Chapter 1: Fire and Ice
Author's Note:
I'm taking a break from my Mushoku Tensei and Saga of Tanya the Evil projects since I want to rewrite them. I was (and still am) a very new and raw writer, and it takes a lot more to rewrite than to make a new project.
This an MHA in ATLA crossover, and I hope you enjoy how it would get integrated into the story; you'll find some MHA characters when they could fit and some crossovers where it can work. It's also another AU, but the point of deviation would become more and more obvious as the story progresses; the AU would help fit the crossover in the first place. If there's an LOK element in it, it would be the darker theme of the story, together with the various shades of greys between the factions.
Regarding which Canon I'll follow, it's generally ATLA LOK = MHA/BNHA Comics Misc. I have some creative reinterpretations of how some things work in order to make the MHA crossover possible, but they'll all be explained over time.
Disclaimer: I don't own the Avatar series or My Hero Academia.
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Shoto Todoroki
Winter AG 99 (Southern Summer)
"Water. Earth. Fire. Air. My grandmother used to tell me stories about the old days, a time of peace when the Avatar kept the balance between the Water Tribes, Earth Kingdom, Fire Nation, and Air Nomads. But that all changed when the Fire Nation attacked. Only the Avatar mastered all four elements. Only he could stop the ruthless Firebenders. But when the world needed him most, he vanished. A hundred years have passed, and the war against the Fire Nation has taken more and more lives."
Flashbacks of his family and the pain of the war race through his head as flashbacks continue racing in his head.
"Two years ago, my Father and my siblings joined the men of my tribe to journey north to help fight against the Fire Nation, leaving me and my mother with the women and children of our tribe. Some people believe that the Air Avatar died when the Fire Nation destroyed the Air Nomads and that the Water Avatar died years ago; the Earth Avatar has yet to be found. I lost hope. I don't believe that somehow, the Avatar will return to save the world."
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An icy sea, with towering icebergs drifting in the water, appears in the scene.
A small canoe comes into view, drifting between walls of ice. Sokka, my fifteen-year-old cousin, was holding a spear towards the water. Katara, his younger sister (only by a year), stares at the water opposite her elder brother.
I stared blankly into the icy sky. We were told to hunt food for the winter, a role normally done only by the older male warriors in the tribe ever since the last female Waterbending master was taken decades ago. However, with the tribe reduced to elderly, children, and non-bending women, we had no choice but to send anyone who could successfully hunt.
"It's not getting away from me this time." Sokka grins confidently as he declares to the two other passengers on the boat. "This is how you catch a whale."
I was busy watching for anything that would disrupt our time on the canoe. I saw Katara making circular movements in her hands, attempting to bend water in her own way since her style was incompatible with mine.
How would I know how to help her? The last Waterbending master was taken away decades ago, and we learned how to bend from a Firebender of all people.
Sure, my mother was a proficient healer herself, but that was only after she learned from Gran Gran and the lessons Gran Gran learned from the Waterbending healers in the North when she was younger. Kanna herself wasn't even a Waterbender to begin with.
Fuyumi and Natsuo also struggle with Waterbending outside of healing and are off traveling with Father to find a Waterbending master from the North.
Father took an excessive interest in my training after he realized I could Waterbend like a Firebender, the only style of bending he knew. Fuyumi and Natsuo were unable to Waterbend properly with Father's hamfisted lessons. Katara tried her hardest during our training, but her bending was erratic and unstable despite her consistent and excessive hard work. It even led to Enji getting increasingly agitated since most of his students couldn't figure out Waterbending from him, even though Katara was the closest student to his heart and beliefs. Our drills got more and more brutal before he went north.
This led to my other cousin making fun of her bending. Sokka was a cocky boy who wouldn't stop finding ways to train and show off his newfound strength and skills.
I looked to the other side of the canoe and saw Sokka flexing his muscles. I think he was overextending himself with the whale, but I was confident I could get us out of that mass if he made a mistake.
Sokka prepared for the kill, raising his spear arm backward to spear the whale when his spear got stuck in a tentacle of ice that encased his arm and extended all the way to Katara and the back end of the boat.
"Sokka, Shoto, look!" Katara beamed and pointed at the large tentacled spear of ice she made behind the canoe.
"Why is it that every time you play with your magic water, I get soaked or frozen?" Sokka let out a groan and forced his arm out of the block of ice. The canoe shook violently from the thoughtless action.
"It's not magic; it's Waterbending. And Shoto can…" Katara gets interrupted by Sokka.
"Yeah, yeah, an ancient art unique to our culture, but all of you learned it from a Firebender. Blah, blah, blah." Sokka turned around, flexed his muscles, and said, "At least I don't have weird powers I can't control."
I raised my eyebrow at his statement, knowing that Sokka couldn't even harness a tenth of Uncle Hakoda's abilities without injuring himself.
Katara seemed to have the same thoughts, although she crossed her arms and huffed back at Sokka, "You're calling me weird? You're the one who won't stop looking at his own muscles every time he sees his reflection in the water."
Before Sokka could say anything further, the canoe shook violently. The whale Sokka was supposed to spear was breaking free from the block of ice Katara made from her bending.
A loud crashing sound could be heard when the whale slammed the sides of the iceberg, finally breaking the ice that encased its tail.
"Ahhh!" Sokka shouted as he tumbled back to the canoe. Katara looked at me for guidance.
It was too late; the canoe was out of control, pulled down by a rapid current in the wake of the whale's violent escape.
Sokka was paddling the boat franticly to dodge the sharp ice shards in our path while I was Waterbending the large chunks of ice falling on us from the large icebergs away. Katara was keeping our items on the boat safe as she looked guiltily at us; her Waterbending was still too erratic to cause help in our current crisis.
"Watch out! Go left, go left!" Katara shouted at us. The icebergs were about to crush our canoe. We narrowly avoided the large icebergs that collided beside us since I used my bending to push out the canoe, but our boat was damaged beyond repair.
"You call that left?" Katara bitterly told Sokka.
"You call that Waterbending?" Sokka shot back. "Maybe you shouldn't have frozen the whale's tail in the first place?" Sokka said while making a crude mockery of Katara's Waterbending earlier.
"So it's my fault?" Katara said indignantly.
"Yes! I know we should've left you home; leave it to a girl to screw things up, right Shoto?" Sokka huffed.
"Leave me out of this," I said; I was busy looking for the shortest route back to Wolf Cove, and I think I could Waterbend this iceberg easily enough to bring us back home.
The bickering siblings ignored me.
"You are the most sexist… Idiotic… Nut brained… boy I ever met. I'm embarrassed to be related to you," Katara said, swinging her arms angrily.
She was raising a large pillar of ice. This wasn't good.
Sokka looked at her with disinterest, paying more attention to his boomerang than Katara's angry remarks.
A couple minutes passed, and Katara shouted at her brother.
"Ever since Father got injured and started passing on his power to you, I've been doing all the work around the village while you were off flexing your muscles and playing soldier!"
Katara's rage was showing as the pillar of ice she made went over fifty feet tall. It was rough and sharp around the edges and was something much larger than she had ever made before.
"Uh, Katara." Sokka pointed above us as dangerous-looking icicles were perilously poised to fall on us. Between my bending and Sokka's powers, we would deal with it ourselves, but it would be very inconvenient.
"I even spend all my extra time learning under Uncle Enji's insane bending lessons." I scowled at the mention of Father's abusive lessons as Katara continued her rant, "But I still have to wash your dirty clothes! … Have you ever smelled your dirty socks? Not pleasant." Katara continued her monologue as her icy tower grew taller and taller. It looked like it would collapse anytime soon. I was preparing my own ice barriers to protect the squabbling siblings when something happened. The ice was cracking.
"Katara, settle down." Sokka said back at her.
"No, that's it! I'm done helping you!" Katara looked sourly at Sokka before turning her glance at me. "And you, Shoto, oh so gifted and perfect? Just how could you Waterbend using a Firebending style so easily? I train twice as hard under your Dad, and I can't get anything right!"
Large blocks of ice fell towards us as the hastily constructed ice pillars collapsed.
I stopped most of the large chunks of ice from falling on us despite the extra effort I was also putting in to maintain the iceberg we were standing on.
"Five percent, wolf punch series!" Sokka shouted. He punched through the remaining ice blocks, destroying anything too large and leaving a large plume of fog and ice shards around us. Sokka couldn't use his full power without harming himself badly.
"Looks like you got your wish, Katara. You just went from weird to freakish." Sokka sarcastically said as he rubbed his aching fists.
"You mean I did that?" Katara said, astonished at her handiwork, regardless of how dangerous it was. Her anger deflated at the display of her own power.
"Yes, congratulations," I told her sarcastically.
"See, I told you that you can Waterbend. Now, let's go back to the village and scavenge what's left of our canoe. We still have a seal and several fishes for the village anyway." I told Katara and Sokka.
We had a quick iceberg boat ride back to the village.
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Several kilometers away. A large Fire Nation ship and its accompanying fleet witnessed the incident.
A girl in a crisp Fire Nation uniform stands on deck, standing beside an older man. Her perfectly set hair holding out against the wind.
"Finally! Father, do you know what this means?" The girl looks reverently towards her Father, the only man who hasn't betrayed her all her life.
"Of course, dear daughter, our search has come to an end." Her Father said solemnly.
"That huge pillar of ice and the huge explosion. The Wolf Warrior must be training right now. Perhaps we can destroy his village and crush his hopes!" Her Father said beside his daughter and another middle-aged man. He gave a dark-sounding chuckle at the end of his statement.
The three smirked in their own ways.
The other middle-aged man started barking orders around the ship.
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Back at Wolf Cove
We returned to our village, where we were greeted by a small crowd of people. Twenty elderly women and young children approached us outside the village's high walls. That was backbreaking work I did over the past few years as refugees from other southern tribes flooded our village over the past decade.
As the children and family of the Chief and his number two, we had a lot of hopes on our backs whenever we went hunting.
"Hi Gran-gran! We got good news and bad news." Sokka told our Grandmother, Kanna.
"And what news would that be, young Sokka?" Kanna asked him with a glare.
Well, Sokka was technically in charge of us, so I'll let him take the blame. I'm only his number two, after all, as Sokka and my Father kept drilling in my head.
Sokka flinched under the gaze of Kanna and ended up blabbering.
"Well, uh, you see, uhmm.." Sokka gave up as Kanna stared even deeper into his eyes. "Okay! Me and Katara got into an argument, ruining our chances of getting a whale, and the canoe is broken. Although Katara proved she could bend huge ice pillars, and I destroyed an avalanche without breaking my bones, and we also brought home a seal and over a hundred kilos of fish! Oh, and Shoto tried to be responsible but got caught in the whole mess."
Sokka was blue and red by the end of his breathless blabbering.
Kanna clacks and shakes her head at the news.
"At least all three of you are back in one piece. As punishment, you three have to spend the next two weeks on night duty between the times you have to rebuild that canoe." Kanna said as she scolded them. Chief Hakoda gave Kanna regency over the tribe while he was out, with Sokka and Katara too young for responsibilities. Aunt Kya and Mother were… unsuitable for the job, so our aged grandmother was responsible for the several hundred families clustered around our large village.
Even though Kanna was Kya's mother, she treated me and my siblings just the same as Sokka and Katara, given that she was the only person from her generation left in the extended family.
"Aside from that, good job, children. While a whale would've helped our village greatly, we haven't had a successful whale hunt since Hakoda left with the warriors. We can survive off seals, fish, and seaweeds. You aren't the only hunters, after all. We also have our supplies of dried fruits from the occasional traders from the North, too." Kanna reminded us.
We dutifully nodded to our grandmother and went our separate ways around the village. I went to the market to deposit our haul. Sokka ran off to the wall while Katara did household chores.
There were several groups of older women that hunted in larger groups, unable to Waterbend but not limited by the rigid restrictions of the North; they took up hunting duties because their husbands, fathers, or brothers were out fighting for their freedom. Bato, a heavily injured veteran from Uncle Hakoda's campaigns, taught the women how to hunt and trap prey. He also taught us the same thing.
Gran-gran told us that the village was even smaller around the time we were born; decades of Fire Nation raids slowly drained the population until Uncle Hakoda started actively taking the initiative against the Fire Nation raiders. Now, the village is slowly growing back to the size it was before Gran-gran arrived at the South Pole.
The marketplace was small and filled with familiar faces; I gave an awkward smile as I greeted them. I needed to give half of our catch to the communal village storage before I could barter for canoe parts and other supplies.
We usually bartered our wares since money was pointless in an isolated place. Any form of gold or silver that wasn't explicitly family heirlooms was usually taken by Chief Hakoda to be used to purchase war supplies for their expeditions north or the rare occasions that traders from the North visited the port during summer, or at least that's how Father explained it during our training sessions. Uncle Hakoda was usually out of the village more often than he was in it, leaving my Father to keep things running in his stead. Who thought it was a great idea to let the only Firebender in the South Pole run the water tribe village?
At least I'm a Waterbender…
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On a large Fire Nation ship
"Again," Father stated.
I remembered what Father told me.
"Use your aggressive feelings, girl! Let the hate flow through you."
I went through the motions and channeled my chi as quickly as possible.
A bolt of lightning shot out of the ship. It was more powerful than any I made before. It even destroyed the small iceberg to the side of the ship. The smell of ozone and icy shards filled the air.
I turned back to look at Father. He slapped me hard. And lifted me by the neck with one hand.
I forced back my tears; how else could I live up to be his perfect daughter if I showed any signs of weakness.
"Did I tell you to stop Lightingbending? Don't stop until I give you permission to. The Firelord killed the Water Avatar by blindsiding her with the fastest lighting strike ever. And striking her again and again until she was a smoking corpse." Father angrily mentioned.
He then demonstrated a series of fast and brutal lightning strikes towards the nearby icebergs, which exploded on impact. Some troops shouted in praise, faithful followers.
Father looked at me again. I wanted to listen to whatever he said.
"There, that's how you do it. As my daughter and heir, you should know that you must be as powerful as possible. Remember, there is no right or wrong; there is only power and those too weak to use it." Father stroked my hair and comforted me towards the end of his words of wisdom; he was the only one looking out for me. Not Mother, not Zuzu, and certainly not the Firelord or my damned immature uncle.
"After all, you were born lucky." Father continued. He kissed my cheek as he retired to the command room.
I kept training for the entire evening, ignoring the rest of my physical needs. I had to satisfy my Father and show I was the one fit for the crown.
On another part of the boat
"Are you certain about this?" Prince Ozai told Commander Zhao. Ozai had a pained look on his face.
"Yes, the messenger hawk was verified with our previous sources on the Southern Raider forward base." Commander Zhao replied with a neutral expression.
The two men kept a neutral expression at the reminder of the loss of the Whale Tail Island outpost years ago.
"So you're telling me that the Wolf Warrior is still in the Earth Kingdom?" Ozai paused as he exhaled fire through his nostrils. "So what in Agni's name did we see at the iceberg?" Ozai hissed back at Zhao.
"Perhaps we found some Waterbenders; it's been years since we've successfully culled their population. Some of those kids must be bending now. Perhaps we can find their precious village and wipe it off the face of the earth." Zhao propositioned to his superior. Between the constantly moving icebergs, poor weather conditions, dangerous cliffs around the bay, or the long hikes away from other shores leading to the Cove, finding a safe route to Wolf Cove was extremely difficult. They knew it was the height of folly to imitate the routes taken years ago.
"Perhaps… While it isn't as prestigious as taking down the Wolf Warrior, or like how the Firelord killed the Water Avatar, occupying and enslaving the South Water Tribe lands while their protectors are gone would be just as prestigious as taking down Ba Sing Se or the North Pole. We could even get more supporters that way," Ozai mused to his friend and lackey.
"Make preparations to conquer the so-called Wolf Cove. A bunch of primitives wouldn't be able to stand our invasion without the Wolf Warrior saving them. I'm sure you can even manage it yourself," Ozai ordered Zhao as he looked towards the sunset. "I'll be headed off to sleep; remind the crew to avoid interrupting me."
With the largest fleet headed to the South Pole since the failed Southern Fleet attempt five years ago and with the Wolf Warrior and his group of raiders in the Earth Kingdom, the two men knew they would win.
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Wolf Cove
Flares flew up in the dusky sky.
It was near midnight, and a flare this late was almost always a universal sign of emergency. We patrolled because of the night shift Kanna ordered us to take for the next few weeks.
Sokka ran up to the source of the flares and saw about ten kids, ranging from nine to twelve. They were volunteers often assigned to help the veterans manning the watchtowers, passing messages, and doing other chores since injuries or old age often limited the endurance and capabilities of those at the watchtowers.
"Hey! Which one of you idiots lit up the emergency signal flares!" Sokka shouted at the kids in front of him.
The kids immediately pointed at each other and shouted, "He did it!", "She made me do it!", "The Penguins did it!" and all other incomprehensible nonsense.
Sokka stomped on the ground and caused a minor fracture. The kids snapped back to attention.
"It's my fault; I wasn't able to stop the kids from doing their harebrained scheme because I was too slow to catch them." An older voice came behind Sokka's back. A man with bandages covering his chest, right arm, and left side of his face limped towards him.
"Commander Bato?" Sokka said, dumbfounded. Bato was the garrison commander, on top of his other duties around the village. In the unlikely event of an invasion, he was made responsible for commanding the defense while Father and Uncle Hakoda were out.
"Yes, I taught the kids how to properly handle the signal flares in case of emergency, but I took a bathroom break and overheard the kids arguing about playing soldier. Something about a girl worth fighting for and a desire to blow up the Fire Nation troops. They were daring each other to fire the flares to show they're not afraid of a little fire and explosion, but they weren't able to hear my shouts to stop them." Bato was rasping towards the end of his explanation. Directly inhaling superheated air and soot during combat causes bad side effects. Even the wonders of Waterbending healing left Bato with hacking coughs and injuries around his body. Although his sacrifice helped save the lives of several Wolf Warriors caught in an ambush.
"I'm sorry, Commander Bato!" the kids apologized. Others kept babbling other things, but it was smothered by the discordant noise. Bato and Sokka facepalmed; there wasn't really much they could do with the damage done.
"I swear, if this leads to the Fire Nation raiding us, you kids will be doing Latrine duty until the day the Avatar reincarnates in our tribe!" Sokka shouted at the kids, who looked very nervously at each other.
"I can take care of the rest, Sokka. They will learn more about responsibility when they see the cost of war." Bato said as he unwrapped the bandages on his face, showing melted skin and scorch marks everywhere. His left ear was barely more than a mangled hole.
"I gotta pee!" One of the youngest kids shouted. Some of the other kids raised their hands, too.
"No, look at me and see what happens when the evil Fire Nation attacks you. This is the price you pay when you get in their way. You have to look and see that on the battlefield, people risk their lives for our freedom." Bato went closer to the kids and continued. "The ability to be courageous and survive any hardship these are the abilities needed to become a warrior in the Water Tribe. Those who merely hide behind great walls of Earth and Ice, who cling to the uncertain future that the "Fire Nation would invade the other groups first" and walk away from their chance by making such cowardly choices do not deserve to be called a warrior of the Water Tribe." Bato said as he wrapped his face in bandages again; he didn't want frostbite on top of burn scars.
"You're lucky it wasn't General Enji who caught you screwing up; Spirits knows what he would've done to you idiots." A collective shudder occurred around the kids.
The kids were much more subdued and tense for the rest of the short night.
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Southern Imperial Fleet
Flares flew up in the sky near the Horizon.
It was nearly midnight, although the sun was perpetually just below the Horizon this far south.
"Looks like we're ready to make history. That would be a pleasant way to awaken my Royal superiors." A man with sideburns said to himself.
Even though it was close to midnight, the sun only set for a short time in the middle of southern summer. Leaving a perpetual dusk in the sky.
The grueling training Azula and Ozai did from morning until sunset and early evening often led to them having a deep sleep after their cleanup and dinner.
Anyone who dares disturb them for any reason short of an actual battle or orders from the Fire Lord would find themselves on the wrong end of a lightning strike. Zhao had enough headaches from replacing his staff, so he soundproofed the royal rooms early in exile. He had no intention to ruin their sleep.
In fact, he saw an opportunity to get what he wanted; If he could take Wolf's Cove by himself, he'd be able to get enough recognition and glory to be an Admiral. Maybe even become a higher noble title.
If he did that and ended the Wolf Warrior or conquered the North Pole (he even had an ace up his sleeve), he might even be able to ask for the hand of Ozai's daughter. He was sure Ozai would want to save her for a worthy man, and who else other than the upcoming legend, Zhao.
Other officers respectfully distanced themselves from their superior's disturbing chuckles; Zhao's inflated ego and lofty ambitions were seen as a sign of ambition by everyone in the fleet. Aside from the royal Father and Daughter, Zhao's charisma and fear-inducing words and actions got the fear and obedience of the crew. Prince Ozai and Princess Azula's aloofness also garner a following among the crew, but they're so far detached from the common troops that there is barely any interaction between the royal pair and the common soldier. After all, the Royal family were treated as Demigods, the descendants of the great lord Agni.
Much of the crew and officers in the southern fleet are those facing trouble in the Fire Nation Navy and Army, who often got "promoted" to this assignment. The Firelord had his ways of tossing dissidents to the south; however, the Ozai, Azula, and Zhao trio found a way to turn them into a cult following. After all, the worst of the crew often got culled, and all that remained were the most ruthless and fanatic members of the Army and Navy.
"Relay orders to the rest of the fleet to prepare for an invasion in an hour. We destroy those primitive igloos and prepare a nice, burning welcome to our Prince and Princess!" Commander Zhao barked orders to the other members of the crew. Based on the distance of the flares, they'd reach the village in about two hours, and that was counting the invasion preparation time. He knew that the fleet would obey his orders absolutely. Particularly since the Royal Family was asleep.
The Prince and Princess should still be asleep for another four hours.
The loud cheers and cries were heard throughout the fleet. The Fire Nation was finally having its revenge. Years of humiliation and disasters brought by the Southern Water tribe are about to be brought to an end.
Zhao transferred to the second largest ship in the fleet and ordered that the royal boat maintain a "respectable" distance from the other ships. He claimed it was to ensure the comfortable sleep of Prince Ozai and Princess Azula, but he just wanted them far away from any chance of glory.
"Any great leader goes first; I'll take the lead. The rest of the fleet can follow in an hour". Zhao said as he smirked to himself.
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Wolf Cove
"Oh man, this is boring. All you see at night are the stars and those spirit lights, and even those get tiring after seeing them all the time." Sokka groaned as we walked along the village walls. "We can't even see as much as usual because it's summer right now." Sokka sulked as he said that.
Two hours in our patrol, and we were bored out of our minds.
"And whose fault was it that we got stuck here for two weeks?" Katara placed her hands on her hips as she glared back at Sokka. "Trust the blabbering brother to tell everything to Gran-gran."
I wasn't so sure myself; Kanna would've strung out the truth one way or another. Even Uncle Hakoda was intimidated by his mother-in-law.
They started blaming each other while I looked deeper into the mountains. We never went too close to the South Pole itself as the weather was extremely cold, and there were too many odd spiritual occurrences, or so the legends say. It was also usually pointless to look in that direction, with most Southern Water tribes scattered around the coastal areas.
I did it to ignore the noise the two were making; if I hadn't made these walls so thick and high, they would've woken up the village already.
I noticed a flare lighting up behind us; I always had a thing for noticing flares and torches and even other sources of fire. Father told me his training must have made us sensitive to Fire Chi. I scoffed at his reasoning since he seemed to deal with any problems through excessive force.
"Sokka, Katara, let's run to the other side of the village; that looked like a serious flare," I shouted at the bickering siblings. They had the decency to look embarrassed after I called them out.
We ran to the other side of the village and saw a dark fog.
Wait, no, that wasn't a dark fog.
A rumbling sound was heard in the distance. Plumes of smoke emerged from those ships.
The Fire Nation has arrived.
"Oh maaan…." Sokka said as he was horrified.
"Sokka! We've got to help the village!" Katara said as she snapped her brother out of his daze.
I hope our years of training under Father and Uncle Hakoda were enough to save the village. Seven vessels appeared at the Horizon, centered around the largest one, which appeared to have held itself back.
Only one ship was going forward. Were they expecting a trap?
"Sokka, Katara, I want you to go ahead and trigger the traps we set around the harbor. Feel free to use any of those uncontrolled Waterbending techniques you have, Katara, but do not overexert yourself." Bato said as he called us out he was the one who fired the flares this time.
"That goes for you too, Sokka; I don't fully understand what Hakoda did in passing his legacy on to you, but whatever you do, do not push yourself far beyond your limits. I wouldn't want to explain how you blew yourself up on my orders to your family. Now, I know you are strong, but I don't expect you to try to throw those ships around, okay?" Bato looked at Sokka, whose tendency to go beyond his five percent limit led to many embarrassing injuries that the healers had to deal with every week. Sokka looked at the ground at the end of that statement but nodded.
"Based on their distance, you'd have about forty-five minutes to slow them down. I don't expect you to destroy their fleet, but if you can keep them separate and damaged, that would be enough for us on our home turf. Now off you go; pass by Kota at the gate to get some equipment." Bato barked with some newfound vigor. "I'm a little suspicious about why they are keeping most of their fleet back, so don't use all the traps at once; keep them on their toes." Bato reminded Sokka.
Sokka and Katara ran off to the gate with a grim look on their faces. I looked towards them, but Bato called me.
"As for you, Shoto, you're the only fully trained waterbender in the tribe. I have a plan that would require you to use your skills fully. You saw the old Fire Nation boat at the plains some distance. That was disabled decades ago by a team of Waterbenders; they managed to seal off most windows and doors shut with ice, leaving a small number of Firebenders left for the soldiers to defeat." Bato said as he looked towards me; what he left unsaid was that the remaining Firebenders were left to starve inside the boat and that their corpses were taken away only a year later to be tossed at sea.
Bato barked orders to the other squad leaders around the area. The oldest and youngest were to be hidden underground in an emergency shelter. Everyone else would be mobilized and stationed on the walls. Despite our larger numbers this decade, almost all the combatants are off with Hakoda in their desperate gambit north. Nobody expected the Fire Nation to attack this far south when they were being gutted themselves.
"I'm counting on you to do that with the boats that enter. Sokka and Katara can slow them down, but I need you to stop them before they enter the village. The hunters would hit the stragglers with their projectiles while the remaining volunteers would start evacuating the rest of the village to the emergency shelter near the mountains down south." Bato briefly explained the situation to Shoto, who nodded grimly at the responsibility placed on him. I heard explosions and metal crashing, a sign that Sokka and Katara were already doing their job. Even superficial and minor damage is usually enough to keep the Fire Nation Navy anxious this close to the south, as it would be impossible for them to find any nearby place to repair. They would rather retreat than risk dying in the cold, cut off from their supply routes.
A loud crashing sound was heard from afar. Sokka and Katara must have cracked the first iceberg defense, a brilliant idea Sokka had when he made Katara form and reform ice in several locations far away from the bay. With sufficient force, the amassed ice can break apart and cause large ice blockades along the bay and the nearby area, making it nearly impossible for anyone aside from the most experienced Water Tribe sailors to cross until the ice floats away to the northern ocean. I hope it blocks off the ships from the port.
Several more crashes and explosions were heard closer and closer as I got closer to the dock.
I ran towards the dock and saw the ship speeding far ahead of the rest; it had icicles on its tail and large dents on the port side. It plowed straight into the dock and caused a fissure on the ground. A walkway was about to fall when I moved into action.
I raised my arm, and a large mound of ice formed under the ship's front end; it tilted dangerously backward as troops on the deck tumbled backward. I started raising the water from the sides to freeze and seal the ports and windows, taking advantage of the confused noises from the soldiers on board. Some soldiers managed to jump off the deck before they were covered in ice or trapped inside the frozen boat, but they were disoriented and picked off by the hunters, who threw boomerangs or fired slingshots at them.
I didn't expect my surprises to work on the next boats, so I did my best to freeze everything I could on and around that boat before the second one landed.
Unfortunately, the Firebenders responded quickly. Steam exploded around the ship as Firebenders started melting the ice around them. Despite the area's ice and general cold weather, I doubted my ability to consistently outfreeze two dozen or so Firebenders.
Farther back, none of the other ships were moving forward from their position near the Horizon. The newly formed icebergs successfully blocked all possible routes near the village, and we knew the Fire Nation would hesitate to scale the icy cliffs nearby or risk a several day-long hike to our village from farther locations. Sokka signaled that he would return to the village, although he was still fifteen minutes away with Katara. I silently praised the spirits for keeping the two of them safe; it was an extremely dangerous trap they pulled off.
Old men were forming, holding spears and shields on top of the wall, women were notching arrows or holding boomerangs, and children were slingshotting hard ice balls with poison inside the ship. Ishigaki and Hirara, the shield maidens of the village, positioned themselves beside me. They were assigned to protect me and Katara as we continued Waterbending. It was a tactic Uncle Hakoda enforced for any bender, considering he often targeted benders in the Fire Nation formations first himself. The shield maidens were the closest to my support since Sokka and Katara were off-triggering traps.
No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't freeze the entire boat alone. The sheer amount of Firebenders forced me to focus my efforts on one side, or else I'd spread myself too thin.
I already felt the effects of pushing my chi this hard, shivering despite the steam everywhere. The heat from the resisting Firebenders was temporary enough to counter the effects of winter around the area.
It was too late; several Firebenders and a dozen warriors jumped out of the starboard side and rushed towards the wall. While the archers and slingshotters took down several warriors, the heavy armor prevented the weaker defenders from defeating most of them.
Faced with no choice, I raised ice spikes all over their direction, injuring half of them and slowing down the rest.
Unfortunately, that gave an opening for the other Firebenders to leave the ship.
Five minutes left. My internal body clock reminded me. Sokka and Katara would be able to cover my weaknesses and maybe even push back a single ship.
"Ahhh!" Hirara screamed as she faced two warriors. She was barely older than Sokka and lacked his special abilities. Unfortunately, she was also less armored than the Fire Nation warriors and was running on the sheer spirit to keep herself in the fight.
"Hold out til Sokka comes back. FOCUS!" Ishigaki shouted at me. She blocked some strikes behind me with her shield. Looks like some Fire Nation archers survived the onslaught from my ranged tribe mates on the wall.
I created dozens of large ice blocks and flung them to the charging enemies. It was much easier than directed attacks, but any sufficiently skilled enemies tended to dodge, block, or even incinerate it.
It was crazy; it seemed like these soldiers would charge us even when injured.
"AGNI!" Shouted an injured Firebender near me as he suddenly breathed fire from his mouth. Father told me that only the best Firebenders, or the most suicidal ones, breathed fire straight from their mouth. Drawing straight from their chi made those attacks extremely powerful, but it caused ruinous effects to those unable to control it fully.
I made a thick ice barrier; even then, most of it melted after the suicidal attack. The desiccated body of the Firebender left a grisly memory in my mind.
However, another voice made me shiver.
"All this carnage because of a single Waterbender? Firelord Azulon was right; we should exterminate all Waterbenders." A middle-aged man with impressive armor and even more impressive sideburns commented as he strutted towards me.
"Pardon my lack of manners. I am Commander Zhao, and I am here to kill you, conquer this measly village, and bring glory to the Fire Nation." Zhao gave me a mock bow as he made a combative pose.
I created a large stream of icy water and flung it at him. He created a large stream of fire to counter it. Steam rapidly forms and turns to snow farther away.
I saw the other Fire Nation troops setting up ladders to climb the walls; the town was doomed if they reached the top. I saw the old men throw oil and torches to light up the sieging Fire Nation troops, but the Firebenders redirected it back up the wall, rendering the plan counterproductive.
I sensed something hot approach me; I was knocked meters away and heard screams from the shield maidens. I haven't felt this bad since… I was forced out of my thoughts by Commander Zhao.
"Foolish boy, disrespecting a Firebending master. Take your eyes off me, and you will DIE!" Zhao created two streams of fire. I barely had enough time to create ice barriers large enough to slow it down, but the superheated steam created a large explosion this time, knocking me back toward the wall.
Zhao gave me a rage-filled smile, charging a huge attack when a crashing sound came from the docks.
Sokka was back! And Katara, too, they were helping out the Shieldmaidens.
Sokka looked ridiculous on the battlefield; his attacks were flinging enemy warriors and Firebenders back. He even punched through direct Firebending attacks like Uncle Hakoda did in his spars against Father. Wearing the old armor and headdress of Uncle Hakoda, he looked like a smaller and lankier version of the Wolf Warrior, although the blood soaking his armor made him look like a man twice his age.
Fanatic opponents or not, their fear of the Wolf Warrior made them start fleeing towards the ship.
I spent that time getting a breather and walking towards Sokka, who managed to make half the remaining troops retreat.
I was blindsided by Commander Zhao's strike as he aimed a large fireball toward Sokka, one that would even injure him if it struck him.
My instincts overrode my rationality, and I pushed back. I knew that even if I could summon a barrier of ice, it would at least reduce the injuries Sokka would get.
A huge stream of fire cut through the battlefield, deflecting the fireball, burning through the permafrost, and even scorching the ship's deck.
The world around me froze, yet everything felt like it was on fire.
Sokka, Katara, and everyone from the water tribe looked at me, slack-jawed.
The Fire Nation troops ran at full sprint towards the ship. Even their commander seemed farther away than I remembered.
"Impossible! How could that even happen! He can't be the Avatar!" Zhao shouted as he fled to the ship. "Retreat!"
I was too drained to move what was going on.
Did they think Sokka was the Avatar? I know they wouldn't call the Wolf Warrior that, especially after all the campaigns Uncle Hakoda raised against them.
"You're the Avatar?!" Shouted Sokka and Katara in various states of shock and disbelief.
I couldn't understand anything more and fell unconscious.
.
.
.
.
Flashback: A life-changing loss (Part 1)
Wolf Cove
Summer AG 94
"Do you wanna build a snowman? Or go penguin sledding down the hill?" A young Shoto asked around the house. His mother, Rei, and his older sister, Fuyumi, were busy preparing a lot of food and other items.
"Cut it out, little bro. Don't you see we're busy preparing for Toya's triumphant return from his ice-dodging rite of passage? He said that as soon as he's a man, he would even take us out to see the islands up North." Natsuo told Shoto, who smiled excitedly at the thought. He wanted to see the world and know more about the places Gran Gran talked about all the time, or even the places in the tales his Dad and Uncle Hakoda talked about all the time. They were heroes who saved their tribe from the evil Fire Nation.
"I think I can handle this on my own; your Aunt Kya is coming with Sokka and Katara. Go play with them." Rei told Shoto as she gestured towards the exit. "And that goes for you two, Fuyumi and Natsuo. Your Father and Toya would love to see both of you happy and excited when they return from the trip. They should be coming home later today, too."
"Yaaay! You can build a snowman with me," Shoto shouted as he pulled Natsuo with him. "Or even show me more snow angels, too!" Fuyumi was pulled along.
Katara and Sokka joined in on the fun, quickly rushing to the snowman the Todoroki siblings were making.
"Hey! No Waterbending, you'll ruin the fun out of it!" Sokka shouted at Katara and Shoto. Fuyumi and Natsuo enjoyed making the snowman by hand, feeling the fresh snow as they placed it on the snowman. It was a nice and relaxing sensation for a Waterbender. For one raised this far south, it was similar to a non-bender feeling a luxurious rug.
Katara and Shoto were still too young and excited about their budding Waterbending to care about the finer things in life, at least Natsuo and Fuyumi whispered among themselves.
Sokka was pretty grumpy that he was the only non-bender among the cousins, but his intelligence and wit often made up for his different situation.
Black soot was falling from the sky, and cries of panic from the older adults filled the village. Several concerned adults stopped the kids from playing close to the Chief's dwelling.
"Run to your mothers now! There is no time to spare." A healthy Bato shouted as he even carried Katara and Shoto to the Todoroki home, being partly frozen due to their argument-turned Waterbending fight.
The kids were ordered to stay put and hide. Under no circumstances should they leave the house until one of their older relatives gets them out.
There were no walls around the village, and the lack of wood, stone, or competent Waterbenders prevented such security measures; the warriors had to stand their ground and hope the village didn't get overrun.
Scared, panicked, and ignorant of the dangers outside, Sokka, Katara, and Shoto hid under the floor of the Todoroki home at the storage shed for winter provisions. Natsuo was told to stay on guard above the floor while Fuyumi rushed off with the older women towards Chief Hakoda's house.
A suspense-filled hour later, the kids get to emerge from the hidden shed and look around.
The village looked perfectly okay, even though it was covered in much soot.
"What happened?" Katara asked around. None of the adults wanted to speak.
"I know. We can go home and ask our parents." Sokka said as he pulled Katara and Shoto along.
"I'm a failure! I'm a failure! I wasn't strong enough!" Pained cries were heard from the entrance of Hakoda's home. Muffled voices didn't carry over, but it was obvious who was crying.
"Father?""Uncle Enji!?" Shoto and his cousins wondered aloud. Rei came out rushing, covered in blood and soot.
"This is not a place for you right now; Gran Gran will take care of you tonight," Rei said as Gran Gran walked outside with a spring in her step not seen in a decade.
"The Fire Nation would pay! They took away Toya, took away my brother! They don't even care about sacrificing their own to kill anyone! I would destroy them even if it is the last thing I'll do!" Enji's cries ended shortly after.
It was the last time they ever played with a snowman.