Piandao was looking at him with pity, the same pity that everyone else had covered him with since Suki had… It was still so fresh. His eyes narrowed, seeing his master in a new light. The war was here and Suki was the proof. If he had only studied harder, she might still be there.
"Are you ready Sokka?"
Sokka nodded; his grip steady on his sword. Piandao took a single step forward, and Sokka was there waiting. Piandao nodded approvingly. He moved to the side, but Sokka saw it coming and was there waiting. Suddenly, Piandao vanished, leaving Sokka looking rather stupid as he spun around looking for the man.
"Where are you?" Sokka felt a tap on his shoulder and spun around. Piandao materialized from nothing. "You can turn invisible now?"
"Keep up Sokka," Piandao said with a smile. "I blend in with my surroundings; going invisible is something children imagine doing."
Sokka frowned, realizing just how far behind his master that he really was. He bowed respectfully and fell back into his fighting stance. He would master this or he would die trying.
Sokka woke up to the touch of cold fingertips on his cheek. Ty Lee was kneeling beside him with a serious expression.
"We're being ambushed."
"How many?" It was all normal now. Sokka reached for his sword and prepared himself for the fight.
"Three spiderwasps and one dragon."
Sokka rolled to his feet and crouched at the flap of their small tent. He waited until he could sense them and nodded to Ty Lee. They lunged from the tent as one, Ty Lee immediately moving in on the closest enemy. Within seconds, the man was curled up on the ground, gasping in pain.
Sokka got in between Ty Lee and a rather large man who looked like he was about to charge. Sokka took in a deep breath through his nostrils, feeling the world slow to a crawl around him. His opponent was twice Sokka's size, but when the man moved it was clumsy; a warrior dedicated to swinging his boulder-sized fists around until no one was left to hit.
Sokka stood in a simple stance, his sword held straight up against his back, feet together, and two fingers just under his chin. As the man moved, Sokka moved. Sokka danced around him for a while and to someone just watching aimlessly, it would seem that the man roared in rage, but really he was crying out in pain. Every time he saw an opening, Sokka would pierce the man with the tip of his blade, just enough to slow him down. The third spiderwasp, too cowardly to face Ty Lee after seeing his second companion fall to her precise knuckles, tried to sneak up behind Sokka. Sokka simply ducked, letting the behemoth knock out his own friend before dropping to his knees, exhausted from the loss of blood and constant movement. Sokka spun out of the way as the large man fell on his face, landing on the companion that he had just knocked out. Sokka cleaned his blade on the man's shirt, cleaned it, and started packing up camp.
"That was strange," Ty Lee said. Sokka shrugged.
"We're getting closer to where the battlefront is, which means we will be seeing a lot of that." Just as he said it, an arrow whistled through the air and it took all of his reflexes to lift his blade and deflect the arrow in time. Another arrow sailed through, but this time he was ready. Sokka knocked it away and in one fluid motion, snapped his wrist just right so that his boomerang sailed into the trees. From the projection of the arrows – a loud "twang" as the archer's string snapped and the "clang" of a boomerang getting stuck in someone's helmet – the archer would be in just the right position. Ty Lee gasped and clapped her hands.
"Wow Sokka, you're so good at this stuff."
Sokka whistled for the giant eelhound that Piandao had given him as a gift and within an hour, he had retrieved his boomerang, packed up the camp and moved on his way. Ty Lee had chosen to wear only a bra, which made focusing on directing the eelhound a little difficult, but Sokka decided he didn't mind.
Suki would want me to move on.
Ty Lee seemed to know what he was thinking, or she just had perfect timing, because she leaned back against him and rested her head on his shoulder. His stomach twisted slightly but he smiled at her all the same.
When they finally got out of the forest, they were on the edge of a cliff looking out at the giant rock columns where Aang had defeated the firelord only six years before. Sokka frowned, wondering if that guy would ever have any peace.
Sokka slid off of the eelhound and looked around. In moments, he saw Longshot and Smellerbee walking toward them. Longshot had not changed, but Bee had finally given up trying to look like a boy as her surprisingly large curves would not allow it. Ty Lee dropped down and instantly began stretching out her stiff muscles.
"Being in one position for so long just can't be good for our auras," she said in a worried tone. As Longshot and Bee reached them, Sokka greeted both of them and pointed to where a large camp could be seen in the distance.
"From my information, there are three top notch Lionhawks in that camp, so we will need to be as careful as possible, but if we clear the way then Aang and Zuko can rest the army for a bit." Longshot nodded, showing no fear. Bee frowned and crossed her arms, obviously ready for a fight. Ty Lee just smiled.
"What's the plan then Sokka?" Ty Lee asked.
Sokka rubbed his temples, wondering what Suki would do. Probably ask the same question Ty Lee had.
"We're going to take them out slowly. There's no need to go rushing in when we can spy on them and take them out one at a time. Now just cross your fingers they don't take us out first."