I don't own Avatar The Last Airbender
Chapter 6
"Your highness, captain Zhao summons you to his office."
"That was fast, I expect at least another few hours for him to think of something."
'He must really want me out.'
"Well, we shouldn't keep the good general waiting."
"Very well, lead me to him then."
"Yes sir!"
Zuko waived goodbye to the soldiers at the table and followed the messenger. They had a small talk on the way, apparently the messenger's name was Jiong and he was from the southern parts of the fire islands.
"Say, Jiong, what do you think Zhao called me for?"
"Can't tell, I don't know myself."
"And if you had to guess?"
"I… a…"
"Please, I need to be updated about what's happening. You don't have to fear anything from me."
"Well… it may be about the pirates, sir."
"Pirates? Is there a sudden increase with pirate attacks?"
"The contrary, there was a sharp drop in pirate attacks and sighting."
"Pirate attacks? Is this something frequent here?"
"Oh, no sir, the navy crushes any pirate ship that dares to go near the base. It's the small merchant vessels that suffer, the pirate ships are too small to be considered worth the time of the navy."
"And you said it stopped? How common were those attacks anyway?"
"Well, not stopped, dropped. If before we had at average one reported attack per day, now we have one every week."
"That is a sharp drop. Do you have idea about the reason?"
"No sir, I'm just a soldier. This thinking is above my pay grade, I don't know much about all the dealing behind the scenes."
"Understandable. On other note, do you know perhaps engineers and mechanics in need of work?"
"Not that I'm aware of, I have a friend that may know thou."
"If you could ask him, I'll be thankful."
"Sure. Well, here we are, good luck with whatever this is your highness."
"Thanks, have a nice day Jiong."
And so, Zuko was left alone at the front of the door. He knocked at the door three times.
"Come in."
Zuke entered at Zhao's voice. He was greeted by the captain himself, as well as six or so of his lieutenants. They had varying features, one had a noticeable scar on his left chick, while another had an eyepatch on his left eye. There was a gruff looking woman and an elderly man, both eyeing each other as if they were in disagreement about something. The others, quite frankly, didn't catch Zuko's interest.
"Ah, your highness, please sit. You must be wondering why you are here."
"I have a few guesses. But please, elaborate."
"There has been an opportunity to expand our territories, it seems that the earth kingdom navy have been weakened in the last few days. Pirate attacks became rarer and rarer in fire nation controlled territories, while the earth kingdom seems to have an unprecedented increase in theirs. The earth navy is spreading thinner than ever, and we are planning to exploit it to the fullest."
"All this is well and good, but were do I come in?"
"We need to know that there are no surprises for us once we leave, all this lack of pirate activity is making some of my lieutenants fill uneasy."
Zhao proceeded to give a stinking look at the elderly man.
"As such, a quarter of my forces will have to stay here to guard the port. That is unless we find the reason for the pirate situation and exterminate the pirate presence entirely."
"And you want me to hunt down the missing pirates."
Zhao smiled at that.
"Yes, your highness. You wanted to take part in the war effort, so here it is. Track the missing pirates down and report to the fleet. We in turn will come and exterminate the pirates and clean our water from opposition so that I could focus my entire force for the expedition."
"I see… My ship is yet to be fixed however, does that mean you will let me borrow one of yours?"
"As it is, since it's his concerns about the pirates, you will accompany lieutenant Shen in his search."
Zhao inclined his head toward the elderly lieutenant.
"I see, and when we will depart?"
"In three hours. Go, prepare your man and report to lieutenant Shen by that time.
"Very well."
Zuko left the room after nodding to the old man.
After three hours, Zuko explained the men about the situation and together with their gear they went to the docks to meet lieutenant Shen. The old lieutenant waited for them there with a few of his men.
"Lieutenant Shen."
"Prince Zuko, please come in."
Once the prince and his crew entered and familiarized themselves with the new ship, Zuko and the lieutenant had a briefing in the latter's office.
"So Shen, What can you tell me about the situation?"
"It started about two weeks ago, usually there is some minor piracy in the region. Mostly against the little to medium ship outside the range of a quick response from the base. And nothing too serious to take decisive action against them."
"Now thou? Now there is a drastic decrease of eighty percent. Even the reports we had are about attacks on small targets, barely even worthy of the effort to raid."
"And about the earth kingdom territories?"
"From sightings and from our spies we know that piracy had risen three fold. The earth navy is much less organized than ours and lack the numbers to properly deafened their waters."
"I would have thought that they would at least have the numbers, aren't the earth kingdom huge?"
"Indeed it is, your highness, and this is a part of the problem."
Zuko looked at him in confusion.
"He has a very good point. I would have explained it to you myself, but I will give the old lieutenant a chance to show his value. If he misses something, I will tell you about it."
"Because of the size of the earth kingdom it is very hard to govern it, why it could take over a year for a simple message to arrive from Ba Sing Se to the provinces even without the bureaucracy. This means that the idea of a unified earth army formed from the entire continent is unfeasible."
"If so, then what are we fighting here exactly?"
"The earth kingdom is a misleading name, an empire would be more fitting. The territories are governed by local leaders like king Bumi in Omashu or the Beifongs in Gaoling, this lessens the pressure on Ba Sing Se and gives the territories an actual leader. However, it also means that each governor has almost complete authority as long as he or she pay their taxes."
"So to answer your question, what we are fighting isn't the earth kingdom, but a coalition of smaller governments. As any coalition, there are fractions between the members. And many of them, meaning the once far from the front, are giving the minimum effort, if at all."
"But why would they do it? Not that I'm complaining, but isn't it counter productive?"
The old lieutenant smiled at that.
"It is, but remember what I said earlier about the fraction and authority. Many governors wouldn't permit forces not loyal to them to enter their territories, they fear other governors taking control. For them there isn't much difference between being subjugated to the fire nation and being subjugated to a neighboring governor."
"So we usually fight the militia of the local governor, which is easy crushed by the better trained, better equipped and more numerous army of the entire fire nation."
"If that's so, then why isn't the entire earth kingdom conquered already?"
"It's because the army is spreading thin across the colonies to keep control, and the more territories we have the longer it is to receive messages. All in all, it creates a power balance of sort, which is why there hasn't been a complete conquest of the earth kingdom yet."
"I see, and this is the same with marine territories as well, I presume."
"Exactly!"
The old lieutenant smiled, and then frowned.
"Unfortunately, this is a breeding ground for pirates. It's not uncommon that some bands of pirates unite to create larger groups that can even pose a threat to the more vulnerable ships of the navy."
"So this is why your worried? You think that we deal with a unified group of pirates?"
"I don't think, I know. I had my suspicions before, the pirate attacks were too well coordinated, just below the notice for retribution. We also never saw them fight among themselves, this is an impossibility for cutthroats unless they work together."
"And you think this may be a trick of them?"
"I'm afraid so, I fear that they may provoke our great captain to stage an advancement and leave the port undermanned and ripe for pillaging to a considerable force."
The sarcastic remark about Zhao couldn't be missed.
"But aren't they getting enough loot from the earth kingdom? It seems like an unnecessary risk to me."
"The earth kingdom ships and hamlets will soon enough exhaust themselves. The colonies are much richer than the common settlements of the earth kingdom, the pirates wouldn't be able to resist the temptation if the colonies are left unguarded."
"But wouldn't they fear retribution?"
Zuko was surprised that some criminals would dare to attack knowing that the navy would return full force and in vengeance.
The lieutenant let out a bark of laughter.
"They wouldn't mind because they will be long gone. And unlike on land, we lack any useful way to track those sons of lemurs. Besides, they will most likely hide in some narrow waterways to nullify our heavy cruisers and gaining a more or less equal ground."
It enraged Zuko to hear that a possible attack on his people could happen so easily and without consequences.
"How can I help lieutenant?"
His company sighed in a sad tone.
"I'm afraid you can't, your highness."
"What do you mean? My people are in danger! I will do whatever I can!"
Shen seemed to depress farther.
"Your heart is in the right place, your highness, but Zhao gave us a short deadline to find the pirates on purpose. By the time we complete the scouting rout Zhao will have enough time to prepare the forces for an operation without my constant bickering. He will undoubtedly also use our failed mission to reinforce his point."
"Why do you think we wouldn't find the pirates?"
Once again, the lieutenant chuckled humorously.
"You never hunted pirates, have you? When they see a strong foe, they run. You also can't really tell which ship is a pirate ship and which is a regular merchant ship, you must catch them in act."
"But pirates are pirates, aren't they? They have their flag and all."
"Ha! You had too much romanization. No, pirates don't show a flag before they are close enough to their prey, it's rather counterproductive if their prey sees the flag and runs away."
"I suppose…"
"Anyway, it's either that, or find an unknown base of operation. Which I assure you will be located behind dense vegetation and out of sight from the sea, you'll have to be a bird to see it."
"I think I may have a solution."
Zuko listened for a few seconds.
"Shen, what if I give you the view of a bird?"
"Your highness, when you said you would give me the view of a bird, it's not what I had in mind."
The prince asked him for two hours delay, bringing him something that would give them an advantage. he was skeptical about the royal, the prince had his heart in the right place, but he was an idealist. This isn't a good thing in this line of work. Nevertheless, he was the prince, so the old lieutenant didn't have much choice.
Quite frankly, he thought the prince would bring some kind of bird that would fly around the ship and report if it sees something, not whatever this thing was. It looked like a ball, not unlike the one that his kids played with, but it was at least five times his height. It was strapped to a basket big enough for two men to stand on and it had sheets of cloth hanging from the sides, to hide what's inside he had no doubt.
"What is it again?"
"Names can be chosen later, what's important is that this thing can get us in the air high enough to look at birds from above. Undoubtedly it will help with scouting."
Shen supposed that if this monstrosity is indeed capable of what the prince said, then it will reduce the length of the scouting, and therefore the time and fuel, exponentially. That is if it works of course.
"You're coming, lieutenant?"
The prince asked as he stepped to the basket and put a flame under the ball thing, that Shen now noticed had a hole in the bottom. Just how the prince thought this thing could make people fly was a mystery to him. With a sigh, he joined the royal.
"Very well your highness."
Once he was inside the basket, he asked something he had had on his mind for some time.
"Your highness, would your uncle join us?"
The prince looked at him.
"Well, if you mean join us here at the basket then no. I'm afraid that even the extinct sky bison couldn't make uncle fly."
The lieutenant chackled a little at that
"If you mean to the scouting… then also no. He said that he lost his favorite tile and must buy another one, so he wouldn't be joining us."
The prince frowned as he said that his frown deepened after a few seconds as if he remembered something.
"I see…"
Perhaps it was for the best, things could get awkward if the disgraced general was here.
Suddenly, he felt a weird sensation and the basket suddenly started to rise up. He had to hold the rails of the basket to stop himself from falling over. By the time he composed himself, he was already higher than the guard towers at the docks. He saw the ground go farther and farther away and as he suddenly stopped, he could see the entire land for miles upon miles.
"Amazing…"
The prince then handed him a telescope with a smirk.
"So tell me, lieutenant, is it up to your expectations?"
He gladly accepted the offered device.
"I… yes, it is beyond what I ever had in mind."
Suddenly he thought about something.
"How are we going to contact the crew?"
The prince pointed at a cage with a falcon that he somehow missed.
"Messages via falcons, much better than shouting. You can also draw maps and troop positions."
"Useful, very useful…"
The lieutenant muttered.
"I think you should order the man to sail now."
"Oh, yes, of course. Sorry your highness, I was lost in thoughts."
"No problem, can't blame you."
The prince smiled.
As the hours passed, Zuko and Shen made staggering progress with the scouting. Journeys of hours across islands became minutes at most as the thing Sai offered to create just flew above said islands and gave a good view of the entire islands. Lieutenant Shen committed more than once about the various hiding spots they found that way, which were nearly invisible from ship.
Shen was responsible for the sighting and the mapping, while Zuko kept his flame lit to warm the air inside the ball. They had a small talk meanwhile, Zuko discovered that the grumpy lady that spoke with Shen was actually his daughter. When asked about the conflict between them, the old lieutenant just said that he sometimes is too overprotective.
Speaking about the balloon, or at least that's how Sai called him, it was a very useful invention, even Zuko could see it. With this thing they could particularly nullify every other force in the world, bar the extinct air benders. They could just fly above the walls of Ba Sing Se and conquer the city from the inside.
When he mentioned this to Shen, the latter suddenly became quiet. He deeply frowned and looked at pain for a moment, when asked he said that it must be the height. Zuko was going to ask him if he would like to go down, but Sai stopped him, saying there were no physical signs of air sickness or lack of oxygen.
They continued silently from that point, at least until Zuko couldn't take it anymore.
"Listen, I'm sorry for whatever I said."
The old lieutenant once again took a tired sigh.
"No, no, you have nothing to apologize for. It is only an old man getting emotional."
"But what did I do? If you don't mind me asking of course."
The last part was hastily added.
"I suppose I owe you an explanation at least. You see, I had a son, Cheng, that served in the army. He was an infantry soldier and served under lieutenant Lu Ten, your cousin. And as you can guess, he also met his end with your cousin."
Zuko made a sawyer face.
"No wonder you reacted that way to my talk about Ba Sing Se… sorry, it was inconsiderable."
Shen waved off his apology.
"Think nothing about it. You didn't know, and even if you did, you made honest observations. Nothing to be angry about."
"Would… Would you like to talk about it? Uncle says that it sometimes helps."
Shen chuckled a little.
"I came to acceptance long ago, your highness. But I suppose I could indulge your curiosity. We have some time after all."
"You see, my son had a duty to watch over for threats. Unfortunately, in a close melee battle it is very hard to notice every single threat. From what the report said, both of them were killed by arrows. The earth soldiers used earth bending to obscure the arrows being released, and the battle sounds deafened the whistle noise. They died with their back turned, didn't even registered they died if the report is to be believed."
"… Thank you for sharing, it brings some closure to know how Lu Ten died."
"You didn't know how your cousin died?!"
The surprise was clear in the old man's voice. To be frank, it caused a little insecurity in the prince.
"Well… uncle didn't talk about it, and I didn't have the heart to ask. Father didn't allow me to dwell on it, so I had no access to any files."
"I see… Anyway, I'm glad I could help you, your highness."
"You know, I think I found a name for this thing. With your permission, of course."
The lieutenant raised an eyebrow at that.
"This should be interesting, what did you have in mind?"
"Cheng's eye. This thing was built to notice in advance threat from afar, therefore saving soldiers lives. It was inspired by people like your son, so I thought it would be a fitting name. Of course, if you have any objections, I will change it to something else immediately."
The old lieutenant began to sob, between those sobs however, he thanked Zuko for the respect he had given his son. He went on about the fact that his son's name wouldn't be forgotten, and thanked Agni for his mercy, for he knew his son could rest in peace.
It was a strange mix of satisfaction, sadness and awkwardness Zuko felt when the old father poured his heart out. Before long, Shen took a hold on himself and apologized for his unprofessional behavior. Which Zuko waved off.
As they finished the patrol, Zuko lowered Cheng's eye. They met with the bewildered gaze of the people at the port, Zhao among them. It seems that the good captain indeed used the absence of opposition to prepare his forces for work.
"Why Zhao! You prepared the men already? Why what luck! We just finished mapping the entire region and all its pirate bases! It will be just the practice you need with our new toy before the expedition!"
Zuko waved his right hand in the air in a greeting manner, while surrounding his left one in lightning to show who is in control.
He then walked close er to Zhao and whispered in his ear.
"Remember our deal captain ~"
And this is how Zuko got command of Ching's ship. Apparently Zhao fully expected him to fail or be gone for enough time to leave the young prince behind. Zuko didn't know why he switched lieutenants on prince babysitting duty thou.
"Probably didn't like how close you were with Shen and is afraid of his influence over his soldiers waning. Most likely thought that the daughter will antagonize you because of her complications with her old man."
'Idiot. More soldiers for me, I suppose.'
Zuko was quick to organize a meeting with Zhao and the lieutenants, there he showed them Cheng's eye. Shen was very helpful in integrating the flying machine into the battle plans of the fleet. His experience and connections with the rest of the persona, as well as the sheer potential of the new invention, made building plans upon it very easy.
It was decided that the fleet would split into seven groups, one led by each lieutenant, and one led by Zhao. After a few debates, it was decided which one will take which base. There were apparently seven different pirate bases, each on a different island for a group to pick. How considerate of them.
It was decided that Ching's group will take the third island. It wasn't the one with the most vegetation and had a few warehouses of warehouses of unknown content. It was very Zhao like to give himself the biggest base (and himself the biggest group to compensate, compensate what exactly will be left open for debate.) and the person under his command that he liked the least, the hardest and less rewording with prestige. Although, to be fair, it was what Zuko (under Sai's control) asked for.
Zuko decided to look on the bright side and see the opportunities presented to him to improve his, and his crew's, status and strength. He went to Ching to discuss the upcoming battle plan.
"Lieutenant Ching."
Zuko said with a smile.
"Your highness, how can I help you?"
It appears that while Shen and his daughter had many differences that divided them, one thing that they had in common was their love for Cheng. So Zuko secured her undying gratitude when he named the balloon after her brother.
Zhao perhaps didn't consider familial relations could bring feuding people like that. But then again, with how little he seems to consider anything not directly related to his success, Zuko had doubts the captain even bothered to know his lieutenants enough to realize the familial ties between the two.
"What will my men and I do in the raid?"
"Well, it seems you came in good time. I was just about to give roles to everyone. Tell me, where do you think you will do the best at?"
Unlike most, Ching didn't have many qualms about using the young prince. She knew more than most about the need to prove yourself and the need for freedom, courtesy of her overprotective father. So, she was all in for utilizing the power of the royal line.
"I think we will be best as shock troopers, hitting the enemy hard and fast is my specialty."
"Very well, so here's what we are going to do."
"Boss! We're under attack!"
"What?!"
Ty wasn't having a good day.
First, he had to do a random check on the mines, as is dictated by protocol once a month. This means rising at the owl-wolf's hour to prepare the needed equipment for the checkup and to arrive at the mining island at dawn.
The inspection itself went good enough, the output of the metal was in the acceptable range, and security measures were decent enough. No one could get in or out unnoticed and any sizeable force would be easy spotted by the sentries.
The evacuation drill went good enough as well, it wasn't the best by any means, but the men were well enough within the timeframe that an invading force will take to reach the camp.
As the day went by, he got reports about a fire nation patrol, but he wasn't too concerned. All the reports stated that the ship was far enough from the camps and the positioning of the ports made it impossible to detect them by ship that way.
He had to cut some hands for stealing from the mines and execute a worker or two to motivate the rest, but it was all in a day's job.
The entire day was tiring, however, the fact that he had one of the boss's personal attack dogs with him definitely didn't help him relax. Now don't get him wrong, he liked to have a vicious killing machine breathing on his neck as well as the next guy. But the fact was that undoubtedly the boss will hear everything that happens here, so for his health no mistakes were allowed.
Hence, he was really not in the mood for any surprises, much less a surprise attack.
"How do they even know we're here?! Did one of you ignored the new raiding orders and got followed?!"
"No sir! We were extremely careful!"
"Then I must find the tunnel rat… Never mind, how do things look? How large is the force?"
"One cruiser and five frigates, boss."
"So enough to take on this outpost, but it can be defeated if we gather all our troops… Very well, send orders to the other outposts! Immediate backup! Now!"
As the minutes passed, he continued receiving updates on the situation via parrot-monkeys, the pirate imitation of the fire nation's messenger hawks. It seemed that the situation became dire and dire by the second, the troops were trained with using the environment to their advantage, they knew the island and had the home advantage. Yet the reports he received told him that his men were routed as if the enemy knew their position beforehand.
This was salvageable thou, yes, he just had to wait for reinforcement to arrive and then they would butcher the pigs. Of course, it seems that karma has finally caught up with him. He received the letters from the other outposts, but they were worse than his worst fears. While he had his own invasion, all the other outposts had their own. At the same time!
This was bad, really bad. He had to do something, escape, save himself, if he only had some reliable meat shield to hide behind… That's it!
"Enforcer! I have orders for you!"
The thing turned its expressionless gaze upon him. Ty swallowed, thinking that perhaps he overestimated his authority on the murderer. But since he was still in one piece, then he was probably fine, for now at least.
"The enemy will overrun us very soon. Your orders are to accompany me and get me out of this blasted island to safety!"
The marauder gave one slow nod and pointed at the door.
"Yes, let's get out of here."
As the two got out, the enforcer pulled from his belt something. He then proceeded to put some string that was attached on fire with a spark and throw it to the office.
"What did-"
KABOOM
The entire house they were in moments ago was now blasted to pieces by whatever the enforcer threw.
"What was that for?! Now we'll have them investigate the noise!"
The enforcer just looked chillingly down on the pirate and pointed in some direction with his left hand, his right hand rested dangerously on the hilt of one of his twin blades. The message was clear.
"R-right, l-let's g-go…"
They continued with the escape.
After a few minutes, the enforcer stopped the pirate.
"What is it?"
The enforcer just silently observed the surrounding. Slowly he pulled a throwing knife, and with lightning like speed threw it into a bush. There was a loud screech when the object hit its mark.
"ATTACK!"
Suddenly, the clearing was infested with fire nation soldiers. They had something like a dozen men, all armed and ready to attack. Not that it really helped them. In one swift move, the enforcer shoved Ty to the ground a dozen feet away into a bush and moved for the kill.
Ty was in the bush, so he didn't see the fight, but he heard it very well. He wasn't a stranger to violence, heck it was part of his job description, so he recognized the sound of breaking bones or shanking a blade deep into someone, very well. The screams also helped painting the picture.
"AHAAA!"
"My arm!"
"Stop him!"
"B-back off!"
After that there was quiet. Ty yelped as he was suddenly pulled from his hiding place. He usually would have executed the man for such disrespect on the point, but the scene of butchery before him was a convincing argument to hold his tongue. Spirit, he didn't know it was physically possible to bend a back like that, broken or not.
"Y-yes, e-excellent job. L-let's go."
The enforcer began to go through the carnage as if it was another workday for him. Which considering his profession, probably was. Ty shuddered to imagine what this thing may consider as "exciting". The enforcer, however, didn't go to the exit, but towards the mines.
"W-wait! Escape is that way!"
The enforcer stopped for a moment, slowly turned his faceless head to look at Ty, creeping him out in the process, and pointed to the direction of the mines. Then began walking there, not looking behind.
"W-wait for me!"
Perhaps there was some secret exit there? With no other option, Ty followed the enforcer.
Zuko and his man were at the thick of the battle. With the information on the position of the pirates provided by the watcher on Cheng's eye it was very easy to form counter measures. His men and him cut through the opposition like a hot knife through butter. Surprise attacks and overwhelming firepower made sure they crushed the enemy before even sustaining any injuries to themselves.
It was a little annoying to get every few minutes a falcon and being ordered around, but he supposed it was better than being led to an ambush. His little encounter with Hakoda was more than enough experience for him.
Nevertheless, things were going well, very well, so far, they nearly had the entire island under control in less than an hour. Of course, good things can last for Zuko, and the next hawk he got had a concerning development that he shared with his men.
"Listen up, it seems like we finally located the leader of this little outpost!"
His men cheered at the news.
"Quite! Apparently, he butchered all of squad seagulls by himself!"
That shut the men down.
"He is heading to a place suspected to be a mine and is accompanied by another crook, this one seems like a low threat however. If we hurry, we can get to them just in time. Now remember men, this guy slaughtered an entire quad of trained soldiers. Treat him with extreme caution, follow battle plan OVERWHELMING and you will be fine."
"Now, Are You With Me?"
"YEAH!"
They sprinted towards the mine entrance with the help of the map of the island that was drawn from the Eyes of Cheng. They got there just in time to intercept their target.
As the two criminals were a few dozen feet from the entrance, Zuko was about to shoot them with fire. Sai had other ideas, however.
"Blast at the ground near the entrance."
By reflex, Zuko did as Sai suggested. He was not disappointed with the results.
The armored man, undoubtedly the higher ranked on of the two, sprinted to the entrance the moment Zuko noticed them. The blast caught him by surprise as he was sent flying back to his partner. Zuko noticed that the leader would have continued to advance if it was a regular shot of fire, nevertheless, he rose up much too quickly for someone who was just blasted twenty feet to a hard earth.
His partner had more trouble getting up however, and by that time his men completed surrounding the duo. The unarmored man drawn his sword and whip, while the armored one draw his twin swords.
Zuko took this chance to end things peacefully.
"You are surrounded! Surrender now and face justice or die!"
The pirates, however, seem to have different ideas.
"Kill them! Now!"
Zuko was surprised that it was the lesser threat giving the orders, did they confuse between the two?
The armored figure looked around it, left, then right, then he looked back at his partner/boss/whatever their relationship was. In one swift move he slashed the head of his partner clean off, he then proceeded to throw the entire body of his former college to one of his own men. Even before the forever frozen in shock face of the pirate touched the ground, the masked figure was on his way. He used the stunned soldiers as ramp to jump on a tree trunk, then in a fit of acrobatics that defied his heavy armored build, he used the tree trunk as a ramp as well to jump above the ring of men.
With Sai's quick reflexed Zuko shot a quick blast to the man, not unlike the one that tore the thug's leg all those weeks ago. The man had met the blast head on, and in a satisfying smack sound he flew away. Unfortunately, he flew right into the cave.
'He's not dead, is he?'
"The plate armor absorbed most of the hit. You should be more warry about the cave, he is still very much active and dangerous, and now we have to face him in an unknown dark place."
'Right, so I'll be careful."
"Come on men! Battle formation six!"
The men quickly went to their respective place and the party ascended to darkness.
Mi-Dved had an awful day, stretch that, he had an awful life. He was one of the mine workers (slaves) in wherever this place was. The earliest thing he could remember was his mother showing him his new baby sister. They lived, or more like mother lived, in one of the entertainment places in the desert city of Si Wong.
Mother's job was to entertain the guests. He helped with the cleaning and other small things together with the other kids of the other woman who worked there. It was well and good, until mother got sick. When she got sick, the madam that owned the house brought some men to help his mother. After a few days, however, mother passed, and the madam threw his sister and him out.
The streets were a hard place to live. Always hot in the day, always cold at night, it was a cruel place that sucked the life of everyone not ready. He knew that he had to get himself and his sister out, pickpocketing and scavenging could only help them so much with the constant hunger.
So he tried to raise money to buy his sister and him a way out of this place to one of the evergreen villages he heard of in the stories mother used to tell him. He went to a few fighting rings to get coin, and even succeeded at impressing the people in charge because of his size.
You see, he was a big boy, mother always told him that he got it from his dad. At age six he was as big as kids twice his age, and even with the lack of proper source of food, he continued with his growth.
Long story short, things went downhill when he was close enough to get the money he needed. The people didn't like the idea of him leaving, and they used whatever means necessary to keep him fighting, including his sister. Some things happened, and the two of them were on a boat on the way to freedom. A freak storm hit them and the two of them were thrown of the boat. He woke alone in chains and surrounded by pirates, and you can guess the rest of the story.
He was here for a few weeks at least, it was hard to tell when slaving underground all day. He always thought of a way to escape, but he had to play is smart. He was here long enough to know how cruel the slavers were, they tortured and executed people for far less transgressions than trying to escape. He had only one chance, and he had to keep his life to reach his sister. He knew she was alive, he refused to believe otherwise.
Which led to this day. Apparently, some hotshot arrived today to check the place, so all the workers (slaves) were put on extra hard work today. As the day went on, he suddenly heard some worried whispers from the pirates that whipped them to work. Apparently, there was some attack happening on the base, interesting, maybe he could use it.
After an hour or so, he heard loud noises from the entrance of the mine. When he could turn to have a look, he saw an enforcer of all things thrown into the mine like a drunk out of a bar. Enforcer! Those guys were legends! They are invincible bloody killers that enforce his will. He had the displeasure to watch one at work, and lets just say he very much lived up to the legend.
Mi-Dved didn't hesitate and stroke with his pickax hard on the nearest pirate.
"And once again, our champion is the blind bandit!"
The crowd at Earth Rumble cheered as the little girl was declared the winner.
Toph loved it, not from some vain need for attention (although she wouldn't lie, it also helped) but the fact that people see her as she truly was. Not some meek blind girl, but a badass fighter and the strongest earth bender alive that can crush anyone in her way!
"And now, we will offer one thousand gold ingots to anyone who can win a brawl against the champion! Which one of you is brave enough to try to claim your prize?"
Geez, Xin didn't let go of the drama, didn't he? Then again, it was his job.
The man that sat in the first row stood and went to the stage.
"A-and its s-seems we have our volunteer, ladies and gentlemen!"
The crowd once again cheered, hungry for blood.
Strange, by his voice, Xin was scared from the man. His heartbeats all but confirmed it. why thou? Yes, he was a big man, the biggest man she ever "seen" actually, and yes, he had those two really cool dressed guys with him, but she didn't see what's so scary about him. It doesn't matter how big you are, but how big your bending is.
Well, let's hope he lasts longer than the last shmock.
AN
And the story continues!
I decided to introduce the hot air balloon early on, and not by the machinic, I will have different plans for him in the future.
Zuko is worming his way into the navy, and so far he had good PR with the soldiers. He also facing greater threats as time moves on
A little trivia, I based the enforcers and Mi-Sha on Vulf and his brigands. For information google "Darkest Dungeon Wolves at the door".
now for reviews:
Xxxxxhggg:
So far Ozai has no real reason to be suspicious of a coup, but he will have eyes on Zuko. As for Azula, he would be very split about sending her or not, for reasons I will explain in the story later on.
Brenne:
Yeah, That can't be good. but I think you may have missed something in the sleep part. Sai didn't put Zuko to sleep, it is much worse then that. Zuko became addicted to the helmet, he can't sleep without it like someone who smokes need a cigarette. this will be a major point later on.
deniswanheda:
Indeed, words are a powerful thing. the pen is mightier then the sword after all. anyway, Iroh isn't quite yet there. he was fine with Zuko raiding villages in cannon so he can stand it for at least a while longer, the fact that Zuko jumps from benevolent to malevolent doesn't help.
Anyway, be sure to write what you think about the chapter and the story. Don't be afraid to share what you think could and should happen.