Disclaimer: Here we go, the fight of the century. (Chuck Norris steps out onto the ring and round-house kicks the brains out of everything) "Dude, what the hell was that?" "No votes, and the Norris factor takes over. Got a problem with that puny human?" "No." (Oh, and we kinda sorta own nothing)
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Rating Change: In the next few chapters we will be bumping up to an M rating due to the content we are moving into. Blood and mayhem are going to be the main courses of the day along with anything else naughty we are planing on putting in. So, I will give warning and a final announcement right before we push up the rating so please stick with us, its just getting good.
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Authors Note: Gods stop throwing stuff at me. Yes I know I said i might be able to get a seven day update but I got my brain smashed in with ideas and the chapter mutated into a 25,000 word demon. What you are reading is part one of a two part chapter... a very informative and explosiony two part chapter. Hope you loves it as much as we do.
-Man in the Jade Armour
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The Forums: I got the impression that the reason the forum is so dead is because of a lack of interesting topics. Well I attempted to fix that by adding a few more including "Who do you think is trying to deceive Sokka; Genzou or Mouretsu?" and "What are your feelings on Sokka's new nickname for Toph?" check it out and if you have a topic idea toss it up or my way... the more feed back the faster the updates.
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K, I think thats it.
Curtain Up!
Sokka: Master of the Black Sword
By: The Jade Knight & Richard Caine
Creative Consultant & Beta: Richard Caine & The Jade Knight
-The Resistance Saga-
Chapter 11
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The Story of Sokka
Part 7: The Monsters Within Us
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The sun was high and beating down on my sore back with a vengeance as I held the crude fishing pole that I had made from a knotted tree branch in a loose grip. We were sitting in the middle of a tiny oasis in the desert surrounding Ba Sing Se, barely a half day from the gates. I sat on the flat sandy stones, absently fishing while Katara and Aang did bender things in the small pond. I looked up and glanced around the small tree ringed enclosure. The small pond in the middle was a few feet deep, more then shallow enough to wade across, though it would come up to my neck. The trees surrounding the area were a kind that I had never seen before. They looked almost normal, being tall and leafy and all, but the leaves were a pale almost sandy colour, and they were packed in pretty thickly for desert trees.
I had worked out for an hour or so after I was drawn out of my meditation by the gang moving around, getting ready for the day. I hadn't been sleeping well as of late; I have been having nightmares for the past few days. Every night the same bloody thing.
I hadn't had another encounter with the fleabag yet, but I'm expecting her any day now. Hell, I was completely taken by surprise when she didn't show up the moment I fell asleep the night of the Soudatsu championship. I remember she had been at the fight, and she never held anything back in torturing me yet, why was she staying away now? It's bothering me, especially with the dreams.
I moved a few feet to the left on pure impulse and smirked a little when not even a second later one of the water whips Aang and Katara were playing with slammed into the rocks ... in the exact place I had been sitting mere moments ago. Oh hell, I thought to myself with a roll of the eyes, all I needed now; more freakishness in my life. What, the talking prophesying cat wasn't enough? But after everything that has been happening I grumbled it off and stared down into the water. Stupid fish, bite the bloody line already.
"Well, you don't feel like a ball of nerves," said Toph in true sarcastic form, as she sat down on the rocks next to me. I grunted a response as she took off her sole-less shoes and dipped her feet into the cool water next to mine. I pulled up my line again and refreshed the bit of meat on the end before dropping it back in. Here fishies, have some nice tasty meat.
"Are they still worried about me?" I asked nodding over at Aang and my sister.
"Yes, they're still arguing about what happened, who should talk to you and if they should talk to you." I nodded before turning back to my fruitless search for fish. Hell, the damn pond was probably so small the probably weren't any stupid fish anyway. Stupid pond. Toph continued. "Do you remember anything else yet?"
"Not really. I remember kneeling in front of you guys, that little conversation we had ... and then I was holding Senchi's neck to my sword and feeling like I had just swam up a waterfall," I paused for a moment. "Backwards. But ..."
"But?" Toph asked sounding curious.
"Remember when you said that when I needed to talk you'd listen?"
"Yeah?"
"Okay, I have been having some weird dreams lately. But they are just dreams, even if they are creepy as all hell"
"Pansy," mumbled Toph.
"What?" I asked, acting hurt.
"Nothing," she said sweetly, "Daffodil."
"I am not foliage," I cried as angry as I could while suppressing laughter.
"Right there ... dandelion."
"Why do you take such pleasure in my pain?" I wailed, pretending to cry.
"Suck it up, buttercup," Toph said evilly right before we both broke down in the giggles. We were getting strange looks from Aang and Katara by the time we calmed down. "Okay, dreams what do they have to do with anything?"
"Well," I started. "I – Remember you said that if I figured out what was happening to me that I should talk to you?"
"Yes, and I meant it," she said, her voice once again serious.
"Well, I guess – What I mean is I suppose that ... the dreams explain a lot of what has happened lately. Sort of."
"Well that wasn't cryptic in the slightest. Are we going to keep talking in riddles or are you gonna tell me what exactly was in them?"
I glared with a dark frown at my reflection while I tried to sort what I had seen into words. "I really don't know if you'll understand any of this, hell I don't understand any of whats happening to me, so if you come out of this thinking that I'm insane we're in the same boat." I received a confused nod when I looked back to her, gathering strength from her unseeing and unjudging eyes.
"They're odd, but familiar, like they're my memories from a long time ago. But considering what they're about that would be impossible." I paused for a moment, but I realized if I didn't push on I would get scared and not tell her anything. "It starts out different every time, but there seems to be a theme; I'm born. I never really see anything too detailed as my eyes are usually closed, but its weird and a little gross. The weird part is sometimes I don't think I'm exactly ... normal, sometimes it feel like I'm not built like I am now, like I have different body parts or hair that I can feel, and once in a while I'll see the faces of people I have never met before and feel a flicker of connection before I move on. I live the lives of hundreds of people; weird huh?"
Toph shrugged. "I've had weirder. Sometimes I dream of a marshmallow badger-mole in an Earth Kingdom naval cap destroying the middle ring of Ba Sing Se. That and Katara yelling something about not 'crossing streams' or something like it."
That was pretty damn weird, I had to admit. I felt slightly better, and pushed on.
"All right, you win on the weird count. The thing that bothers me isn't the weirdness though; it's how clear everything is. I remember what its like for a six year old girl to scrape her knee and have her mother kiss it better, I remember what it was like for a small boy to catch his first fish. But I also know what its like to be beaten by my father or sold as a slave," I shudder at a few of those memories. "I remember lots of small things; the kinds of memories that make you the person you are, whether it be a caring and considerate person or a heartless bastard. And it feels like I grow up in each of these bodies, experiencing all kinds of wonders and pains. I join them as they discover who they are."
"That doesn't sound scary," said Toph. Her expression was thoughtful. "Actually, that sounds kind of cool."
"No, that's the part of the dreams I don't mind; it's what comes after that's terrifying. Like being completely powerless as I'm being carried away by my older brother watching over his shoulder as my village is being burnt to the ground, with all of the people still in their beds. Holding the hands of a child as they slowly die in my arms because I couldn't find food or medicines. I was forced to watch people being tortured to death just because someone else demanded it, watch hundred of people being slaughtered in the name of one stupid war after another knowing that no matter how hard I try I will never be able to save them. But I try anyway."
Toph was listening, but I noticed the tiniest of smirks on her face. Usually her smirks are different, sharper than this one was. She opened her mouth and spoke. "That sounds like you."
I gave a small nervous laugh. "Yeah, I guess it does. I remember fighting with everything from knives to things that I couldn't even describe to you if I wanted, things that spit light and fire. I've fought hordes of soldiers to protect a single child or a family. I've stormed buildings and joined armies as they charge down the gauntlets of archers that line the streets of a dark city unlike anything I've ever seen before. I've heard the death gasps of those around me as we try to rescue the people being trapped there. The suffering isn't the worst though. It's the helplessness, and every time I see it happen I feel something taken away from me, until the only thing left is the hate. It's cold, Toph; so very cold."
I could feel the chills running up my spine as I thought about it. However, Toph sat nearly as still as a statue, only slight rise and fall of her chest indicating that she was still among the living. When I paused for too long, she made a 'continue' gesture. So I did.
"There is always a point in these lives I live, a moment where I and they become something much more than a person; more than human. It is always a time of great pain, with searing flame or a cold so deep I can't even name it, and I lived at the South Pole. Something – there's something that comes knocking at, well my soul I guess. If I allow the... entity into myself unimpeded I feel... It's like having your blood turn to magma in an instant. That's the best way to describe it, like your blood drying and turning to burning stone."
My hands clenched tightly on the fishing pole, remembering the pain. I am afraid to look at Toph for fear of losing my nerve to retell this, so I just pushed on. "If I resist, it's the cold that I hope you never feel. There's a struggle and the thing fights back, trying to conquer the conquerer. But it's funny; no matter how hard it fights, it's always so weak in that moment of change, that it is always defeated when opposed. It's a mind game, a test I think. Either way, domination or submission, there is power Toph, so much power."
My eyes were unfocused by this point, and I couldn't keep the manic rush of the memories out of my voice. "I move faster than any man; a few times I sidestepped arrows that I only noticed a few feet away. I've ripped the blades from the hands of men who looked like they were standing still, I've felt attacks coming even before they come into my line of sight."
I turned my head slightly to look at her still impassive face, with wonder and fear in my voice despite myself. "Can you imagine it?"
"Yes," she said quietly. I was a little startled, not expecting a response, but that was all she said. Hurriedly I continued on.
"The entire time it's like there's something speaking to me through it all, whispering in my head. Only, its like we share the same heartbeat and thoughts, moving like we're one being. Together we've made war on the shores of dead lakes and on the sides of still mountains; and in every one of them I feel every wound, every lost companion and friend. In the last five nights, I've lived through war after war, hundreds of lives and every pain that comes with them."
I stumbled over my words for a moment as questions of my sanity once again rose to the surface. "Then there is a ... Great War. I plan the downfall of people I once called friends. I raised an army, Toph. An army that hasn't been seen before or since. I built them with science and rules I barely even can follow the basics of now. I created terrible weapons, things that can turn cities into glass, and scorch the skies into blackness."
There was shame in my voice as I recalled it in every painful detail. "I commanded men to attack temples and burn cities... I do all the things that tormented me in my own dreams. It seems like years pass as one bloody battle after another is declared either a victory or a failure, and more of my people die. To me... well, to me I guess it was just math, people's lives as simple numbers; and I hate it. Because the person giving orders isn't me- I'm just along for the ride."
I drew a deep breath and closed my eyes. "Finally, I am standing at the head of my army. I remember the smells of sea salt and musk, the way the setting sun reflected off the ocean. I was watching the ships come in. This final fight had been coming, ever since the Beginning; we all knew it was coming closer every day, the blood of hundreds of millions are on our hands, but even when it was finally there it seemed unreal. The f-first, th-" My voice breaks again as I look up to where Aang is standing waist deep in the water next to my sister, talking quietly to her. Both of them risking quick glances at me out of the side of their eyes; worried about me. I closed my eyes again, pulling up details as best I could manage.
"The first one off of the battle ship is a fire bender woman. I don't... I don't think that the continents looked like what they do now. I remember a land bridge connecting the Fire Nation and the Earth kingdom. I guess she was from where the Fire Nation is now. She was dressed in crimson battle amour and screams as she charges me down. At a mere gesture from her the ocean rises up behind her and crashes into the first rows of my soldiers."
I laughed then, and Toph gave me a strange look. I felt my voice changing as the memories became clearer. My tenor voice dropped about an octave, feeling rough and foreign in my own mouth. I hardly noticed. "But I am ready. The diversion worked perfectly, and for those hundred who died five times their number are given over to the Old Gods. Hundreds of them fall; it is glorious Toph, a triumph of military precision."
I hear the clashing blades and thrum of accelerator rifles as the humans die, their tainted blood spilling onto the shores of Yegoth, staining it's black sand a rusty brown with their numbers in a single instant. I brought myself back with a shuddering breath.
"The first skirmish only lasts twenty minutes, but thousands lie dead when their formation breaks apart and I stand facing the Avatar alone. Yasuragi decided in her 'infinite wisdom' that the test of our defenses had been 'sufficient'."
I snorted at the thought. The stupid bitch hadn't the slightest clue, and she'd wasted her men for nothing, but I supposed that was her prerogative. "As her army pulls back, behind her stand her four abominations leading a force twice as many as my own. I had never wanted a fight like this, I had a well orchestrated plan to kill her far away from here. I wasn't sure if I could take her in a straight fight."
I shook my head. I suppose there was no avoiding the inevitable. I felt a swell of pride as I remembered her hoarse challenge, and my own cool reply. "The first blow came much faster then I anticipated and we clash as we should; as gods, our soldiers battling around us. I still moved with the speed of lightning and the power of thunder but she is stronger, and I grew weary. Bit by bit the world crumbles, the skies burn and the earth darkens with blood as the mountains themselves fall upon me. The winds tear at me and the oceans start to cover the land. Fire burns the ground as my blade pierces flesh again and again even as my own blood darkens her hands."
I took another shaky breath and slowed my voice, trying to calm myself down. After what felt like a minute I opened my eyes and continued in as factual a way as I could. "The last true battle of the First Great War took sixty seconds from start to finish, and there is no victory for either side in this place; both champions lay dead. All around there is a panic; pandemonium as the few survivors run for the ships. Most of them never make it. The wildfires consume what the water has not yet reached. As many people died there as in the battle beforehand, until only a few score escape doomed Yegoth, turning back to watch it swallowed up by the crashing waves; taking both the Avatar and the Incarna with her."
The memory left me like the draining of an infected wound, and the tears on my cheeks were unfeigned. Stupid unmanly tears, but I hardly cared in that moment. Then the terrible pressure of the memories was gone, and all I felt was emotional exhaustion from what I had confided in Toph. I wasn't sure if I was going to regret my speaking, but I felt a sense of relief. I had just given her all of the proof she needed to ask the same questions that had been hounding me for a almost a week now. Was my sanity fraying? Was I going mad? Was I a danger to Aang?
Should they just leave me behind?
Still, the relief might just be worth the awful risk. I rubbed my temples as I looked over to her, meeting her eyes again. She seemed to be thinking, her brow crinkled as her eyes shifted slightly. I waited impatiently, my heart thundering in my ears. I didn't want them to leave me behind, but even I though it might be necessary. I feared what I was becoming more than anyone, likely.
"How sure are you that there memories?" she asked softly.
I swallowed hard. "Very."
She though for a moment, considering this. "You know that sounds crazy."
"I know," I said in a whisper, my fears crawling closer to the surface. "But there's more," I said, my voice shaking slightly.
"Oh?"
I closed my eyes, steeling myself, trying to force the words out. "Sometimes when I fall asleep at night I am in – uh – well, there's this little cat, Aang saw it too back before I entered the tournament, and it – well ... it said I was in the spirit world. That I was some ... potential host of a thing called the Incarna."
"Genzou?" she asked seriously
My mouth fell open and I jerked to face her so fast my neck popped. "How do you know that?"
"You talk in you sleep sometimes, and I'm a restless sleeper some nights."
"Oh," I said slowly, not really sure how to take this new development.
"So, the cat from the spirit world said you're supposed to become this Incarna guy?"
"Yeah," I said, not able to break eye contact with her anymore. Gods it sounded even more insane coming from her.
"I see," she replied very slowly. I didn't notice I was holding my breath until it started to burn. I forced myself to breath and tried to calm myself down. I didn't think they would abandon me, right? But if I was dangerous I might have to make that decision for them. They might accept me as family, but I could never put them in danger. Between me and them, it's them every time; not a second's hesitation.
"What do you think?" she asked honestly, her voice giving away nothing.
"About?" I asked slowly.
"Are you becoming this Incarna guy?"
My heart fell.
"You saw me at the Soudatsu," I said, my voice broken. "I... I like to think I'm a man of science, you know? I don't believe in most superstitious nonsense, but I can't deny this... this is real; I'm becoming a... monster and there's nothing that I can do to stop it."
"Do you really think your becoming a monster?" she asked, cocking her head to the side. It was such a friendly and familiar gesture I feel a little of the tension on my chest lift.
"I – I am – I," I stammered. She wanted an answer to the question I was fearing since we left Homarnu. I closed my eyes and turned away from her. "Yeah, you saw me. I wasn't... human. I'm becoming this beast, this... I don't know what."
"Sokka, I have known you for almost a year now, right?"
"Yeah," I said, keeping as much of my emotion out of my voice as I could.
"Then trust me when I say that you are the farthest thing from a monster there is. You are kind and gentle, putting your family and everyone close to you before yourself. You put all this effort into your hare-brained schemes if you think they even might be the right thing to do. Did you see yourself after the fight? You ran yourself into the ground to try to get that damned prize money for us, we had to carry your heavy ass into the hospital tent."
Now I was starting to feel a little better and worse at the same time. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to worry you guys. I just-"
"See," she shouted, cutting me off. "Right there!"
"Right – where?" I asked turning back to her, more then a little lost.
"We're here talking about you! We're here trying to decide if you are some kind of blood thirsty monster or not and you're still putting our feeling before your own!" she shouted, drawing a little attention from Aang and Katara. "Besides you freakin' idiot, if you really were a monster, would you even bother to fucking think about it?"
"But, what if that's just the man that I used to be, like pieces of a cocoon or something? What if I'm going to change into it?" I asked a little louder then I intended as I tried to get her to see the truth. It was true, what if the 'gentle' me was the person I used to be, what if that personality was fading away... like it felt like it was?
"Draw you sword," she said evenly.
"What?"
"I said draw your gods' damned sword, now!" Toph screamed, making me jump. She was getting pissed off. I felt a little twinge inside my chest at the though that I was the reason she was so distressed right now and felt the guilt and need to comfort her rise. I drew my sword from the scabbard over my back and looked at her, still confused as she stood up.
"Get up," she commanded, and I complied. Then she took me and -judging from the gasps coming from Aang and Katara- the others completely by surprise by roughly grabbing a hold of the sword my by the hilt, her strong slender fingers closing over my own, and brought the edge of my wickedly sharp black sword, a sword that had cut through normal steel with absurd ease, to her throat.
"Bloody hell, Toph; what the hell are you doing!" I cried as I tried to swiftly and carefully pulled the blade back.
"Don't pull it away!" she shouted at me, but as soon as I felt her fingers leave mine I tried to pull my blade away from her neck. "Leave it there!" she screamed. By now Aang and my sister were standing in the water, staring open mouthed at the sight of me with my sword at Toph's throat. They seemed too aghast by what they saw to do or say anything even though I was mentally begging them to stop this madness before I accidentally hurt Toph.
I held my shaky hands still and stared hard into her strong misty eyes, and was just able to hold my ground when she took her hand away.
I stood there holding my breath once again, every muscle in my body locked and unmoving, fatigue setting in with an unusual speed. My sweaty hands keeping a firm grip on the blade pressed into Toph's tanned neck. Inside I was a wreck, I sharpened and cared for my sword everyday. I knew just how keen it was. I knew that if I were to slip up even slightly, a barest brush of the cold steel could rupture the pulsing jugular vain beneath my blade and it would be all over.
"If you won't listen to fucking reason then listen to this," she growled at me. I could feel the sound pulse through the steel of my blade. "I trust you with my life; we all trust you with our lives everyday and there is not a single second I regret or question my trust in you. You are Sokka of the Water Tribe, a kind and gentle man; not some fucking monster that time forgotthat needs to be watched like a rabid raccoon-dog. You have a soft heart, a hard head and there's no one else I would rather trust my life with. Have I made myself clear?"
Toph, small but unbelievably powerful Toph, the Warrior Toph spoke to me in a clear and completely calm voice even though I held her life at the end of my sword. She wasn't just saying that she trusted me with her life, she was actually placing it right in my hands to do with what I will; because she had no doubt that I would never and could never hurt her.
In tormented inches I slowly lowered my black blade until the tip was touching the stone between our damp feet. I felt like an idiot. Not only did I get everything wrong, I was too scared to let the gang in on my fears.
"Do you understand now?" she asked still meeting my eyes as best she could.
I swallowed hard past the ball in my throat. "Yes, I was an idiot."
"Damn straight you were," she snorted
I laughed a little myself, feeling the weigh upon my heart lifting. Toph gave me one of her dangerous grins and I felt like I was floating again. I wasn't becoming a monster. They still trusted me and didn't want me to leave. We were still family. And unfortunately I was still an idiot. Guess some things never did change.
"So," I asked Toph, looking over her shoulder to where Aang and Katara were; presumably still trying to figure out what had just happened. "What happens now?"
"Now we figure out where that strength of yours comes from," she said.
"Um," I mumbled, confused again. "How?"
"Well, what were you doing when you first felt the... power, I guess," she asked, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
I scratched the side of my head just behind my ear, trying to figure out where she was going with this. "I was, Uh – It was when I was fighting Senchi for the championship match so ..." then it dawned on me. "Oh, hell no! I am not trying to call that out of me to fight you!" I cried, some of the tightness coming back to my chest. Given how many times Toph got what she wanted from me I really didn't like where this was going.
"First off, I though we worked through this. You do not have a monster inside of you, you freakin' moron!" she yelled back. Aang and Katara who had been creeping forward slightly jumped back at the anger in Toph's voice. Deciding we weren't done our 'aggressive negotiations' yet they backed up to where they were before hand and watched carefully. I'm pretty sure they knew exactly what we were talking about now, after all neither I nor Toph were being too quiet about it ... so why didn't one of them come over her and scream some sense into Toph!
"And second, I thought we already established that I trust you," Toph growled up at me, making me cower slightly.
"Just because you trust me, that doesn't mean I trust me," I shot back.
Then Toph did something I had never seen her do before. In the middle of a fight where she believed she was right, she stopped arguing -became silent- and looked at me for a long time, thinking. I was so taken by surprise that I lost all my fight and forgot what I wanted to yell about next.
"Do you trust me?" she asked finally.
"Yes," I said immediately. A moment later I smirked, "completely. Do you got something pointy I can hold to my throat to prove it?"
"Smart ass," Toph said, mirroring my smirk. Again a quiet descended upon us. "If you really trust me then trust that I will not let you get out of control even if you lose it."
"But what if I'm too powerful?"
"Sokka," She said in an exasperated voice. Cue the instant stupid feeling again. "You're fighting me. And thats not counting Katara, and might I remind you we also have the Avatar with us?"
"But-" I started again. There had to be something about this that was tremendously idiotic; I just couldn't put my greasy little fingertips on it yet. It was like trying to gasp onto a greased otter-penguin. One with a nasty kick.
"C'mon Sokka, do you really think you could flip out and all of us together would not be able to subdue you?" asked Toph.
I didn't know how else to explain it rather then to just say it.
"Genzou also said something else too," I said looking down at the tip of my black sword as it dug slightly into the hard stone.
"Oh?" Toph asked, aching an eyebrow.
"She said that I'm the one destined to resurrect the old ways and to stand shoulder to shoulder with the Avatar as he faces the coming darkness."
Toph thought about this for a long time, long enough for Katara and Aang to once again work up the nerve to come closer. "So, she said that you might be near Avatar strength?"
"Yeah, well eventually ... I think. Maybe."
"You know what I like most about you?" she asked mildly. I shook my head, and her face twisted in a slight frown. "The gods' damned certainty. Well if it's true, then all the more reason for you to find out where this power is coming from and how to control it."
"But, what if I-"
"Sokka," Toph shouted. I stopped talking and just froze for a moment. "Do you really think your going to win this argument?"
I opened my mouth to try to continue, but then my mind caught up with my mouth. Oh hell, sometimes I hate knowing so many things. I sighed deeply, letting my shoulders slouch in defeat. "No."
"And am I right?"
"Yes."
"And are you being stupid again?"
"Yes."
"And am I the Queen, meaning you must bow to me and do anything I say?"
"Yes – w-wait what?" I stammered, just realizing what she said.
"Too late!" she shouted, glee back on her face. "I am your Queen and I rule you, little man!"
I chuckled, "me little? I'm taller then you."
"Oh yeah?" she asked wickedly, that wild grin on her face again. Oh crap, this isn't going to turn out good. "By decree of her majesty all people must walk around on their knees!" she roared, followed by a mad cackle.
"No way Queeny," I said smirking
"I said on you knees," Toph yelled, laughing. Then next thing I knew the earth beneath my feel opened up and I feel into a hole with a startled shout, right up to my knees. So here I was, standing in a hole. Great.
"Alright Queeny, you win." I said from my place in the earth, looking up at her. Total defeat, not pleasant. But meh, it's Toph, like hell I could win. Some part of me didn't even want to.
Toph crossed her arms importantly and nodded.
"Good, my subject. Now come," She said grabbing me by my wolf-tail and pulling me out of the ground with a quiet pop. I stood up straight again and dusted off my legs, then noticing one of my shoes was gone I went back to the hold I was just rescue from and reached in to retrieve my footwear. I slipped my shoe back on and looked up, seeing that Toph had already taken up a fighting stance a dozen or so feet from me. "Hey, Sugar Queen and Twinkle Toes, get your scared asses over here."
I wanted to protest, I couldn't stand it if I hurt her, and we had no idea what I was capable of with that strange power, but it seemed I had no choice in the situation. So, I picked up my sword and walked a few feet in the other direction. It was here that Katara and Aang finally decided to speak up.
Great timing guys, thanks for your earlier bloody moral support.
"What do you two think you're doing?" asked Katara with an edge of annoyance in her voice.
"Uh, I know you two were arguing, but don't you think you're taking it a bit far?" asked Aang looking more then a little worried. I smiled slightly. Good ol' Aang; interfering in the argument after it was over.
"Sokka's going to try to call out that power he had at the tournament and he wants you two to make sure he doesn't flip out," said Toph, stating everything as lightly as though she were commenting on the weather. Oh, I hope this doesn't come back to bit me in the ass, but knowing my luck – No, don't think about your luck Sokka. That always goes to the bad place; the kind of place where you end up sucking on frogs.
"What?" asked my sister, getting that squinty-eyed look that usually meant bad things. Like a dramatic increase in localized tsunami activity. I am not thinking about my crummy luck, everything is going to turn out dandy ... ah, crap.
"Sokka, what are you two talking about," Katara asked.
I sighed, getting that creepy feeling on the back of my neck that meant that life was about to take another swing at me. "We were talking and we decided-"
Toph coughed loudly and I scowled. "Alright, Toph told me I was being an idiot for fearing what I was becoming and for fearing that you guys would leave me, or worse; that I would hurt you. So, apparently we're going to spar and I am going to try to call out-"
"If you say monster I'm going to smash you," Toph said seriously.
"-the power again."
For a long time there was nothing, not even a bird chirped.
"What?" asked Katara, her face contorted in confusion. Alright, backing up.
"Remember that last fight I had with that pompous looking guy? Well, I'm not to sure how, but I managed to tap into some-something," I finished lamely, watching their expressions very carefully.
"And now he's getting all worried thats he's turning into a monster and I gotta slap some sense into him," shouted Toph with an evil smirk.
"Yes," I said slowly, not able to deny anything in there. "That too."
"So..." said Aang slowly. "What are we going to be doing?"
"You and Katara are going to be watching us, ready to jump and and stop me if I lose it," I stated, wishing that it didn't come to that.
"Sokka," said my sister, getting my attention. When I looked over she had that motherly look on her face again. "You have nothing to worry about, Toph is a bending master, pretty much a prodigy. There is nothing you could do to hurt her. I mean, you've gotten a lot better with weapons, but this is a whole other level."
"Wow, Katara; he's your brother, shouldn't you know him better then anyone?" asked Toph with a chuckle. "We have sparred a few times before now and I must admit he almost got me quite a few times. He's been the best work out I've had in months, and I know for a fact that he never even got close to the speeds that he touched when he got a hold of this weird strength the first time."
Katara looked conflicted between looking pissed and thoughtful at that comment, and Aang just looked slightly amazed. "Really! wow, Sokka, coming from Toph thats a very nice compliment, isn't it?" he asked wiggling his eyebrows at me. I immediately felt my face burn slightly, I really got the wrong meaning from that. I chanced a quick glance at Toph and saw her eyes on me -as much as they could be- with a matching blush.
Bloody hell, now she was embarrassed for me.
A loud slapping sound pulled my attention bad to my sister just as she pulled her hand back from slapping the back of Aang's head. What the hell was that about?
"What do you think your you doing?" hissed Katara. Hurray, her anger was pointed somewhere else besides me! Oh, and poor Aang. I chuckled evilly in my own mind. Yes, poor Aang indeed.
"What?" Aang said, rubbing that back of his head. "Your the one who said that Toph was-"
Quite suddenly Aang was swallowed up by the earth just as Katara screamed "Shut up!" and dove to clamp her hands over his mouth. But as Aang had just fallen into a hole and Katara was headed towards him when it happened, she also fell into said hole with a squeak when she hit the bottom, on top of a groaning Aang.
I leaned a bit closer, trying to see the bottom of the hole.
"Ow, what did Toph do that for? I was trying to help."
"That wasn't helping!" shouted Katara. "That was as blunt as an avalanche!"
"But your the one who said that Sokka was the dumbest smart person you had ever met for not seeing that-"
"Shut up, Aang before you say it."
"So? All these plans and plots are confusing. Just have her tell him that-" suddenly the hole sealed over and nothing could be heard. I looked over at the still blushing Toph.
"What the hell was that about?" I asked slowly as I tried to piece it together. What could have gotten that out of Toph right before a spar? I couldn't think of much. I filed it away in my growing 'deal with later' pile.
"Nothing," said Toph a little to quickly.
"But, it sounded like-"
"You wanna go in the hole too?" she threatened. I cowered as all thoughts were shoved from my mind.
"No, Queeny."
-
Mai
I watched the last of the Sixth Dragon of the Imperial Army board its airships in silence. I turned with a sneer to look at the 'special operations' staff that I had been given command of for the time being. There were about twenty of them, all hardened killers, all expert trackers and stealth experts. Their guise varied from the eccentric to the obscene, and all variations that could fall between them. Notable figures included arguably the most effective mass combat specialist in the Fire Nation, a master of a forbidden technique that caused massive explosions to occur at a distance, focusing the attacks through his crown chakra. A smattering of Gel Hassad assassins sat there as well, including the Black Twins, a pair of soul bonded Gel Hassad warriors. The two of them sent shivers down my back.
Soul bonding is a uniquely Gel Hassad art, one of the few remaining to us after all these long years. In ages past, I suppose it had been used to bond together powerful strike teams, giving it's members not just a physical blood bond but a terrifying spiritual bond. In essence, performing the seals of the Soul Bond created essentially one soul that inhabited multiple bodies. Not only that, but there was a link between them that gave them energy and strength. When one was injured, they would heal more quickly and more effectively than an un-bonded individual. Even in the modern day there were accounts of incredible recoveries from things as horrific as broken backs and shattered rib cages; things that not even master water benders could heal reliably. In addition there was a form of communication between them. They could literally speak without words across any distance that we'd ever tested. Such abilities came with a price, however. They shared a lifespan, both of them pooling the years of their lives together. Their great healing factor drained that life, taking years from their lives to keep them alive through the worst injuries. There were rumors of other upsides, things about physical intimacy being amplified and such, but I'd never been tempted. I didn't want to rely on anyone that much. The idea frankly scared me.
Then there was also my least favorite Gel Hassad; an ornery bitch of a woman, but the best tracker I had ever met. Gods damn her. Jun Xia Sai was a Radical, one of the least ethical factions of the Gel Hassad and by far the most violent. She was a poster child in some ways; she was successful, and her beast that she'd bred using Old One techniques was without a doubt a fine creation; though why she called it Shu-Shu was beyond me. The Radicals believed that they should use the ancient techniques however they pleased. I figured that would either get us all killed or worse, let loose a plague of engineered beasts like those of the Great Divide that the Old Ones had seeded. It was no accident that when they had scourged the cradle of Man with fires from the skies, it became infested with burrowing, flesh eating monsters the size of rail cars.
The Old Ones were great believers in thoroughness.
I stalked back along the observation deck's walkway, past each of the varied mercenaries and assassins. I stopped as I passed by June.
"Hello Jun," I growled. The bounty hunter smirked at me. Old Ones damn the Radicals and all that they stood for.
"Hello Mai," she responded with a toss of her long hair. It covered a scar I'd once given her when she argued in the Great Council. Good shot for a ten year old, I figured; damn good. It'd nearly taken out her eye. "I hear you are a favored companion of Prince Zuko."
"Yeah?" I responded in as bored a tone as I could manage.
"Oh, did he never tell you about our great adventure?" she asked sulkily. Her voice was just quiet enough that the nearest others couldn't hear. She pouted at me, and it must have hurt like hell. "He asked me to track down an old girlfriend. Something about her running off with another man. Very sad, really. Wonder if she left him because of his... well, ghk!"
The pitiful squeaking noise she made as my outstretched had closed around her throat was quite satisfying. I had my head at an angle perpendicular to the one she was looking, and as such all she could see of my face was in profile. I moved my eye to track her while holding my head absolutely still and quickly blinked my sclera, revealing the blood red eyes of my legacy. I only had three words for her, really.
"Too far bitch."
She made another squeaking sound as she brought her arm around and wrapped it around my own. She was strong, stronger than me by a lot, but I had the leverage this time. I twisted, and no matter how strong she was, she didn't weigh any more than me, probably less. She hit the deck plates with a thud and instantly stopped struggling when she saw the fistful of knives I had clutched between my fingers level at her beautifully pale neck.
"Let this be a lesson," I said calmly. "On insubordination."
I took the knives and delicately drew blood from her fragile looking throat. I didn't bother to look up and see if any of the others were looking. I knew they were. Time to get control of this mob of scum. "If anyone else wants to try to test me, go right ahead. However, I'm not the one paying you. I'm the one leading you, and let me make it perfectly clear that if you don't do your jobs, or give me any difficulty at all, I will cease to value your lives. If you cross me, like this stupid bitch has, then I'll kill you. It doesn't get any simpler."
The explosives expert with the eye tattoo on his forehead actually laughed; it was the first time I'd ever seen him make an expression other than a focused scowl. The Black Twins lounged against one another in a manner that left the nature of their relationship a mystery to no one. They barely seemed to notice that I'd almost slit another woman's throat right in front of them. The rest looked suitably spooked. I'd just thrown off the image of a teenage girl, and become an ageless killer. The effect on their attention span was most pleasing.
"Excellent," I said, standing up and dusting off the bottom part of my robes, while I stowed my knives again. "Now that I have your attention, here's the story. You will be the 'team' in charge of retrieving 'persons of interest' to the Fire Lord. We have a list that will be updated once we're dirt side in Ba Sing Se. I don't really care how you do your job, and the Fire Lord cares less than I do. Find them and bring them back; but bring them back alive."
I gave the Black Twins a sharp look when I said this. They weren't known for their careful attitude towards human life. They nodded, however. They got the message. I pulled a scroll out of my robes and tossed it to the explosives expert.
"Here is our current list. I've done my own recommendations on who should be hunting what, but if you have suggestions, I will give them due weight and consideration," I said. At this I stepped down hard on Jun's hand that had been wandering slowly towards her belt. I ground my heel into her hand. "That is all. We will meet again in twenty four hours, at that time initial assignments will be finalized. Get to know your targets ladies and gentlemen. Lord Ozai is paying a pretty penny for you. It would be a shame if you weren't able to collect due to... unfortunate circumstance."
I removed my heel from Jun's hand and whirled to stalk out of the room. I had no doubts that they would be ready when the time came. For all their juvenile behavior, they were some of the best at what they did in the world. It would be more than sufficient to fulfill the task that Ozai needed them for. I was about midships, and feeling very satisfied with myself, when it hit me.
I gasped and fell to my knees as a pressure wave rammed into my body, pressing down on my shoulders. I gritted my teeth, and attempted to stand up, but I couldn't budge. Something with enormous spiritual presence was here, right now. I felt the baleful focus on me. With a grunt of effort I raised my hands and quickly sketched one of the few Spirit Shaping spells I knew on the nearby bulkheads. There was a release of some kind, and I nearly leaped to my feet when the pressure cut off suddenly.
My head now raised I saw it. I must have reflexively released my sclera, bringing the spiritual world into slightly better focus. It floated in front of me for an instant, something ancient and indescribable. There were tentacles and barbed, piercing tendrils wavering around it in a halo, fur and teeth, a mix of a thousand traits. All of this centered around a single luminescent blue eye, whose so utterly human pupil, somehow more terrifying for it's familiarity in such a strange setting, regarded me with all of the respect I gave an ant. I saw my wards sparking and actually glowing into the visible spectrum as they tried to restrain the focus of the beast. I am not too proud to say that in that moment I had a shameful lapse of resolve. I screamed like an eight year old girl. The eye blinked once, and then was gone, my warding shimmering out of existence in the same moment.
I collapsed to my hands and knees, retching from the overwhelming stress of it's presence. I was distantly glad I hadn't had lunch earlier. I heard guards scrambling in alert, and booted feet pounded on deck plating. However, even though I noticed all of this, only one thing came out of my mouth.
"What the fuck was that?"
-
Sokka
It was twenty minutes or so before we were all ready once again. Toph made me walk a short distance away before she pulled Aang and Katara up out of the hole. I still had no idea what the hell was going on with those three. I was feeling really out of the loop now. But anyway, finally I was standing across from Toph, my sword still sheathed and a wicked grin on her face.
"Ready Snoozles?" she asked, still smirking. It was staring to worry me a little.
"I suppose," I replied. Then I looked over my shoulder to where Katara and Aang were standing, "you guys ready?"
"Yeah," said Katara exasperatedly, "but I still think this is overkill."
"I'd rather have overkill then the alternative," I said, locking eyes with Toph again just as she dropped into her familiar fighting stance. I pulled my own sword out of the scabbard with a metallic ringing noise and squared off in a basic Water tribe stance; my feet shoulder width apart with knees slightly bend, and my sword held one handed slightly to my right.
"Ready, daffodil?"
"Hells yeah, Queeny," I chuckled as I tensed, waiting for the first blow. I expected Toph to launch right into an attack, and I wasn't disappointed.
Almost immediately Toph swung her right arm in a wide arc and a rumble came from the earth behind me. I whirled around as fast as I could and, using the flat of my blade, deflected the thin column of earth that was coming at my chest. The moment I diverted away that blow I heard another similar attack from my left. Spinning fast, I repeated the deflection with the resonating ring of steel filling the air. The long column of earth shattered into clods and fell back onto the ground, useless until Toph breathed life into it once again.
Damn, I'm thinking too much. I'll be smashed that way. More columns of earth erupted from the earth and came at me, and I attacked with as much grace as I could and deflected every one of them. Toph was opening with a very basic attack designed to gage the speed and strength of her opponent, once she had that, the real fight would start.
Quite suddenly two walls, well over seven feet tall rose up on either side of me, leaving Katara and Aang at one entrance, and Toph grinning at the other. "Better call out that power fast," she said sweetly.
Oh hell, that can't be good.
I looked up and saw nothing but the clouds rolling past the tops of the walls, but then something slammed into the back of my head – hard. I spun around quickly, sword at the ready to block the next attack, but saw nothing.
"The hell?" I asked no one. Suddenly, something hard hit the center of my back right between my shoulder blades, knocking me forward. I turned as fast as I could, already swinging my sword, and again I saw nothing.
"Confused Snoozles?" Toph asked, her voice echoing slightly in the stone hallway.
"A little," I admitted, right before it hit me, literally. A column of earth bent right out of the wall, smashed into my face, and retracted back. Through the stars I noticed that the wall looked exactly how it did before. That was how she was doing it. This was a gauntlet designed to attack from all sides at once. Clever. Good thing I'm smart too once you hit me in the head a bunch of times. Not to mention fast.
I took a cleansing breath and let my eyes drift most of the way closed, preparing for the next strike. My eyes few open as my breath caught in my throat. I felt it, something cold deep inside my chest. It was gone in an instant, but I could feel that wherever that came from, my power came from the same place.
I was so focused on the thing inside me I almost forgot about the world around me; so when nearly a dozen earth spears erupted from the walls and tried to stab me I was only just able to get battle ready before the first one neared me. I was a cyclone of black steel glittering in the morning sun. My blade flew everywhere at once, deflecting strikes with almost beautiful precision. I dropped to one knee, ducking under two spears, letting them destroy themselves while I cleaved the four others coming at my knees before I back flipped just as the space I occupied only second previously was filled violently.
I was grinning like a madman as the earth flew, almost completely obstructing my vision, but I still never missed a strike. It was as though there was another force guiding my hand, leading it to the next closest strike without my knowledge or will. My warriors instincts.
No, another name came to me from deep inside my consciousness.
The Void. I was tapping into something called the Void. I was reaching out and grasping this power that existed somewhere outside the mortal realm and pulling it into myself, letting it guide my hand and power my muscles. I tore through another mass attack from these walls, but it was different this time. This time the speed that the earth moved at was greatly decreased, or I was getting faster... much faster.
I felt that small cold spark deep inside my chest again. This time I continued to fight the gauntlet, not hesitating or trying to force anything, and slowly, ever so slowly ... the spark grew, becoming a flame of the coldest ice. My hands tightened on the leather wrapped grip of my blade as the air temperature slowly dropped around me. There was something scratching at the back of my mind, something enormous. But blocks, conscious or unconscious were holding it back for now.
My heart was pounding, blood was rushing in my ears. I was feeling more alive then
ever, like I was finally becoming what I was always destined to be. It sounded corny even to me, but I knew that it was true, on a very deep level. I was always meant to be this; the Incarna, this force of nature. I felt a thrill of exhilaration; then something Genzou said to me surfaced; 'power can corrupt the most noble of us, you are no exception'. The thought chilled me, and drove any vain notions from my head like a wave of ice water.
Another barrage of earth came at me from behind and I barely had to react they were going so slow. I slapped away the first one with the edge of my blade before I slid it back into its sheath. I don't need a weapon anymore, not right now anyways. Weapons were killing tools and right now I was sparring friends. I bent and twisted, my feet skimming over the surface of the earth, kicking up small clouds of dust as I dodge each spear of compressed earth and stone with almost lazy grace. It was like a dance that I knew all of the steps to.
Then the numbers came.
I was always told I was a smart man, a born thinker. When I couldn't fight along side the others against the Fire-Nation that was what they told me. But now all of the numbers and knowledge that I had accumulated over the last few years filled my mind to a point I had never felt before, scrolling in front of the corners of my vision like a curtain of numbers and symbols; numbers and symbols that I could understand.
Memories began to flash through my mind, organizing themselves and becoming the subject of analysis. Every time I had ever watched Toph fight, whether it be against Fire-Nation soldiers or Earth Kingdom Dai-Li scrolled past my minds eye as my hands continued the fight without me. Dozens of stances, hundreds of moves and thousand of attacks ran past the deepest parts of my mind, past the calculating coldness in the back of my head. Each and every move I had ever seen Toph make was broken down into a column of numbers that filled my head and organized itself into the foreground of my consciousness, to be judged and sorted with my mind to ensure no heartless decisions were made.
In one hundredth of a second I had calculated the most probable attacks and fighting patters Toph would come at me with. I was ready for anything she might throw at me for the next one hundred and thirteen seconds. A short time, yes; less than two minutes. It was not longer because an extensive cross-calculation of my attacks and revelation of abilities against her expected fighting patterns predicted that she would either call for assistance from Katara or Aang before launching into a new pattern yet uncalculated or continue the attack with something completely new and off the cuff. Improvisation was the bane of logic, I supposed. The addition of my sister or the Avatar would add a new variable to the equation, calling for yet more reassessment. I came back to myself just as the earth that had been raised against me fell back to the ground, shattered and broken.
A flash of movement up and to my left drew my attention. Looking up, I only got a fraction of a glimpse of something large. It was covered in fur and enough muscles to be unnatural, and it had been hovering above Toph like some sort of guardian angel. Something deep in the back of my mind stirred.
Jenkotsu; the Four Fists, Henkotsu; the Four Sensei's, and the Ger-ghanim the four that were their Yang reflection, the servants of the Incarna.
The Henkotsu, the ancient teachers of the Avatar, one for each element. Optimally designed around the same power core and operational parameters as the AVATAR subsystems and woven into the same command matrix, they were able to call upon the same incredible powers that the Avatar himself could. It was a power system completely separate from that of the normal Benders.
Memories flashed and information shifted through my mind like the gears of the Inventor's machines. I reached an inescapable conclusion meshed with a memory not my own; the network was in the temples. When Aang had gone crazy at the Air Temple and accessed the Avatar State, the skies had lit up like the dawn: the pulsing crystals, the storm of light, all of it. It was the network of power celebrating and honoring its long lost master's return. The Avatar had his own source of power.
Just like I did.
Memories flashed by in a blur, and calculations were adjusted faster than an eye blink. Though I had always considered her highly, I now saw what she could become; and I was almost afraid. One Henkotsu had murdered over thirty fire benders during Sozin's comet. By all regards, he shouldn't have been able to kill a single one. Giyatsu had been powerful, able to tap the same primal matrix as the Avatar. Little Toph, Warrior Toph, was probably easily among the fifteen most powerful fighters in creation; by two orders of magnitude, by my calculation.
I shot backwards as fast as I could, and with all of the power I had just found, it was pretty fast. My feet seemed to almost be skimming across the top of the ground. I spun around just as I reached the other end of the gauntlet where Aang and Katara stood. Again I caught a glimpse of something large hovering in the air, this time over Katara. But instead of the hulking monster I saw over Toph, this thing looked a wispy and deadly thing, like a rapier sword, deceptively thin and delicate looking.
I risked a look at Aang and didn't like what I saw. He was looking at me with a hard, but far away expression on his face while rubbing his left temple. His memories were trying to resurface. Something told me that could be a bad thing. This same knowledge told me that perhaps this was what I ought to have been worried about.
No, my mind countered; this was Aang we were talking about here. I was in no more danger from him than he was from me.
I skidded to a stop at the mouth of the gauntlet, facing back the way I came, looking Toph dead in the eye. My fingers worked eagerly at my sides; this was actually starting to be... fun?
"Hey, you ain't done are you Sokka?" asked Toph smirking. I grinned wickedly back. She would break me if she even heard me say it, but Toph was smaller and weaker then almost every opponent she had ever faced, she always had been. It was because of this she always had to develop the most devastating and destructive attacks she could think of. She had never had to learn close in combat control, only mastery of ranged combat; this was her downfall. She had a zone around her, a ring near her body that she couldn't defend with the flashy and powerful attacks she was used to. She had to use finesse and more importantly, hand-to-hand. All that power served her well, she could take almost anything thrown at her. But she wasn't one for in close fights.
Sixteen inches. Forty point six four centimeters.
I needed to get inside that perimeter, once there she had no way to defeat me. I let my grin widen.
"Sokka?" said Katara, sounding slightly confused. I turned around just enough to see her out of the corner of my eye. Again I just caught a glimpse of something, a deathly blue hovering above her.
"Everything's fine," I said, liquid and hissing syllables sliding easily off the tongue. They echoed in the artificial canyon, distorting strangely. Katara's eyes went wide at the alien words coming from my mouth. The words in my head and the ones coming from my mouth were completely different. The Old Tongue, I realized with a start, the ancient language before Man. My thoughts were moving in such a way that I could not speak my native tongue no matter how hard I tried. Something about the limitations inherent in lesser tongues, efficiencies in calculation, and a host of other weird things that I really didn't remember clearly. I guess it was kind of like how Aang's Avatar state had almost no facial expressions, a weird little quirk of the gig.
I turned back to Toph and saw her still grinning face. "Still think you're a monster?"
Four point six percent maximum capacity; initial system overrides engaged. All subsystems functioning within acceptable parameters.
I shrugged noncommittally and she shook her head. "Alright, I guess we'll have to keep going, huh?" I widened my fighting stance slightly in response. "Kay Snoozles lets go."
"Lets get psycho," I said calmly, feeling the strange words roll of off my tongue like I had spoken this language all of my life. Then without a warning of any kind I started to jog toward her, my sword still sheathed over my back.
"What, no sword?" she asked, an edge in her voice. "Don't you think you'll need it?"
"You're not my enemy," I said, knowing she couldn't understand the words but hoping that she got the meaning. Judging by the slight frown on her face she sort of did, but was also slightly pissed off at me for going easy on her. I nodded slightly, she would know why I put away my blade in six seconds.
I re-entered the gauntlet and almost immediately I was attacked by a dozen more spears from the earthly walls. I danced around them; minimal effort expended. Nearly every move and trajectory had been previously calculated, and it was nothing for me to do a few quick corrections on the rare occasions that something unexpected came.
I sped my jog into a full run and ran straight up the left wall, before kicking off -the earth reaching for me to pull me back down- and landed on the branches of one of the trees surrounding the oasis. I quickly tracked and plotted the best route to my goal and calculated all of the angles and speeds I would need even before my foot touched the bark. I held my place for exactly one second, watching the confusion develop on Toph's face when she didn't feel me touch back down.
Thirty two seconds.
Five point two percent maximum capacity; initial overrides holding in stable configuration. All subsystems functioning within acceptable parameters.
I ran across the tree line, my feet connecting with the rough bark silently. No noise; Toph might not be able to see me, but she could still hear me coming if I wasn't careful. I shot a quick glance back and met Katara's wide eyes and gaping mouth. I smiled at her reassuringly and waved as I negotiated my way through the tight branches, not even watching where I was going.
I dropped from the trees inside Toph's weak zone, crouching slightly, our noses almost touching and enjoyed her gasp of surprise. "Oh, shit," she said.
Thirty eight seconds. She now knew why I didn't need my sword. Oh well, at least the epiphany of her greatest weakness happened against me and not some enemy. It didn't stop her from trying to smash me. I laughed cheerful as she called up the earth to try to swat me away from her. I moved with the whispers of the winds, dancing around her attacking form with calculated ease, I even beeped her nose once. She punched me in the chin the next time I tried that. Damn, I had all of the knowledge and mind of ... whatever the hell I was, and she still surprised me at every turn. Sweet, that's my Toph.
I twirled around and and flipped over her head, landing behind her. She turned quickly, pulling up a chuck of earth to hit me with. But the earth she called was too close to her weak zone and it was too clumsy and poorly made. She had to hold back power not only for fear of hurting me, but for the fact that she hadn't studied the kind of control that she needed to manipulate the earth that close to herself. She could hurt herself as well as me inside her weak zone. I easily ducked it and tapped the backs of her knees, knocking her to the ground.
She got back up gracelessly and tried to roll back from me, to get some distance from me so that she could launch a proper attack. But I stayed right with her every step of the way, within those sixteen inches.
"Fa'teh R'lleth?" I asked in a smart ass tone. I supposed it meant 'are you having fun?', but there was a connotation of 'you idiot' attached to the phrase. Man, this language had all kinds of nifty insults you could use with it. Toph seemed to get the gist though. It wasn't hard, really.
"Cram it, Sokka." she cursed before trying to kick me in the ankle, but I just flipped over her again and chuckled. More attacks, either crumbly rock or small fists were easily dodged as something started to shimmer over us; correction, over her. For a further sixty two seconds we fought, well ... danced more then fought, but either way she never landed even a glancing hit on me, and by the end she was giving it her all.
Sweat shown on her face and exposed arms as she growled. I sidestepped another column of earth, and beeped her nose again. She almost smiled before she stopped and almost seemed to deflate, I had fought Toph, my warrior Toph to a stalemate. I could have easily beaten her, she knew it, but I didn't. So Queeny, what now? She attacked again, and I continued to skim the earth around her, keeping inside the sixteen inch border.
One hundred and thirteen seconds.
"I need a little help, I can't stop him!" Toph shouted over her shoulder to Katara and Aang. Toph was ginning like a madwoman now even as she fought one of the hardest fights of her life, she hadn't even scored a hit on me since I accessed the Void but she was ecstatic. I was holding back just enough to not seriously hurt her, I think, but I was giving her everything she could handle. I understood her power and embraced it, responded to it in full. I wasn't treating her like she was delicate or weak. I mirrored her grin chuckling slightly and drew a similar sound from her lips. we stopped as one and stood motionless.
I followed Katara and Aang with my eyes as they moved into places around me. I turned back to Toph, taking a last second of peace being so close to her before I backed out of her weak zone, drawing my sword as I did.
"So, think you need the sword for all three of us?" she asked playfully.
"Sokka, are you okay?" asked my sister.
Toph rolled her eyes and I laughed again. "Yes Katara, its still Sokka in there. I just hit the wall here; I need your help to pull out his full power so the pansy realized he isn't a monster."
Me, the scion of the great Incarna, very maturely stuck my tongue out at Toph. Aang snorted; it was all very professional.
"Why can't he speak?" asked Aang. I thought I saw something strange around him, kind of like an aura but the next second it was gone.
"I dunno," said Toph. "Lets get this done and then we can ask him about it later, you know, when he can answer us in a language we can understand?"
"Oh, yeah," snickered Aang.
So, I'm going to spar the Avatar and two of his Henkotsu huh? Well, better get a little more serious. I closed my eyes and let out a slow breath, knowing it misted before my face.
"Whoa, what was that?" asked Katara.
"He did that at the tournament too, right before he kicked at other guys ass," said Toph. I put all of them out of my mind for the moment and tried to fan the cold flames inside me. I could use a bit more power against all three of them at once. Did I stand a chance against all of them? I don't know. If they were all at full power, hells no. But whatever it was inside me that kept making all of these calculations told me that Aang was at roughly twenty eight percent, Toph was at thirty, and Katara was at forty two percent. Percent of what? Their full potential of course. But how did I know what they could become, what their full abilities were?
Seven point four percent maximum capacity; secondary overrides engaged. All subsystems functioning within acceptable parameters. Archival access initialized; up-link status- engaging; up-link complete.
The Archive.
The source of the memories, the source of the dreams. It was my memory, storage device, and calculation array all in one, a construct of ten thousand angles outside of the mortal realm, in the place of Spirits. It was a... a computer I suppose. My other memories supplied the analogy and definition. A device that was abacus, written record, and oral tradition all in one. Some part of me knew that there was thousands of years of accumulative knowledge was stored in the Archive, and now I had access to it all.
Okay; I was missing something, I needed someone to explain all of this crap to me.
Wait, I was missing something. I sorted through random information, looking for the source. The Archive complied grudgingly. I guess no one had ordered it around like this in a long time. Somehow I knew that I was missing a huge part of what I was supposed to be. It felt like there was supposed to be another consciousness with me, someone to guide me and explain all of this to me. Someone to help me make decisions and to strengthen my body to hold all of the power that was at my fingertips. An advisor, a brother, a friend and a teacher. I was missing something, someone, a piece of myself.
Suddenly the whispers that I had barely noticed came together for a single moment in my time of confusion and gave voice to the answer the Archive had provided.
'The White Wolf'
The wolf? A white wolf? The white wolf that was always with Genzou? He was the link to the power. No, he was the power, as I conceived it. I was the body, the vessel. I was the molder of the power, I made it good or evil. He was where the strength came from. We were to be a symbiosis.
I winced in pain as something slammed into the back on my mind with little grace. There were other things coming to the surface from deep within the Archive now, memories?
I understood now what the dreams had shown me; I knew how the Incarna Spirit worked, how it manifested and how it worked; how it thought, and more importantly what it could do if uncontrolled by an iron will.
My eyes opened slowly as the grass around my feet curled over, covered in frost. My sister gasped as spider-frost crept down my blade blade, turning it a frigid gray. Aang winced as though he had a piercing headache at his temple.
I would only be the wielder of this power if I was in control. I could be dominated and destroyed by it, lose myself in the power and be forced from my own body. If that happened my body would become nothing more then the puppet of the power.
I was sort of angry, but it was a cold slow anger. Why didn't the cat say anything about this? Something struck me, what about Mouretsu? He had mentioned that this would happen, and seemed pretty dismal about my odds of survival. I decided that I would have a chat with each of them when this was over. And since I was about to pull out as much power as my body in its unconditioned form can handle, all of those spirit folk will be tripping over themselves to talk to me.
After all, I was the one who'd helped create the wall between the worlds in the Beginning. I had the keys to the back doors now. At least, I was pretty sure I did.
Ten percent maximum capacity; secondary overrides functioning at maximum red-line. All subsystems functioning within acceptable parameters. Warning; maximum safe aggregation reached, further power intake will cause subsystem damage and possible termination of host body.
I raised my sword and nodded, not a second later the ground below me rose up and tried to consume me whole. I shot forwards toward Toph, moving much faster then before. I was right in front of her, the defensive wall that she had put up a second to late at my back, and with all the powers of the void ... beeped her nose again.
"Stop doing that," she shouted, trying to fight off a laugh and punched me full in the gut, bending me over. It didn't really hurt, but damn, why didn't I see that coming?
"Incoming," I said playfully before firing to my right, just dodging a long whip of water that Katara had sent at me. I laughed mischievously as Toph gasped, being thrown back from the force of the water attack. I pivoted sharply on my right foot and tore up the ground between myself and Katara, dodging a few blasts of wind from Aang. I swung to the left and cut wide around Katara, circling her while moving at blinding speeds while she drew a large quantity of water up from the small lake and morphed it into the multiple armed octopus attack she had developed.
Still running in a wide circle as fast as I possible could around my sister I cackled madly as I leaped and dodged countless tentacles of water and the occasional gust of wind. This went on for a further three seconds before I got bored and went in for a more direct attack. Katara was a little surprised to see me coming right at her but still had the composure to launch several more attacks at me.
Using my free hand I tapped each tentacle of water, channeling the cold that was my purview and my divinely granted right. Almost instantly the tentacles froze solid before shattering them into a hundred shards with the side of my blade. I dodged, weaved, froze and shattered my way quickly until I was standing right in front of a fairly stunned Katara. My ears told my the ice shards that I had scattered across the ground were liquefying and coming back together. I felt it all rear up and a lunge at me. Without turning around or even taking my eyes off of Katara I concentrated, calling upon the unmatchable cold of the empty spaces. The transcendent cold of the Void caused Katara to shiver in her 'brother's worst nightmare' outfit, and re-froze and shattered every ounce of water she threw at me. All the while I was grinning like a lunatic right to her face.
This was one of my abilities, would be one of my abilities. I was human, every Incarna before me had been ... something else. This Void power would allow me to call upon it's chill, allow me access to the space between things, allowing me to move in a way that was beyond anything even humanly possible. Movements and acceleration that would paralyze would be taken in an easy stride for me very soon, but right now I had only the smallest control over this ability. If I pushed it too much I might end up getting sucked somewhere extremely unpleasant.
I sidestepped and caught Aang's staff perfectly in my palm, staring right into his eyes. I frowned deeply, I saw something familiar in those eyes, something not of the Aang I knew... something deadly.
Yasuragi.
I twisted his staff from his grip and threw it as far away as I could. Without a word he attacked, wind and water rushed at me in one powerful wave after another. I stabbed my sword into the earth beneath my feet and held on tight as he poured all of his power into one of his gusts, tearing the very leaves from the trees and making waves crash on the other bank. Something was wrong, he wasn't completely in control of himself anymore, someone else was guiding him; and I think I knew who.
By now Toph had gotten back up and over to me, so now there was the earth to dodge as well and Incarna or no, I was slowly being overwhelmed. Katara got back into the fray, closing in the other side, locking me off from escape as I danced across the tops of the pillars Toph had created to stop my charge and leaped over a wave of water before coming back down in front of Aang only to get caught under the ribs with a block of earth.
I skidded backwards until I managed to kick free from the attack, only to be meet with a barrage of ice javelins. I jumped into the air and twisted in ways that I knew should have paralyzed me at the least and snaked my way through the projectiles and ran along the top of the gauntlet that Toph tried to reestablish, freezing the earth rock solid, then all it took was a hard hit from my blade and it crumbled back to the ground.
I would have laughed at the curse Katara hissed as I weaved my way though a collected attack from her and Toph if not for the fact that Aang's eyes had taken on a very deep shade of tarnished gold; and although I didn't make a habit of looking into his eyes I knew that the Archive was telling me that I was about to meet someone I would rather not.
Aang, or what looked mostly like him took advantage of my distraction and threw a huge fireball right at my face.
Shit, this was really a bad sign.
I flew backwards as fast as my feet could get me going and was almost out of the range of the ball of very painful looking flames when 'Aang' followed it up with a freaking huge gust of air.
I got a little bit of an scientific lesson there. Apparently adding a ball of painful flames with one Avatar powered wind blast makes a fucking huge ball of bleeding death. Needless to say I was in full retreat chanting shit over and over again while almost pissing my pants running from this thing. I was so scared I almost didn't notice that I ran across the top of the pond as something snapped inside of me, and suddenly the fireball was ahead of me. I almost cried in relief as it blasted a huge flamey hole in the tree line around the oasis. Poor trees, but at least I'm not all crispy.
Eleven point one percent maximum capacity; secondary overrides within overload threshold. Motor subsystems detecting potential debilitating strain. Estimating remaining activity time. Result; unknown. Human normal physiology beyond scope of existing records.
The human body is an amazing thing.
I laughed a little in relief and a little at the ridiculousness of that notion, but it was true. According to the Archive's report, I was never supposed to be able to access this level of power until I merged with the 'Source System' a.k.a. The White Freaking Wolf. But here I was, at eleven point one percent of my total potential, looking at a little girl in a cute frilly black dress sitting on an oar, floating ten feet off the ground looking at me and in her arms a tiny little squirrel-mouse nuzzled her hand, looking very cuddly. She waved cheerfully and smiled like sunshine and I just waved back like a dumbstruck moron, once again wondering about my sanity.
"Hello again," she said, as sweet as sugar as her huge luminescent eyes sparkled.
"Hello?" I answered, confused.
"Don't turn into a meanie, okay?"
"I won't," I said in the old tongue, not knowing what was going on.
"Good," she said, smiling wider before she floated back into the sky, squirrel-mouse and all.
Okay, what the hell was that about?
Before I came to any conclusion the ghostly apparition of a monkey-sloth swung into my view and howled sadly to the sky, filling my heart with sorrow for the destroyed trees. I wondered briefly what I was looking at until it suddenly struck me that this monkey-sloth was the spirit of the trees in this oasis, and it was grieving over the loss of a part of itself. Without thinking I solemnly bowed my head to it and said, "the circle of life has no beginning or endings, only places where the circle starts anew."
The monkey-sloth seemed to notice me standing there for the first time and regarded me for a long second. I looked straight into his black eyes fearlessly for a long moment before it bowing its head to me and slowly fading back into the trees and the ground beneath the destruction where fallen acorns will one day regrow the dead section of the trees.
I slowly turned around, taking in all of the spirits that faded in and out of my vision, passing before my eyes like a thousand earthbound ghouls. Each of them a part of something and each dependent on something else. As I looked the strangest schematics and ideas fell into my head, things that I could built and ask these spirits to animate. Not to imprison, but to allow them it interact with the physical world, to right the wrongs and make their small parts of the planet a better place. A wind spirit brushed my spread finger tips before passing from my sight. I felt only the beginnings of the possibilities, a drop of the ocean that could be my destiny. All of this was so strange, yet, natural somehow. It finally started to make some sense, not much mind you, but a little.
'The first of the new race of spirit shapers'.
The Jade Knight - Richard Caine
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