Ch 4 the serpents pass
It was quiet. Olivier went thru her pack, and put away some of her clothes, and jumped into the water. After walking in that godforsaken desert, the water felt cool and refreshing. After a few minutes of relief, she swam towards the shore. Quickly putting on her clothes, and fastening her sword, she heard the rustling noise. She pulled out her sword, and moved to intercept
"It's me." Katara said, hands up.
"What do you want?" Olivier asked.
"We're moving to Ba Sing Se. Thought you should know." Katara said.
"How's Aang doing?" Olivier asked.
"He says he's doing fine, but I think otherwise." Katara said.
"He better get over it soon, because we got a war to fight." Olivier said.
Olivier followed Katara back to the group, where they met 3 refugees. A middle aged man and two women. One of them was visibly pregnant.
"Hello there, fellow refugees." The man said.
"You guys heading to Ba Sing Se?" Aang asked.
"Sure are. We want to get their before my wife Ying has her baby." The man said.
"Great. We can take the serpents pass together." Katara said.
"Are you nuts? Only the most desperate take that dangerous route." Ying said.
"Dangerous route. Great pick, Sokka." Toph said, punching Sokka in the arm.
"Well, we are desperate." Sokka said.
"You should come with us to the Full Moon bay. It's hidden, so the fire nation can't find it." The husband said.
"Peaceful ferry, or dangerous pass." Katara pondered sarcastically.
Full Moon Bay
Near Ba Sing Se
"I can't believe how many people's lives were uprooted by the fire nation." Katara said.
Olivier snorted. These kids had no intel about the war whatsoever. If this was the amount of refugees on a daily basis, than the fire nation was very close to the capital. Olivier calculated that the earth kingdom had weeks, if not months of fighting left.
"My cabbages!" was heard, as a large platypus bear destroyed a cart of cabbages, leaving the owner in distress. Olivier paid no mind to such things. Her only objective was reaching Ba Sing Se with the Avatar and his friends.
"Next!" The ticket lady said.
"Four tickets to Ba Sing Se." Aang said.
"Passports?" the ticket lady asked.
"No one told us we had to have passports." Aang said.
"Don't you know who he is? He's the Avatar." Sokka said.
"I see fifty Avatar's a day. Not impressive and besides. No animals allowed. Do I need to call security?" the ticket lady threatened.
Olivier watched and waited. Toph came up, and the ticket lady was sucking her up. Armstrong, Beifong. Both names carried a lot of weight in their respective countries.
"We scammed that lady good." Sokka said. Suddenly, a security guard grabbed Sokka.
"Tickets and passports please." The women threatened. Olivier drew her sword, and grabbed the guard.
"We already got tickets and passports. You're barking up the wrong tree." Olivier said, putting her sword to the guard's neck.
"Who are you?" The guard asked.
"General Armstrong. You got a problem?" Olivier asked.
"No. No problem." The guard said, backing down.
"Wait. I recognize that voice. Suki?" Sokka asked.
"Sokka." Suki said, hugging him. "It's good to see you again."
Catching up on past time, it seemed they were on track to Ba Sing Se, when life had other plans.
"Avatar, you have to help us. Someone took our passports, tickets, everything's gone!" Ying said.
Aang went to talk to the ticket lady, and was refused.
"Next!" she shouted, stamping Aang's head.
"Don't worry. I'll lead you thru the serpents pass." Aang said.
As they left the docks, Suki also joined up. Olivier looked at her new uniform. It looked more like a Geisha than a combat uniform. Olivier wondered if it was possible for Suki to fight in such clothing, especially the dress.
Serpents Pass
Earth Kingdom
The found themselves standing at a H-structure, with a message scribbled into it.
"Abandon hope." Katara said.
"Whoever wrote this, was a coward. They didn't have the balls to move on when it got hard. You keep going, no matter what." Olivier said, walking on the steep mountain.
Suki then told the group of valuable Intel.
"The fire nation controls the western late. Rumor has it that they're working on a massive project, and they don't want anyone to know it." She said.
Olivier let the words settle in her mind. Rumors like that would reckon a preemptive strike to make sure this weapon never saw service. And if the fire nation controlled the western lake, than they were closer to Ba Sing Se than she originally thought. Strike months of combat left. The earth kingdom only had weeks of fighting left. And the Avatar thought he'd just waltz into Ba Sing Se and tell the earth king about the solar eclipse. Oliver already knew that the plan was doomed from the start, thanks to the immense complexities, but this recent news, made sure it was impossible. Ba Sing Se could fall in a matter of weeks, if not days. The eclipse was due in a few months.
A fire nation cruiser was seen moving on patrol. Olivier hoped that the crew wouldn't notice them. If they did see the Avatar and the group, they probably didn't consider them a threat.
The cliff gave way, and the man almost fell to his death, but Toph stopped it with her earth bending.
The cruiser fired a ball of fire, right towards them.
"Get moving!" Olivier ordered, as the fire ball hit the mountain.
The ship launched more fire balls, and while Aang deflected one back towards the cruiser, a rock slide occurred, almost crushing Suki and Sokka. Thanks to Toph's quick thinking, the rocks were stopped from crushing them, though Sokka didn't acknowledge Toph's help.
Night came, and everyone decided to camp. Olivier went thru the various maps she had, and threw most of them away. She settled on one map of the earth kingdom, and looked at it. She saw the western lake Suki was talking about, and knew how close the fire nation was to winning the war. These kids no chance in hell of winning it at all.
"Damn it. If I could get word to Mustang, I could get the eastern army over here, and destroy the fire nation." Olivier said.
The next morning, they reached a divide in the water. Katara gathered everyone together, and performed a small scale of dividing the sea. With Aang's help, they created an air bubble, and walked on the ocean floor.
It would have been flawless, but Momo, who should be renamed the moron, decided to take as swim, and came face to face with a giant eel serpent. That was very angry.
"Holy shit!" Olivier shouted, seeing the sea monster.
The monster broke the water dome, and if it wasn't for Tophs quick thinking in raising them up, everyone would be dead.
"Suki, you know about giant sea monsters! Make it go away!" Sokka exclaimed.
"Just because I live near the Unagi, doesn't mean I'm an expert." Suki retorted.
Sokka than grabbed Momo, and offered him up as food.
"Oh giant serpent, please accept this humble and tasty offering. Thank you."
"Are you really that stupid?" Olivier asked.
Aang got the serpents attention was a blast of air, and lifted off to fight it.
"Katara, get everyone across!"
Katara made an ice bridge, and everyone ran across it. Everyone except Toph.
"Toph, come on. It's just ice!" Sokka shouted.
"I'll stay here." Toph said.
Olivier ran on the ice and grabbed Toph, than ran back across the ice. The serpent slammed its tail on the ice bridge, causing both to fall in the water.
"Shit." Olivier growled, as she dragged Toph to the other side of the river. Meanwhile, Aang and Katara had the serpent in a maelstrom, and slammed it against the cliffs, knocking it out.
"5 bucks says something goes wrong." Olivier said, as they headed to Ba Sing Se.
And it happened. Ying groaned in pain, and clutched her stomach.
"The baby. It's coming." She said in agony.
"Can't you hold it in or something?" Sokka asked. Olivier gripped her forehead. How stupid could he be?
"Sokka. Calm down. I've helped gran-gran deliver plenty of babies." Katara said.
"This isn't the same as delivering an artic seal. This is a real human thing!" Sokka ranted.
"It's called a baby. And I've delivered plenty before. Aang, get some rags. Sokka, water. Toph, I need an earth tent. A big one. Suki, come with me." Katara said.
Olivier heard Ying in pain, as she attempted to push the baby out. Sokka came in with the water, and Olivier followed, a smirk on her face.
"And push!" Katara instructed.
Ying screamed in agony, as her baby came out. Sokka than promptly fainted. Olivier looked at him, and shook her head.
"If you can't stomach a baby coming out, how are you gonna stomach war?" She muttered.
"It's a girl." Katara said, as they wrapped the baby.
"What should we name her?" Ying asked.
Aang than spoke up.
"I've been going thru a hard time lately. But you've made me, hopeful again." He said.
"I know what I want to name our child. Hope." Ying said.
"That's a perfect name. Hope." Aang said.
As Aang headed towards the city ahead of everyone, Suki headed back, not before kissing Sokka. As Olivier observed the scene, she was reminded of the soldiers at Briggs fortress, and remembered the dead. No matter. She survived the promised day, she'll survive this war.