Chapter V: Expedition

Three weeks passed. Pakku had sailed up the Earth Kingdom coast for two and a half weeks, before dropping Sokka and Suki at a port a few days away from the Foggy Swamp. It was the closest stop- the next one was where the two had disembarked to reach the Wulong Forest. The remaining days were spent travelling to the swamp itself, the air becoming heavy with humidity. At the three week mark, Sokka and Suki arrived in a small village at the very edge of the swamp. The small thatch roof huts of the village were built on wooden walkways, suspended a few feet above the stagnant waters of the swamp. Sokka and Suki drew attention from the locals as they entered the village; apparently, they were the only travelers to visit in some time.

"So, we're here," Suki asked. "Now what?"

"I guess we ask around, see if anyone knows anything." But just then, from off to the side, a voice asked, "Sokka? Is that you?" The two looked. To their left stood a stout man, with dark hair, brown skin, and a row of leaves tied around his waist. Something about this man was very familiar to Sokka, but he couldn't quite place it until a name finally jumped to his mind.

"Why Sokka, it is you!" Huu said excitedly, walking over to the two. "And I see that you have a lady friend, too."

"Suki, this is Huu," Sokka said. "Me, Katara, and Aang met him while we were trying to find Aang an earthbending teacher." Suki bowed to the stout man. "It's very nice to meet you, Huu."

"Likewise, miss. So Sokka, what brings you all the way out here? I though you'd be with the Avatar."

"Suki and I are here on business for the Order of the White Lotus. They heard that people have been disappearing in the swamp, and they sent us to find out why."

The smile rapidly disappeared from Huu's face. "Well, a lot of people've been disappearing in the west side of the swamp- I ain't gonna lie about that. My guess is that a mammoth python dug itself a nest somewhere on the trail, and is eating anyone who gets too close." He shook his head. "But we can worry about that later."

"What? Worry about that later! This is serious! The Order of the White Lotus wants us to take care of this as soon as possible!"

"I can tell that you two have been traveling for a while. You told me that this Order of the White Lotus sent you, and I'm not gonna try to stop you two, but you need to get some rest, at least for today. I'll take you out tomorrow."


Sokka and Suki awoke the next morning. They emerged from the small hut Huu had let them borrow- the day before, he mentioned he had huts like this in all the villages of the swamp, since he travelled between them so often. Outside, Huu was already waiting for them. "Good morning Sokka, good morning Suki," he said cheerfully. "You two are looking better already." He began to walk down one of the village walkways. "Well, no use standing around. We should get going- you said yourself that you wanted to finish this as soon as possible." Sokka and Suki followed him to a small dock at the end of the village, where a boat waited for them. Two people were waiting for them already- a tall, lean man, and a shorter, stout man. The stout man looked up and said, "Well looky here! Sokka came back to visit!" The tall man looked over as well and said, "And he brought a lady friend too! She sure is purdy. Don't you think so, Tho?"

"Come on Du, cut that out."

"Alright, I'm just bein' friendly, is all."

"Come on fellas," Huu interjected, "we gotta get going. Move over so they can get on." Tho and Du obliged, shifting over to offer Sokka and Suki room. Sokka and Suki took their places, before Huu stepped on the boat, taking his seat near the bow. Once he was seated, Du stood up, moved to the rear of the boat, and began swinging his arms in large, wide circles; at once, the water at the back of the boat swelled, and began to spin in response. The spinning water pushed the boat forward, and soon, the boat was speeding across the still water.

A half hour passed as the boat sped through the swamp. The five had remained silent for most of the trip, until Sokka eventually asked, "Hey Huu, since you said you know why people have been disappearing, why haven't you gone out to take care of it yourself?"

Huu replied, "Well Sokka, mammoth pythons are nasty critters, as long as a tree is tall and just as wide around the middle. But they're territorial- if we don't bother them, they won't bother us. And we tell people not to go through the west side of the swamp, but some just don't listen." He fell silent. A few moments passed before Du asked, "Do you know what 'suck the heads' means? 'Cause I went to one of the eastern villages with my buddy Ren once, and he didn't know, and-- well I mean it ain't nothing bad. It's about eatin'."

"Du, now isn't really the best time," Tho said.

"Okay. I'm just tryin' to make conversation."

Eventually, Du steered the boat alongside a small wooden walkway suspended a few feet above the water. As the boat came to a stop, Huu told Sokka and Suki, "This is as close as we can take you to where people've been disappearing- you'll have to walk the rest of the way. Just follow this path, and if you find dry land, you're going the right way." Sokka climbed out of the boat first, before helping Suki onto the walkway. "Thanks for everything, Huu," Sokka said. "And it was nice to see you again."

"Don't mention it Sokka. Now you two take care of yourselves." The boat pulled away from the wooden walkway and began to speed away. "It was nice to see those guys again," Sokka said after a few moments of silence. "We should get going." Sokka began to walk down the walkway, with Suki following- the walkway was too narrow for them to walk alongside each other. They walked for some time in silence, before Suki asked, "Hey Sokka, what do you think these 'mammoth pythons' are like?"

"Who knows? Huu says they're big, so there's that. Maybe they have tusks or something like that. But you know, when Aang, Katara, and I were here, nobody ever mentioned anything about mammoth pythons."

"Maybe they didn't want to scare you. Or maybe they weren't as big of a problem back then."

The two followed the walkway for some time- they eventually reached solid ground, after the small patches of sky visible through the canopy of trees had turned from blue to orange. Once they stepped off the walkway, Sokka said, "I guess we should stop here for the night. It's getting late."

"Are you sure?" Suki asked. I think we can get a little bit more walking done."

"I don't think so, Suki. We should set up camp now and wait until morning. It isn't a good idea to be wandering around here after dark, at all. Just trust me on this one."

Night fell. Sokka and Suki set up camp- the two had forgotten to bring their tent from Master Pakku's boat, so they had to take shelter near a large, hollowed-out log. Suki was fast asleep, nestled in her sleeping bag at the base of the log. Sokka was still awake, stoking the small campfire he had lit. In a few hours, he would wake Suki, and he would get some sleep as Suki kept watch.

Back when he and the others had still been travelling together, they relied mainly on Toph to be their early warning if Fire Nation soldiers were coming. But during their time in the Fire Nation, and especially after their first encounter with Combustion Man, the group had made an unspoken agreement to keep watch in shifts when they camped out- two of them would stay awake while the other two kept watch. After a few hours, one would wake up one of the sleepers- the sleeper would take their shift keeping watch, while the old sentry got some sleep. It had worked well between the four of them, continuing until they finally reached the rendezvous point. The system would be far less efficient between only two people, but it was the best Sokka and Suki could hope for.

Sokka sat near the fire, staring into the flames. The swamp was incredibly noisy, the calls of crickets and who-knew-what-else emerging from the darkness, completely surrounding the small camp- Sokka vaguely wondered how Suki could possibly sleep with all the noise. He pulled Space Sword from its makeshift sheath, and gripped it tightly- he knew he was being slightly paranoid, but considering what had happened the last time he was here, his paranoia wasn't completely unjustified.

At that moment, something very odd happened. The swamp fell silent. Ordinarily, Sokka would have considered the silence a blessing, but he found its sudden onset more than slightly disturbing. He'd spent enough time travelling to know that the sudden silence meant one of two things: either a very large, very dangerous predator was nearby, or there were spirits at work. Sokka rose to his feet, holding Space Sword in front of him; he didn't know very much about these mammoth pythons, but if solid steel couldn't stand up against Space Sword, he doubted a snake could, no matter how big it was.

However, Sokka was not expecting what happened next. From somewhere in the darkness, he could hear… crying. Sokka's grip on Space Sword tightened to a painful degree as the sobbing grew louder. Finally, a voice asked, "Why?" Sokka began to tremble violently, in spite of himself. The voice continued, "You promised to protect me. You said you would protect me!" The voice was familiar, very familiar, even though it had been over a year since he had last heard it.

Yue.

She appeared before Sokka, just outside the light of the campfire, glowing in an unearthly white light, her expression completely flat and unreadable. Suddenly, the campfire went out. The air, which had been almost uncomfortably warm just seconds before, became deathly cold. "You didn't protect me." Yue began to slowly walk toward Sokka; with every step, the ground beneath her feet became encased in a solid sheet of ice. "You said you would protect me. You lied." Now, she was only a few feet away; Sokka was paralyzed, too terrified to move away. "I'm dead because of you." Her hand rested on his shoulder; he tried to pull away, but his body felt as though it were frozen solid. Yue drew her hand back. "You lied. And now, you are going to suffer the same way I suffered." Without ever changing her expression, she thrust her arm forward at blinding speed, burying it deep in Sokka's chest.

Sokka awoke with a start. His heart pounded painfully in his chest, his breathing shallow. He forced himself to take several deep breaths, and gradually, his heart rate slowed. He must have dozed off at some point; Sokka found himself still gripping Space Sword, and the campfire had gone out, making the surrounding air surprisingly cold. He sheathed Space Sword and dug in his pockets, trying to find his spark rocks. He found them, and crouched over the burned out fire, striking the two stones together; it was no easy feat, as his hands were still trembling furiously. But eventually, he reignited the fire and huddled close to it, surrounded by the sounds of the swamp. He remained there until he woke Suki and they traded shifts. But sleep would not come to Sokka as he lay in his sleeping bag. He scarcely slept that night, afraid of what else may be waiting for him in his dreams.

Mercifully, the light of dawn broke through the jungle canopy. Suki stood up from the burned out fire and walked over to Sokka's sleeping bag, but as she reached down to tap him on the shoulder, he said, "I'm awake. …I couldn't sleep." As he climbed out of his sleeping bag, Suki asked, "Why? What happened?"

"Well, while I was on watch, I kind of dozed off and… I had a nightmare."

"Oh. Well next time, I think I'll take the first watch and keep those nightmares away from you. Does that sound good?"

Sokka couldn't help but smile. It was several moments before he added, "Oh wait. Before we head out, I need to ask you something- did you bring any weapons with you?" Suki reached down and pulled up her pant leg, exposing a long slender object strapped to her ankle. She unsheathed it, revealing a blade several inches long. "Well, I always carry this tanto around," she replied.

"Do you have anything else?"

"I didn't think to bring anything."

"Well, you should take this then." Sokka reached down to his bag and handed Suki his machete and its sheath. "We might run into something, so we should be ready." Sokka began to roll up his sleeping bag. "When we're done with this mission, do you think Master Pakku or whoever will be meeting us will let us go back to Kyoshi Island so you can get your stuff?"

"I hope so. I'm regretting that this is all I have." Suki sheathed her knife, before removing it and strapping it around her belt. "You ready to go?"

Sokka finished tying his sleeping bag to his pack. "Yeah. We should get going."


An hour or so passed. Sokka and Suki continued to walk north, away from the wooden walkway they had been dropped off at. After some time, the two had come across a narrow trail, and decided to follow it. Although the trail was eerily deserted, the underbrush showed numerous signs of being hacked through- people had been through this region of the swamp, and recently too. As they walked, Suki suddenly stopped. Sokka noticed a moment later and asked, "What's the matter, Suki?" She paused for a moment before replying, "Listen."

Sokka listened for several moments before replying, "I don't hear anything."

"Exactly."

It took several moments for Sokka to process what he was just told. Then he realized. When they had left, the forest had been as noisy as ever; but now, it was dead silent, just as it had been the night before (or had that been a part of his dream? The way it transitioned was so seamless, it was impossible to tell where reality ended and his dream began). Spirit activity never happened during the day (except when very powerful spirits were involved), which could only mean one thing.

"We're close," Sokka said, drawing Space Sword. "Keep your eyes open." Suki drew the machete and the two continued onward, tense, scanning the trees for any sign of activity, listening as hard as they could for any break in the silence. The minutes ticked by; the tension was so unbearable that both Sokka and Suki almost breathed a sigh of relief when a massive crash sounded from the surrounding woods. The crash was followed by a great rumbling, punctuated by more crashes. A loud crack sounded; they looked over, just in time to see a tree fall over with another loud crash. Suddenly, everything was still. They scanned the surrounding woods for any sign of movement, waiting, prepared to strike.

Then, they saw it.

It was a snake- there was no surprise there. But what neither Sokka nor Suki had been prepared for was its size. It was huge; although it was nowhere as big as the Unagi, it was by far the largest land creature they had ever seen. It had coiled itself defensively around one of the numerous trees surrounding Sokka and Suki; its copper body was at least as wide at the tree trunk, if not bigger. It stared down at them with burning yellow eyes, tightening its grip on the tree, the wood audibly cracking under the pressure. It opened its mouth- exposing fangs at least as long as Sokka's arm- and hissed at the two; the size of the creature amplified the hiss, causing it to resemble a growl more than a hiss.

This had to be it. This had to be the reason why people had been disappearing. This had to be a mammoth python.

But there were more crashes, and suddenly, more mammoth pythons appeared, coiling themselves around the nearby trees. In all, six emerged from the depths of the swamp, completely surrounding Sokka and Suki. "Oh man," Sokka said in a low voice, "this isn't good at all."

"What do we do, Sokka?" Suki asked, whispering.

"I'm not sure." Sokka's mind was paralyzed with indecision. He had only been expecting one snake, not the half-dozen he was faced with now. Fighting one would have been hard enough, but fighting six? They would be lucky to kill one now.

But then, something very unexpected happened. The snakes diverted their attention from Sokka and Suki, and all focused on something further up the trail. Suddenly, the giant snakes fled, uncoiling from the trees and slithering away at blinding speeds. Sokka felt Suki drop her guard slightly. "Hmm, I wonder why they're running away." she said.

Sokka replied, "I don't know." He added mentally, But if it can make giant snakes run away, do I really want to?

There was another crash, one far larger than any that had come before it. The ground slowly began to rumble beneath their feet, as the crashes became even louder. But the vibrations of the falling trees were soon made indistinguishable from the constant rumblings in the ground. Suddenly, there was a great smashing sound as something completely leveled the line of trees in front of the two.

It was another mammoth python, but incredibly different from the mammoth pythons they had just encountered. Its scales were black, and its body was easily twice as large as any of the previous snakes. Had the differences ended there, Sokka and Suki might not have been as worried, but there was something else that separated it from anything either of them had seen before. Instead of just one head, this python had eight, each of its long necks coming together at a single point about halfway down the length of its body. And each head was staring right at Sokka and Suki.

Never mind what he had said before. This had to be the reason people had been disappearing.

Each of the snake's heads opened their mouths, exposing fangs at least as long as Sokka was tall. Then, they began to hiss- it was a horrid sound, like metal scraping against metal, completely overwhelming the senses, seemingly penetrating the inside of Sokka's and Suki's heads. Then, a head reared back, and snapped forward. Sokka and Suki recovered enough to just barely stagger just outside the snake's striking range, and the massive snake head sank its fangs deep into the ground.

However, the snake was already on the attack, lashing out two heads, one to Sokka, and the other to Suki. Suki easily dodged the strike, slashing open one of the snake's eyes while its fangs were embedded in the ground. Sokka stood his ground, and when the moment arrived, he swung Space Sword- by sheer luck, he sliced through part of the snake's jaw, eliciting a hiss of pain as the head rapidly withdrew. But there was no time to relax- five of the snake heads now focused on Sokka, determined to kill this foolish human that had dared to harm it. Another two heads darted forward, mouths wide, expecting to swallow Sokka whole. But Sokka was ready; he grabbed Boomerang from his belt and threw it with all his might at one of the heads; it struck home, burying itself in one of the snake's eyes. When the other snake was in range, and with expert timing, Sokka drove his sword through the roof of the snake's mouth, piercing its brain and killing it almost instantly. In the nick of time, Sokka pulled his sword out and left the snake's mouth just before it could snap shut in its death throes.

Meanwhile, the head that attacked Suki pulled its fangs out of the ground. It glared at Suki, its one eye burning with whatever approximation of hate the beast possessed as blood poured from its other eye. With a hiss, it struck; Suki easily dodged the strike, and while the head's fangs were still buried in the ground, Suki climbed on and drove her machete in the flat space just above the snake's eyes. The head thrashed in pain, but Suki held on, continuing to drive the machete deeper into the python's skull; with one last thrash, the snake fell still, blood flowing freely from the wound in its head.

Three heads were down, but there were still five left, alive and burning with hate. They were divided, three facing Sokka, two facing Suki. One facing Suki lashed forward, jaws wide, but Suki easily avoided it, and it plunged its fangs deep into the ground. As it struggled to pull free, Suki climbed on, preparing to drive her machete into its skull; but before she could deliver the killing blow, the other head reared back and struck. Suki avoided the attack just in time, and the python's fangs sank into the head of its comrade. The head that had attacked instantly pulled away- a big mistake, as it ripped put the fangs that were still embedded in its comrade. The other convulsed uncontrollably, trying in vain to twist free of the fangs still embedded in it, before eventually falling still. But the attacker was undaunted, despite the lack of fangs- it reared back its entire body before slamming it against the ground where Suki was standing. Suki easily avoided the snake's attack, and in the few moments before it withdrew, approached and sliced a long gash in the side of its neck, just behind its head. Blood spilled out from the wound like a fountain, and the snakehead tore away, thrashing in pain. But rather than falling, it attempted to slam Suki again; Suki again avoided the attack, and drove her machete into the snake's side again. Even more blood poured from the fresh wound- this proved too much for the snake, as it made one last attempt to pull away before collapsing to the ground, convulsing slightly before finally lying still.

Sokka, meanwhile, was facing down the remaining heads. One head struck first, the one Sokka had blinded with Boomerang. As before, Sokka stood his ground until the moment was right; then, as soon as the head was in range, he stabbed his sword through the roof of the snake's mouth, piercing its skull and stabbing it in the brain. Just as before, Sokka pulled out his sword and retreated before the snake could snap its jaws shut around him. But the snake had anticipated his strategy, and another head was already moving to strike. Sokka had no time to prepare a defense- almost as soon as he had pulled away, another head was already speeding toward him, jaws wide, and suddenly swallowed him whole.

"Sokka!" Suki cried out. The head was already moving to face Suki when it suddenly convulsed violently. It convulsed uncontrollably, until a spurt of blood shot out of its neck. A gaping hole suddenly opened, a bloody Sokka emerging from it. Before the snake could fall, Sokka leapt out of the hole to another of the snake's heads- with a bloodthirsty roar, he swung his sword, almost cleaving completely through the snake's body. He fell to the ground, landing hard- he instantly dropped to one knee as the two snake heads collapsed to the ground behind him. He should have taken what Katara and Suki had said to heart; unimaginable pain pulsed through his leg, and he remained on one knee, unable to rise.

But the battle was over- the sole remaining snakehead was slowly turning its massive body away from Sokka and Suki, dragging itself along in an attempt to flee. Sokka was eventually able to force himself to his feet, and slowly limped after the retreating python; with only one head left to guide it, the beast's massive body greatly slowed its retreat, and Sokka was able to easily out-limp the monstrous reptile, circling to its front. The one remaining head stared down at it, its half-attached jaw widening as it made a feeble hiss at the human before it. Sokka waited, shifting his weight to his good leg, holding Space Sword in front of him. Eventually, the snakehead reared back, and slammed its body against the ground, attempting to crush him under its weight. Sokka dived out of the way, just missing the crushing blow, and slowly staggered to his feet, trying to prepare for the next attack.

But it never came. Sokka looked to see the snake lying still, glaring at him, apparently too weak attack again or retreat. Sokka slowly limped over to the snake, and stopped in front of it; it made one last feeble hiss, but its body didn't move. Sokka drew back his sword one last time, and sliced through the snake's head, from the crown of its head to the top of its jaw. The snake let out one last gurgling hiss as blood poured from the wound, forming a wide pool around its body. Sokka sheathed his sword and began to limp back around the mammoth python's body.

Suki met him along the way. To her he was quite a sight, covered from head to toe in blood. He saw her look of concern and said quickly, "Don't worry- it isn't as bad as it looks." He tried to shift his weight, to make it less obvious that he hurt his leg, but failed miserably, his bad leg buckling partially under his weight. She hurried to his side and draped his arm over her shoulder, taking on some of his weight. As the two began to limp away, Sokka said to Suki, "That wasn't necessary, but… thanks."

"So…" Suki began, "Is it dead?"

"Yeah." Sokka tried to pull away from Suki's grip. "Let go for a second. I need to do something." Suki complied, and watched as Sokka limped over to one of the fallen snakeheads. Without any hesitation, he plunged his hand into the snake's ruined eye and pulled out the single most reliable weapon he had ever owned. He limped back over to Suki, still holding Boomerang. "I lost him once…" Sokka said, as he leaned his weight against Suki. "I'm never going to lose him again." He looked over at Suki. "And I'm never going to lose you again, either."

Suki knew what was coming next, so she quickly spoke up to keep Sokka from saying anything else. "Sokka, we've been over this. What happened with Azula… it happened, okay? You can't keep beating yourself up over things in the past."

"I know. But if I--"

"Sokka, it happened. You can't change that. And if it hadn't, you would never have rescued me. Now I don't want to hear another word about this." She paused. "So, what's next?"

"What do you mean?"

"Where do we go from here? Do we wait here until Master Piandao, or Master Pakku finds us? Do we go back to that safehouse? Do we go to a village and wait there? What?"

"I don't know. I guess the plan is to get to the safehouse, if Master Pakku doesn't find us first."

"Um, Sokka? I think we should hold off on travelling, at least for today. You need to let your leg heal." Suki paused. "And you should really wash yourself off."

"Okay."


"Gah! Not so tight! And what do I need a splint for anyway!"

"Sokka, if you overexert yourself, you can break your leg again. The splint's just a precaution to keep that from happening. Now hold still." Suki ignored another protest from Sokka, followed by a cry of pain as she tied another knot to secure the splint. The two had just finished setting up camp for the night, or rather, Suki had finished setting up camp alone- she insisted on doing so, on account of Sokka's hurt leg. She finished tying the knot, and said, "There, I'm done."

"Yeah, cut off my leg, why don'tcha."

"Stop being such a girl, Sokka."

"Ugh, whatever. Just let me get some sleep so we can get going tomorrow morning."

"Really? Don't you want to--"

"No."

"But you don't even know what I was going to say."

"I don't want to do anything with my bad leg. And besides, we're in the middle of a swamp- I wouldn't exactly call that the world's most romantic setting."

"I wasn't talking about that. I was thinking that you might want something to eat before you go to bed." Almost on cue, a loud growl emanated from Sokka's stomach. "Well, now that you mention it, dinner sounds like a good idea."

"Okay, hold on just a second." Suki began searching through her pack, before a confused look spread across her face. She searched again, before saying, "I think we might have a problem, Sokka. We don't have any food."

"What? Then what are we supposed to do?" Sokka despaired for a moment, before his eyes fell on the enormous black mound that was the mammoth python. He struggled to his feet, and limped over to the fallen beast. "Sokka, what are you doing?" Suki asked. But Sokka's only reply was to draw Space Sword. "Sokka, please tell me you aren't thinking what I think you're thinking."

Minutes later, Sokka was ravenously devouring a large piece of meat. Suki, in contrast, was eating her piece of meat much more slowly. "I still can't believe you talked me into eating this."

"What's so bad about it, Suki? You said it yourself- this is actually pretty good. And I cooked it for you, too"

"I know, but it doesn't change the fact that I'm eating a giant snake."

"The thing is, I can't believe how meaty this snake is. Most arctic snakes back home are all gamey, but this…" He took a large bite. "It tastes like arctic hen. Or…" He took another large bite. "Or salmon." He took yet another large bite. "Maybe both?" Then, he ravenously devoured the rest of his snake. "Alright. I can't believe I'm about to say this, but I'm stuffed." He paused for a moment. "I'm going to bed now, Suki. Can you take the first watch?"

"Sure, Sokka." Sokka curled up on the ground a short distance from the campfire. There was silence for a few moments before Sokka asked, "Suki?"

"What is it, Sokka?"

"You did a great job out there today."

Suki smiled. "You too, Sokka."


Attention passengers, this is your captain speaking. Due to some unexpected problems, there may be some delays in posting the next few chapters, but updates will come as soon as possible. On the behalf of the crew, I would like to apologize for any discomfort these delays may cause during your reading of this story.