AN: Merry Christmas one and all!

So, we've reached the penultimate chapter of this arc. I had hoped to get more done, but things got away from me.

Either way, I hope you enjoy the chapter and have a good Christmas one and all!

Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson or Avatar the Last Airbender.

( - )

(Last Time)

She could only hope Mai and Ty Lee weren't getting too bored because soon enough they would be joining her in hunting the Avatar, after all she was growing tired of playing hide and seek, and now that she had her reinforcements nor would she need to continue playing it as instead she was prepared to take a more forceful approach going forward.

All they needed to do was force him out of the mountain city and into the open, and what better way to do that then to burn the land and starve the city.

Hunger, she found, was almost as good as fear when it came to motivating people.

( - )

Chapter 17

( - )

(With Percy)

The lower parts of the city were completely flooded.

All the canals and aqueducts in the city had overflowed, and the intricate labyrinth of sewers beneath the city had become completely flooded with water from the mountain peaks as the snow glaciers rapidly receded. From within the city, a person with sharp enough vision could visibly see the snow on the mountain top melt.

In the lower levels of the city, dirty water was now pooling and flowing through the cramped streets at knee level.

Worse still, was the fact that the continuous flow of water brought with it dismembered animal corpses, some of which rotted in the stagnant water alongside the contents of the city's flooded sewer system.

The entire city had been turned into a cesspool.

In response to the flooding, the city guard had used earthbending to open holes in the walls of the mountain city, and had created channels within the mountain's bowels in an effort to divert the unending flow of putrid water out of the city.

Only unfortunately, the animal corpses and flotsam that had been swept up by the water, had ended blocking many of the earthen channels, which prompted the earthbenders to continually make them wider, only for the same problem to occur as the ever building mass of detritus passing through the tunnels continued to grow. Which was especially inconvenient as it stopped the soldiers from focussing on the detritus and rotting remains that hadn't been swept up by the water. With the remnants of that instead being left to volunteers to find and dispose of. A task that was not helped along by the several fires that had been started within the city itself by saboteurs, including one in the grain stores.

The city was on the verge of a panic fuelled riot.

It was like a powder keg, ready to explode at any moment.

Meanwhile, beyond the walls the fields that supplied Omashu with food visibly burned, and new forest fires were springing up almost hourly. This in turn had prompted more refugees to flood into the already overcrowded city, putting yet more pressure on the existing residents. Adding to the ongoing chaos were the reports of armoured soldiers bearing the crest of the Fire Nation raiding towns and villages, and massacring patrols from the city, that had already begun to spread throughout the city.

Overall, the city guard was completely overwhelmed and stretched to breaking point, and the overpopulated city had been sent into a panicked frenzy as great columns of black smoke dominated the surrounding area, and catastrophe after catastrophe continued to hit the sacred citizenry.

From what he could see, the waiting Fire Nation force in the area had grown impatient by the lack of response from the city to their presence, and so had gone on an all out offensive.

The Fire Nation force's leader was definitely smart. He would give them that much. But they were also cruel, ruthless, callous, and had absolutely no regard at all for the lives of innocents and civilians. From what he could see, they had no lines they wouldn't cross and no regard at all for collateral damage. They were likely the kind of Fire Nation leader that the Princeling Zuko had tried to mimic when he had foolishly attacked Kyoshi. Only, unlike Zuko, this leader was far more effective and efficient.

Grimacing at that thought as he wiped sweat from his brow, Percy continued to work as he separated purified water from the polluted canals that ran through the city square, and redirected it into the waiting receptacles that the waiting line of civilians brought to him. The line of civilians waiting for water looped the square several times and then stretched off down the main thoroughfare and out of sight.

At his side Aang and Katara helped him as best as they could, the both of them working together in tandem to filter out the worst of the pollutants, which in turn made it easier for him, with his more refined control, to purify the water.

It was not hard work, but it was tedious.

The earthbenders had helped as much as they could to remove earthen contaminants in the water and to seal off certain canals and aquifers from the never ending deluge of water coming down from the mountain. But there was only so much they could do, as they worked to both retain order, and to try and manage the flooding in other parts of the city.

Still, between the three of them they had already done a lot. They had succeeded in purifying several of the underground aquifers beneath the city, giving the overcrowded city a decent sized reserve of clean water. The entrances, wells, and taps to these aquifers were now under heavy guard, in order to protect them from saboteurs, and opportunists.

It would be enough to last the city a couple of weeks at best. But with the aquifers being sealed off from their sources for the moment, there would not be enough to last much longer than that. Which made the thought of a protracted siege quite daunting.

Glancing sideways, he could see that both Aang and Katara looked exhausted, and he wasn't surprised either, as neither of them had had much rest over the last few days.

None of them had really, not since the flooding had first started.

After all, while he and the other two had been focussed on purifying the water, both Sokka and Suki had volunteered to join the growing Omashu militia, and had been busy aiding the soldiers to keep order. A task that was made all the more difficult by the counter group of civilians that had also started to form within the city. Only this group was almost inquisitorial in nature as they started trying to rout out and lynch possible traitors and spies. With their main focus being the city's massive refugee population.

Suffice to say, things within the city had been tense and over the last few days there had been several riots and outright fights within the streets as the tension and growing fear that pervaded the city reached breaking point.

All it would take was one more incident, and there would be violence.

"Did you hear?" One of the civilians muttered to the person next to them, as they waited to have their bucket filled. The old man's voice drew Percy's attention. "Apparently you can now see Fire Nation flags from the top of the wall?"

"Yeah, my brother works for the city watch, and he confirmed it. The way he tells it, the upper command is already talking about collapsing the bridge to the city." The civilian's neighbour, a middle aged woman, replied loudly. She seemingly didn't care who else heard, as she instead happily bragged about her connections to the garrison.

"I don't see why, though." Another person, this time a younger man, pitched in. "I mean, surely the city garrison is big enough to fend off this Fire Nation army?"

"Hah, you wish." The first speaker spat, shaking his head. "The guards in the garrison aren't proper soldiers. They're glorified levies at best, good for beating up drunks, but no match against proper soldiers. No, all the real soldiers are on the front lines."

The woman whose brother in law was in the city watch scowled in response to the old man's comments. "They are proper soldiers, and they can protect us. Don't you listen to him, son. The walls of the city are strong, and the men and women protecting them are trained and tested. They'll be able to keep us all safe!"

"Hah, then why haven't they already?" The provocateur demanded loudly. "Why are they just cowering behind the walls and letting the Fire Nation pillage and plunder as they please?"

"Because they're busy trying to keep the city from imploding, you old buzzard!" The woman snapped back. "Have you actually looked around and seen what's going on? The streets are flooded with diseased water, there are traitors in the city burning anything they can, and on top of all of that we've got refugees leeching off what remaining food and water we've got left!"

The first man grunted, and shook his head. "Excuses. They're just cowards."

The woman swelled in outrage.

Before she could speak, however, she was interrupted by another civilian, this one was a middle aged man with spectacles. "Well, I for one don't blame the garrison. You're both locals, you've not seen what they're facing. The Fire Nation army is vast, well armoured, and highly trained. They've weapons and technology you can only dream of, and their forces are made up of seasoned, professional soldiers, unlike the garrison, which is made up of levies and men that are either too old to fight on the front line, too young, or too cowardly to sign up. The Fire Nation is a proper army, the city's garrison is nothing more than a provincial militia."

Both the provocateur and the woman he was arguing with turned to scowl at the third person at his words.

"That sounds like the words of a Fire Nation sympathiser!" The first man growled, his green eyes narrowing.

"Well, what can you expect from a filthy refugee. For all we know, he's one of them!" The woman added, her nostrils flaring, and her grip on the jug in her hands tightening.

All around the small group, murmurs of anger and resentment started to build up.

"No, not at all!" The bespectacled man protested, even as the mood within the crowd soured.

"Grab him, he's a Fire Nation spy!" The old man snarled, prompting several nearby people to lunge for the suddenly scared man in glasses.

"That's enough." Percy finally cut in, his tone hard as he glared at the old man.

"Keep out of it, waterbender!" The provocateur snapped, barely glancing at him.

Percy felt his frayed temper flare in response.

"Right, fuck off, then I'm not helping you today. You can queue up for the city reserves instead." Percy snapped. He had already been tired and irritable before the old man started causing trouble, but now he was offically pissed.

The old man's eyes widened in shock at his words, even as his statement cut through the tension in the queue, drawing all eyes on him.

He could see the fear and nervousness in their eyes at his statement.

These people were scared and desperate. It was why they were acting out. They were only a few harsh words away from forming into a mob.

Gritting his teeth, Percy glared at the suddenly scared and shrunken old man. All the man's bluster and bravado had slipped away in an instant.

He could feel guilt and pity welling up within him at the sight of him, and he could also feel Aang and Katara's eyes on him too.

Grimacing, he strengthened his resolve and suppressed any pity he might've felt for the old man.

He didn't like it, but examples had to be made.

It wasn't a matter of his ego, or him singling one person out from a crowd. Instead, it was a matter of chance. The old man had been provoking people, and had almost started a lynch mob with his angry words and accusations. .

"Go," Percy said firmly, his hand raised as he pointed out of the square, and over in the direction of one of the city's wells. There were not many wells or taps that had access to clean water, and of those that did have access to fresh water, all of them were heavily guarded and had massive queues to use them. The old man, who'd been at the front of the queue to see Percy, was now likely facing a several hour wait for a bucket of fresh water.

The old man's face wilted under Percy's stare. "P-Please, I-I didn't mean it, I'm just thirsty and scared!"

He could feel Katara and Aang's eyes boring into him.

"That's no excuse. Everyone here is thirsty and scared. You're throwing out accusations and starting a riot is not helping. In fact, it is only hindering. So, no, you can go and get water from somewhere else." Percy snapped back, his voice hard.

"Percy-" Aang started to speak.

Only for Percy to cut him off with a hard stare.

At Aang's side, Katara was glaring at him. But thankfully, she only did that, and didn't speak up or try to undermine him.

The two of them and Sokka were supposed to have left the city days ago, in line with their initial plan. But when the flooding had started, they had perhaps understandably insisted on remaining to help.

"I'm sorry Aang, but examples have to be made. It's not nice, and I don't like it, but it's necessary. We have to maintain order, or else the city will descend into chaos and people, innocent people, will die." Percy said, harshly.

Aang flinched at his words.

Once again, he felt guilt well up within him.

He didn't dislike Aang, and a part of him wanted to sugar coat things for him and let him keep his childlike innocence. But a larger part of him remembered being Aang's age, and what it was like to be sheltered from the harsh reality of the world. It had been nice at the time, but then reality had come calling, and it had hit him like a tonne of bricks. It was better to rip off the band-aid now.

After all, in the end Aang was the Avatar, and so, regardless of what he wanted, he would be involved in the war. He would see things that no child should, and would be faced with difficult, almost impossible, choices. The sooner he grew up and saw the world for what it was, the better. It would protect him in the long run.

Turning back to the old man, Percy glared at him. "Why are you still here?"

Shrinking in on himself, the old man looked around at the others for help.

All of them turned away, or refused to make eye contact.

Wilting, the old man sent Percy one more pleading look, before with a dejected sigh he turned and started shuffling away.

A pit formed in Percy's stomach at the sight of it.

Biting his lip, he turned away, and looked back to the nervous and far more placid crowd. "Now who is next?"

( - )

(Later that day)

"What was that?" Katara demanded later that day, as they all retired to the inn. All of them were present, including the recently arrived Suki and Sokka, both of whom Aang had filled in on the events of the day.

"I believe I explained myself at the time," Percy replied calmly.

Katara swelled in outrage.

"And I'm not prepared to get into it now." Percy cut her off. He wasn't in the mood to listen to be lectured by a naive child. "The city is on the verge of collapse, and the Fire Nation haven't even started their siege yet-"

"They have, though," Sokka interrupted tiredly. "They've arrived."

Percy, Katara and Aang looked around at him in surprise.

"We saw their banners from the top of the wall. Their invasion force is more than a thousand strong, and they've started setting up their siege weapons and creating their battle lines." Suki nodded grimly. "The commander of the garrison ordered the bridge to be collapsed the moment they arrived."

"A thousand?" Percy scowled, his argument with Katara forgotten. A thousand was not a small number, but nor was it a massive number either. It all depended on how many firebenders they had within their ranks, and what kind of weaponry they had access too. "How large is the garrison?"

Suki shrugged.

Sokka, however, grimaced. "I asked that question earlier. Apparently the city watch is eight hundred strong, and it's reckoned that the militia is around the same size. But that's not taking into account the soldiers that were sent to put out some of the fires, and to evacuate the surrounding villages, or those that were sent to find out what was happening in the mountains. So honestly, I don't know what the current numbers are…. But we probably still outnumber the Fire Nation, maybe."

"So wait, if that's the case, why hasn't Bummi sent his forces out to drive the Fire Nation off?" Katara asked, her brow furrowing in confusion.

"The people today weren't wrong." Percy spoke up after a moment. "Omashu can field more soldiers, but the quality of those soldiers is lacking. The Fire Nation army is blooded, highly trained and well-equipped, or at least the ones we fought. Furthermore, there are only a thousand soldiers that we know of, they probably have more in reserve. Or other soldiers out polluting water sources and burning fields."

"They also probably have a lot more benders," Sokka added, his expression thoughtful. "Most of the professional soldiers and earthbenders were conscripted into the imperial army. Besides, have you actually seen the city? Omashu is massive and easy to defend, so why leave a highly defensible location? Omashu is actually kind of like the Southern Air Temple. It's on a peak and is difficult to get to, only there is an actual army here."

"Maybe, but I'm pretty sure the Southern Air Temple was conquered…" Suki said softly.

Aang's expression fell at the reminder.

"Well, that doesn't mean the same will happen here. We're here after all, and we have the Avatar too!" Katara spoke up.

"Y-Yeah!" Aang said, his expression perking up slightly.

"That is true, all we need is for Aang to go full glowy eyed Avatar mode and the Fire Nation wouldn't know what hit them!" Sokka grinned.

Percy frowned, but didn't reply straight away.

"Percy?" Suki asked.

"The Fire Nation knows the Avatar is here, and yet they still came. Their commander is obviously smart, and they wouldn't have made this move if they didn't have a plan." Percy muttered, his brow furrowed. He wasn't always the best when it came to making up strategies himself, that was more Annabeth's thing. But he could recognise a good strategy when he saw one, and the enemy commander had come up with a good one. Cruel and brutal, yes, but also very effective. Whoever they were, they weren't a fool

"They're probably just underestimating Aang." Katara scowled.

He shook his head, uncertain.

"The city is not in a good way. It's overcrowded, and is running low on supplies. Now that the bridge has been collapsed, and the Fire Nation has started besieging the city, it's completely isolated too." Percy said, his arms folded as he looked out of a nearby window, and at the city. "There is also the issue of the saboteurs and spies that we know are in the city. If given the chance, they could cause untold chaos, and cause the city to tear itself apart from within."

"You make it sound so hopeless," Suki muttered, despondent.

"I wouldn't say it is hopeless, but the situation isn't good, and the longer the siege goes on, the worse things will get." Percy said. "I hate to say it, but we probably need to break the siege now with a preemptive attack before the Fire Nation finish setting up a defensive encampment outside."

"But what about what you said before?" Aang asked. "Wouldn't a lot of people get hurt?"

"I'm sorry to say, Aang. But I think that's going to happen either way." Percy sighed. "Either a few people die now, or thousands die during the siege."

The other four people in the room grimaced.

Glancing over at Suki, Percy reached out and put a comforting arm around her shoulders. She was still not fully recovered from her fight in the forest, neither was he really, energy wise that is, but she was at least strong enough to help out the militia.

"That said, I think it is time you three left." Percy pressed on, his voice firm as he turned away from his girlfriend and instead fixed the two younger teens and Aang with a hard look.

All three of them protested loudly in response, and he could understand why, too. They all thought that there was more they could do.

"I know you want to fight, and honestly, you could probably do a lot of good too." Percy said with a comforting smile. "But the same point we made before, still applies. They're hunting you, Aang. You're the reason they're here. If you are seen to leave, they might break off the siege to pursue you. I mean, don't get me wrong, the commander of the army will probably leave the majority of their forces here now that they've started besieging the city. But a good chunk will follow you, including their elites, after all you're the Avatar. That alone could be enough to swing things our way. Once their force is split, we should be able to counterattack, and hopefully break the siege and shatter their forces before they're able to properly dig themselves in. I'll approach Bummi about it myself, and offer to lead the attack if necessary."

They all sent him a surprised look at that last statement.

"But what about everyone else? Aang and I can still use our waterbending to help with the floodwaters?" Katara asked.

Percy smiled. "You probably could, yes. But I think it'd be more beneficial in the long run for you to leave and head to the Northern Water Tribe so Aang can learn waterbending from one of the masters up there. More than just Omashu is in danger, and the sooner this war ends, the better."

Suki raised an eyebrow.

Glancing at her, he knew what was going through her mind, especially considering she knew his thoughts on the purpose of the Avatar.

"You're a symbol of hope more than anything, Aang. The people believe you can end this war and bring balance, and as long as you stay alive and free, they will continue to believe that. They'll continue to live in hope." Percy pressed on. "So please, trust us to handle the Fire Nation here."

( - )

(With Azula)

Sitting astride a komodo rhino, with Mai and Ty Lee similarly mounted at her side, Azula watched in delight as the bombardment of Omashu began.

Trebuchets and mangonels had been set up and were now hurling flaming boulders, animal carcasses and the remains of a number of recently killed Earth Kingdom soldiers into the great walled city. She could almost smell the horror and despair those within the city must be feeling.

To each side of her, she could see hundreds of armoured foot soldiers driving sharpened stakes into the ground to form a spiky palisade wall, even as Temujin used his earthbending to create both a trench and an earthen rampart.

One of her pet waterbenders were similarly busy at the back lines as he assisted one of the captains in organising their supply lines. They'd raided a huge amount of food over the last week, and were spreading out caches of food and water throughout the expanding camp, even as mounted bands of her soldiers continued to pillage food and burn fields.

The preparations for the siege were finished, and although she had not lured as many of the Earth Kingdom soldiers as she had wanted out of the city, she had still managed to draw out and kill a couple of hundred of them. Their bodies were all now either staked out along the roads leading to Omashu, rotting under the hot sun, or were being hurled into the city they had sworn to protect.

Her lips curled into a smile at the irony of it. The soldiers that had once protected the city, were now being used to fear within the city.

Behind her, her firebenders were all resting up while the non-benders went about their work.

Despite the siege having already started, she was not planning on ordering a direct assault on the city for a while yet.

After all, first she needed to soften up the city, and spread a bit more fear and desperation. She wanted the populace truly broken before she finally put them under the yoke of the Fire Nation. It would make them a lot more compliant in the long run.

Besides which, she was in no rush.

She still had a squad of soldiers and a few firebenders up in the mountains melting the glaciers, and contaminating the meltwater. Likewise, she had other soldiers and her warships raiding surrounding towns and villages, and capturing any able bodied men and women they could find. After all, there was always manual labour that needed doing, or human shields that could be used to defend her soldier's from the city's artillery and earthbenders.

On top of that, the reason for her being here was still within the city and was probably not going to be leaving it anytime soon.

The Avatar, her brother's killer, was still hiding behind those walls, and as loathe as she was to admit it, she wasn't prepared to force an attack on the city when such a powerful unknown was still inside.

No, it was better to either have him come out to meet her while she was on home ground and within the heart of her army. Or starve and weaken him to the point that he would only be able to put up a token resistance when she did finally lead the assault on the city.

Her lips curved up into another wider smile at that thought, even as she sat back in her saddle, and watched as her siege engines continued their grim, dirty work. The repetitive thunk, clicking and crash of the four dozen mechanical siege engines was almost therapeutic in a way. Especially those that launched flaming rocks, after all she could easily track their progress through the later afternoon sky and watch as they smashed in the city wall, or deeper within the citadel itself.

"Azula!" Ty Lee suddenly shouted from beside her.

Frowning, she looked over at her friend, only to see her pointing in the other direction.

"There is a flying cow!" Ty Lee pressed on.

Scowling at her idiot friend's comment, Azula was about to reprimand the daft girl, when Mai, her far more sensible friend, spoke up too.

"I think it's actually a sky buffalo…" Mai said dryly.

Turning in her saddle, her golden eyes narrowed as she immediately spotted what her friends were talking about. A great horned beast, with six legs and a tail like a platypus bear, had just flown over the walls of Omashu.

"That's a sky bison," Azula said coldly, her eyes narrowing.

She remembered her history lessons. Sky bison were as synonymous with Air Nomads as dragons were with the Fire Nation, or Badger Moles were with the Earth Kingdom. More than that, she had heard about this sky bison in question, and its airbending rider. The boy was one of the two people she had heard of that could possibly be the Avatar.

Unfortunately, this boy wasn't the one that had killed her brother.

"What do you want to do?" Mai asked dully.

Glancing at her friend, Azula scowled, even as she pulled out a telescope and turned back to focus on the sky bison, or rather its saddle. At this distance, she could just about make out its occupants. There were three of them, two of them wearing blue Water Tribe peasant rags, and another bald child was dressed in orange. The male Water Tribe peasant, however, was slight and looked like a teenager. That, and he had both arms, unlike the dual element wielding Water Tribe savage that murdered her brother.

Looking back at the city, Azula scowled.

They'd committed to besieging the city, so it was too late to call it off, or at least not without losing face at Court. Besides which, a victory here would be a great boon to the war effort, and would give them a new foothold in the Earth Kingdom. On top of which, the target of her ire was likely still within the city.

On the other hand, however, the Fire Lord deemed the airbender the more likely one among the pair to be the Avatar, and would therefore probably be angry if she did not make any effort to pursue him.

"Lieutenant," She said curtly, to a nearby soldier. "Pursue the sky bison and its rider. Take a company of mongoose lizard riders with you, and make sure to follow them. I don't want them getting away."

The lieutenant in question flinched under her gaze, but quickly nodded.

"Captain," She then said, turning to the captain of her komodo rhino riders. "Follow the lieutenant's trail, you will act as reinforcements, and make sure to keep me abreast of your location."

"Yes princess!" The captain saluted.

Scowling, Azula nodded curtly, and turned her attention back to the city.

This was an irritating and unexpected occurrence, and one that would cost her most of her cavalry, and a number of mounted firebenders too. They were losses she could ill afford too considering her lack of reinforcements. But at the same time, this was an opportunity that she couldn't afford to miss either.

Tightening her hands into fists, Azula exhaled a breath of steam, as she tried to keep her temper under control.

"Mai, tell the engineers to increase the bombardment and to use some explosive barrels, I'm in a bad mood, and am in need of some entertainment." Azula said sourly, as she began to drum her fingers impatiently against the edge of her saddle.

( - )

(With Percy)

The armour he had been lent was tight, and heavier than the Kyoshi armour he had worn previously. It was leaf green in colour, and covered his chest, shoulders and upper legs, his calves and feet were clad in thick iron plated boots, and under the armour he wore a beige undercoat. The armour was a loaner from the city's armoury, as was the conical helmet he now wore and the heavy two handed axe he had strapped to his back.

At his side and behind him were similarly armoured men and women. Most of these soldiers were the fitter members of the garrison, though a number were also volunteers and mercenaries like himself. He'd already seen both Hef and Hana amongst the militia. Also amongst their number, identifiable only by their lack of boots, were a number of earthbenders.

Drawing some water out of one of the several water-skins he had hanging from the bandolier around his shoulder, he quickly formed a dense forearm and hand made from water around his stump.

It had taken a bit of persuasion, but he'd managed to convince Aang and the other two to finally leave the city.

He'd been on the walls with King Bummi in the midst of trying to convince him of a plan of action when they had left. Which had been fortuitous, as it had also given him a good view of the Fire Nation's response and had allowed him to watch as most of the besieging forces cavalry suspiciously disappeared from the front lines not long after Appa left.

Suffice to say, this, along with a rather blunt and aggressive argument from himself, and some not so muted mutinous comments from Omashu's commander of the garrison, had been enough to convince Bummi to allow him to lead a counterattack. Which was convenient, as prior to their meeting, Bummi had been rambling on about them doing nothing and instead surrendering the city to the invading force.

Rolling his shoulders, Percy glanced to his side. Suki, despite her wounds, had insisted on taking part in the attack. Any attempt to convince her otherwise had fallen on deaf ears.

The most he'd been able to do was to persuade her to stick with Hana and the rest of the archers, as opposed to joining the frontal assault like she had initially wanted to do.

"Right, you all remember the plan." Percy said quietly, as they waited for the Earthbenders on the ramparts to do their part and lower the wall like a drawbridge, allowing the waiting force a path to charge across the chasm and into the besieging army.

He got several murmurs of assent from those around him, even as some of the soldiers checked and rechecked their large rectangular shields.

The plan was simple. They would be forming a wedge as they charged, with Percy at the tip. Those behind him would use their shields to form a tortoise or loose Roman testudo of sorts, with those in front creating an impenetrable wall of iron to protect them from fire blasts, crossbow bolts and arrows, meanwhile those behind would lay their shield atop the wide conical helmets of those in front.

Once they were across the chasm the earthbenders would then get to work decimating the Fire Nation trenches so he and the frontal assault could hit the Fire Nation hard and cause as much damage they could, even as the earthbenders then went on to set up defences for the archers to use as they whittled away the Fire Nation forces.

At his request, Percy had several members of the militia carrying large pots of contaminated water on their backs behind him. He had learned from the fight in the forest, and was more prepared this time to face off with firebenders on their turf.

"Remember to stick together and don't get ahead of yourself. They've not had a chance to fully fortify their position yet, but these are still armed, trained and well rested soldiers." Percy continued, his brow furrowed as the signal was given, and the wall started to lower.

Drawing more water from one of his water skins and forming several floating orbs, Percy narrowed his eyes.

The moon shone brightly overhead, providing the waiting force all the light they needed to press the assault.

Ignoring the distant shouts of the Fire Nation forces as they clocked onto what was happening, Percy sent a quick prayer to Artemis for luck, before with a battle cry he led the charge.

"Let's fucking get them!"

( - )

AN: Thanks for reading, and hopefully you enjoyed it and continue to do so. I'd hoped for more action, but he chapter got away from me so I've shifted the balls to the wall section to the next chapter. Sorry, but I got too I to the setting and rbe character work.

Still hope you enjoyed, if not then please tell what you didn't like, or what you thought could have been done better? Please leave a review, comment etc. If you have any questions or suggestions feel free to PM me.

Another thing while I am at it, is this. I am a part of a discord group, the Emerald Library, there's tons of others there, plenty of writers, admittedly mainly PJO, but other stuff too, including a growing number of writers. Feel free to pop along and say hi, I'm always happy to chat about the stuff I am writing. So if you fancy it please do to join by sticking this: discord .gg / elibrary into discord, with no spaces, or using the link on my bio.

Also I've had a couple of people PMing me about this, so decided why not. So, if you'd like to become a patron just head on over to Pat re on and add a /Greed720 after the . com. There's no real pressure for this, and there won't be a paywall or anything like that for any of my stories. Just giving the option if people fancy contributing. Either way, whether you do become a patron or just remain a casual reader it's appreciated.

Thanks for reading and please do leave a review, that or feel free to PM, I am usually much better at answering those!

Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a very merry Christmas!

Greed720.