everything will go back to normal." Marinette explained, "But… you have to trust us." Sokka hesitated before nodding.

"Yeah, Mari. I do trust you." He said, "But we avoid Plan M unless it's absolutely necessary. If all else fails, then we improvise. It's what people like you and I are good at." He offered her the maps and plans, which she gladly took.

"Now, how about we go tell everyone else our brilliant plan, Plan Guy Number One?" Marinette asked. Sokka nodded, noticing how everyone was getting seated for Sokka and Marinette to present their plan and brief everyone before they got started.

"You first, Plan Guy Number Two." Marinette grinned, walking to the platform, Sokka trailed behind. As he got closer, Sokka realised exactly how many people he'd asked to help with the invasion. He gulped. Fear suddenly rising in his throat. What if his and Marinette's plans weren't good enough? What if they failed? What if the Jinx caught up to them and all of the people he planned on leading into battle that day never came back?

Sokka was only brought out of his sudden nervous breakdown when his father, Hakoda, put a hand on Sokka's shoulder in a reassuring manner. Sokka looked up at his dad, who beamed proudly back down at him.

"Don't worry. You'll do great." Hakoda encouraged. Sokka nodded, taking a deep breath before joining Marinette on the platform.

"Good morning everyone!" Sokka said. Instantly, Sokka tripped and fell into Marinette, who dropped the scrolls everywhere. Marinette burst into giggles at the action.

"Glad to see I'm not the only clutz." She said with a laugh as she picked up the dropped scrolls. Sokka scowled and picked himself up, brushing himself off.

"Uhm… so, as you know, today, we are invading the Fire Nation.I mean I know you know that… because why else would you be here?" Sokka asked. Marinette raised an eyebrow before setting up the maps.

"The Fire Lord's palace is here." He began, only to find Marinette put up the wrong map. Sokka gave her a 'you had one job' glare, to which she simply shrugged helplessly.

"Uh, wait… no wait...wait...Ah ha! It's here!" He pointed at the correct map, "and, uh, there's gonna be an eclipse today and Aang's going to fight the Fire Lord and the Firebenders won't have any fire to use, so that's good for us and uhm… I'm sorry, let me start at the beginning." Sokka took a deep breath and began at the beginning.

"Katara and I discovered Aang frozen in an iceberg. Now, I didn't like Aang at first, but I grew to love him overtime. Then we went over to the Southern Air temple were Aang used to live and then we met Suki who is a Kyoshi warrior and she made me wear a dress like a woman and then she kissed me and…" What the heck was he doing? Did he just flat out tell everyone how he wore a dress and kissed Suki? What the heck did that have to do with anything? He kept talking, even though he mentally told himself to shut up, "...And then Aang's friend was a crazy old man and then Katara got Haru arrested and then now he's grown a mustache and if you look in the front row you can see him-"
"Thank you Sokka!" Marinette quickly said, pushing him slightly aside to thankfully shut him up. Thank the Avatar Marinette was there, she pulled him off stage.

"You okay?" She asked.

"I… I… just freaked! So much pressure and… and… Oh my gosh I'm terrible at this!" Marinette giggled.

"Don't worry, I totally get it. My first time as Ladybug sucked. My first declaration of love to Adrien was in a series of squeaks. My first speech as class president was so confusing, I don't think they'll ever know what my point was. Not even I'm too sure about that... It's just nerves. It happens to the best of us."

"You finish the speech, Mari. You are way better at this leader thing than I am." Sokka lamented.

"That's not true. You're perfectly good leader. Now, come on, Sokka. Let's try again. You don't have to say anything if you don't want to, but at least stand with me. This is our plan. We do this together." She grabbed his hand and dragged him back on. Everyone watch in anticipation. Sokka gulped. Marinette just cleared her throat. She straightened her posture and went into what Adrien and Sokka liked to call 'full Ladybug mode.'

"Let me just clarify a few points for everyone. Today is the Day of Black Sun and I want to thank you all for your self sacrifice and your courage." She began, "There are two steps to this invasion. Dry and simple. A naval stage and then a land stage. Sokka and I like to called Plan A: The fish attack. That will make more sense later when you actually see how we'll be arriving. Anyways, to get the Fire Nation capital, The Great Gates of Azulon. That's where my partner, Cat Noir will come into play. Once we pass those, we hit the land and we hit it hard. We must fight past their battlement and secure the plaza tower. Once we do that, it's up to the royal palace. At this point the eclipse will begin." Boulder tilted his head to the side.

"Excuse me, The Boulder is confused. Isn't the point to invade during eclipse when the Fire Benders are powerless?"

"No. The eclipse only lasts eight minutes. Not enough time for the whole invasion and the royal palace is heavily guarded by Firebenders, so that's where we'll need it the most. When this is finished, the Avatar will have defeated the Fire Lord and we would have control over the Fire Nation capital and this war will be over!" Marinette raised her fists in truimph as everyone burst into cheers and applause.

"Wow, Marinette." Sokka said glumly, "You did really well."

"Thanks, practice really helps." Marinette said with a smile before placing her hand on the shoulder, "Don't worry about earlier. That's already forgotten."

"Mari, I just fell apart." He said sadly, "I don't deserve to be Plan Guy Number One."

"Like I said, that isn't true. That's just public speaking. It happens to us all. Me more than others. You are a great leader and a wonderful strategist. I couldn't ask for a better leader to follow to battle." She assured him, "And don't worry, Sokka you'll get the hang of it. Word of advice?" She placed her hands on her Ladybug mask, "It's all in the masks, Sokka. They do wonders for a person's courage. Brings out the best in us. I learned that the hard way. I know you're a brave and fearless leader. So put on that mask and be the best you can be." Sokka looked at the mask on Marinette for a moment before looking at his Water Tribe Wolf helmet and smiling.

"Like always, Plan Guy Number Two. You are very right."

"Good. Now let's get this invasion started, shall we?"