I don't own Avatar The Last Airbender
Chapter 9
"Bye!"
"Have good luck, your highness!"
"Return safe!"
Zuko was having final goodbyes with the man of the base and the crew of his ship before embarking for the swamp. He was glad to notice a few familiar faces from the base such as Shen, Ching and a few of the other lieutenants. There were also soldiers of lesser rank such as Ching's personal aid, the pretty sergeant Ling (much to his pleasure).
"Careful, your highness. This fire can burn you~"
'Shut up.'
Zuko said in his mind to the damnable thing while waving back to the people.
Yesterday, he, his uncle and lieutenant Jee discussed the best course of action. They all agreed that the swamp was an important place to check because of the rumors of its spirituality. Uncle, the only one who actually was there as part of his journey after Lu-Tan's death, explained a bit about the swamp itself.
Apparently, the more people there are at the party, the easier it is to get lost. He was annoyingly mysterious about the spiritual side of the swamp besides the fact that people will see someone they lost. Everything else, uncle said, he must learn from firsthand experience. It was one of the rare moments were both he and lieutenant Jee were in agreement about the annoying habits of his uncle.
Fortunately, where uncle failed, Sai was more than helpful. Under the disguise of reading a few texts the pirates had in their base, Zuko told all the information Sai had given him (with the limitations of what a book found at a pirate base can consist of). Zuko told about the flora and fauna of the swamp, as well as rumors about possible water benders within it.
This was actually a surprise for Zuko as well, apparently the swamp liked to assimilate water benders as some kind of immunity system against invaders. During the age of the overlords, there were a few times when the swamp had to get another grope within her because the constant harassment it suffered from said overlords.
When asked why it was a target for overlords, Sai answered that besides a place full of spiritual resources, swamp, or better say the giant tree in the middle of it, had roots all over the world. This was a severe risk for the overlords, as anyone who had enough knowledge about the tree could use it to spy on and intercept anything the overlords would have done. It was also an integral part of the downfall of more than one overlord.
When enough was enough, the sixth overlord, an herbalist from Ba Sing Se named Cao, created a new type of weapon against it. a fungus that attacked the spiritual aspect of the swamp as well as the physical one. To make story short, the fungus mutated the entire region into a chrysalis of what it was. the fauna was infected as well, transforming into monstrous fungi covered abominations. The water benders of the swamp were not spared from mutation as well, transforming into mindless salivating host for the fungi.
It achieved the desired result, and the roots of the world tree shrunk and rotted into nothingness. The Avatar had to burn down the entire swamp to purge the fungi and let the swamp slowly heal itself, even so, it would take eons for it to return to its former glory, so Zuko didn't need to worry about the world roots any time soon.
While uncle seemed to be disturbed by the fact that the swamp was so detailly described in "some book found at a pirate base", Jee was thankful for the information. They decided that a week would be enough for the mission, they would buy some local ostrich horses (or terror birds, as Sai called them) because komodo-rhinos are too noticeable as fire nation and will bring unwanted attention.
There was some debate about the party that will be sent, but it was decided that Zuko will be accompanied by uncle Iroh and Mi-Dved. Each was individually powerful, and together they were more than a match to any would be bandit group. The three of them also won't bring as much attention to them with cloaks to hide the armor and uniform.
Zuko ordered the crew to hunt pirates for bounties while he was away, this would give them something to do for the week. It will also be a good practice for the man and will raise their prestige (and his by proxy) in the eyes of the people.
And this is how he found himself on an ostrich-horse with uncle and Mi-Dved waving goodbyes.
As they continued, the base grew smaller and smaller until it was out of sight.
"How far by mount is the swamp?"
"A day by ostrich-horse at full speed, two if we consider the poor thing under uncle."
Zuko answered as he looked at the ostrich-horse that mounted his uncle, said poor thing was already struggling with uncle's weight. They will have to make a few stops a day and change each other's mounts to make sure none of the animals will die along the way.
His uncle took the joke/jab in stride and laughed heartedly, putting his hands on his large belly.
"Ha! Yes, I supposed I gained a few stones in my old age."
"How old are you anyway?"
The earth bender was curious.
"Why, I just reached the tender age of sixty just a few months ago."
"Damn, I wish I would have your stamina when I'm that ancient."
Uncle laughed at that.
"You should see king Bumi, now this old coot has spirit."
"King Bumi?"
Zuko decided to answer that one.
"The earth bending king of Omashu, he's over a hundred years old. He is also considered one of, if not the most, powerful earth bender alive."
"How 'powerful' are we talking about?"
Undoubtedly, Mi-Dved think that Mi-Sha, the lord of the desert, has this title.
This time Iroh is the one that answered.
"Why, on time he threw an entire mountain from the western side of Omashu on the eastern side to block the morning sun so he could get another few hours of sleep."
"Damn…"
Zuko had to agree with the intelligent response of his fellow wide-eyed companion. No matter, better push the conversation in a more productive direction.
"Uncle, now that it's only us who go to the swamp, can you share your own experience, please?"
Uncle looked debated for a few moments, in the end, however, he sighed and relented.
"Very well, it would have been ideal for you to face the trails of the swamp blind, for then you would have a much greater enlightenment. But as things are, you are too prepared for that. And to think it's all because of some dusty book of some pirate…"
The last part was quietly said in a sad, disappointed and mournful tone. The old man probably was extremely heartbroken over the "stolen realization" of his nephew. Never mind, such things wouldn't help him catch the Avatar, they wouldn't bring him his honor back and unlike Sai, they most certainly wouldn't rid him of his scar and shame.
His uncle continued to talk.
"When I was in the swamp, I was lost. Both literally and figuratively. It was some time after the siege on Ba Sing Se, after Lu-Tan's… I was at a loss of what to do with myself in life, a friend advised me to go for a trip in the swamp to clear my mind."
His uncle paused for a few seconds.
"Once I got there, I quickly lost my way. The swamp showed me visions of my son, he guided me in both my mental recovery and on my way to return to the outside world. I'm sorry, nephew, but the trails are different for each individual. What you will face will be different from what Mi-Dvev here will face, you will also most likely be separated for a while. The swamp is a magical place, nephew. I'm sure you will learn much from it, the both of you."
"He said nothing about any local water benders."
'Then there probably aren't any.'
"Illogical, there was enough time for the swamp to regain enough of itself to integrate a few water benders into itself. It even should be at the phase where some of its water benders can bend the flora. Besides, look at his eyes, he clearly is trying to hide something. Ask him about it, call his bluff."
"Uncle, what about the water benders that are rumored to be in the swamp? Did you encounter any?"
Uncle looked concerned now.
"That… is something you will have to find on your own nephew. I can't tell you that."
"Filthy liar pants on fire~ You see, your highness, you can't trust him in things like this. Notice how he separates himself from you and our earth bender friend."
"Of course you can, just say yes or no."
Mi-Dved Sayed rather forcefully, it seems like his uncle's, for lack of better term "old uncle aura" didn't rub on the desert dweller too well. Zuko suspected that there was one or two old men who faked this feeling to lure him and his sister into some unsavory situation. It didn't help that this half answer stood in the way of full preparedness to go to a place that can point him to his sister.
"I agree with Mi-Dved here, we need to know if there are water benders that can drown in the swamp for all we know. And why does it sound like you aren't going with us?"
His uncle sighed again, he thought he heard the tiniest bit of frustration seeping into his uncle's voice.
"I never saw any water tribesmen in the swamp nephew, and I wouldn't be joining you in the swamp. This is your journey that the both of you must take alone, I already had my share with the swamp and I'm unsure if a second trip will bring any good."
"For the better, I suppose. Having him around will complicate the transformation process of the spiritual energy. Notice thar your uncle said 'tribesmen', the people of the swamp are technically not considered part of any tribe. So there is either a civilization that is not considered a tribe or a tribe that consists only of women, the last one is unlikely because the need for males to keep population. Then again, perhaps your uncle saw just the women of the tribe. Leave it be for now, we got the answer we were looking for. There is no point in antagonizing your uncle farther at this point."
"Fine… there should be a village a few hours from here. We rest and exchange mounts, Mi-Dved takes mine. Uncle, you take Mi-Dved's and I take yours." the three of them continued with an uneasy silence for the rest of the way.
Lao Beifong was one of the richest men in the entire continent, he was the head of the prestige noble Beifong family and he was extremely distraught.
When the nanny of his daughter reported that the girl wasn't in her bed, he thought that little Toph was trying again to run from home. It was a nightmare the first time she ran away, thankfully she returned home quickly enough and none too worse for wear. So obviously it was enough to drive any father mad, but no, it was much worse than that.
The guards found in one of the wine basements a ransom note and a tunnel leading to the outside of the manner. An honest to spirits tunnel right under his nose!
He immediately sent the guards to investigate and waited for their results. Meanwhile, he had to comfort his wife, who took the news much harder than him. she was right now a crying mass and almost completely shut herself off from the outside world.
Once he heard a knock on the door, he gently kissed his wife on the forehead and went outside. He knew that whatever news he would hear would not help the psych of his wife, so he ordered the guards to wait outside until he comes out.
"Yes, what do you have to report?"
Lao asked the head of his guards. He may hate the man for letting his daughter get kidnapped, and obviously will fire him for that, but for now he needed any help he could get.
"The tracks of little miss Beifong end in the cherry tree, the hounds weren't able to get her smell. It's as if she disappeared out of the blue."
Lao was beginning to lose his patients.
"If you don't give me- "
"But we found more, my lord!"
The man before him was visibly shaken as he continued with the report.
"We discovered tracks of three different people, one of them has to be a giant or something by the tracks of his feet. It will be easy to find that culprit and bring him to justice!"
Lao sense a "but" coming.
"But unfortunately, his tracks seem to disappear just like the little miss. All of their tracks suddenly appeared and disappeared near the tree, excluding the tracks of the men in the tunnel. There is a chunk of land missing near the tree, so we suspect they used earth bending to use sais boulder as some kind of raft to fly away. It would also explain the lack of tracks."
The guard tried to hide it, but for Lao, who was experienced at finding the tiniest thing that would help him get a better deal, it was plain to see the respect for the earth bending the criminals possessed. Yes, he would have to replace the man soon.
"So you say that you have no clue about the whereabouts of my daughter besides a hunch on a tall man?!"
"I-I mean the men is at the very least a seven feet tall, maybe even eight! How many people like that can be?"
"And what of the substance in the suspicious barrels?"
"Am… It was discovered to be an explosive jelly, sir, seemed to be bought by from the Beifong company as well. There has been some strong smell that obscures the natural smell of the jelly, as well as the smell of anything else. Apparently, it was bleached, by Beifong products as well it seems. this is a dead end as well."
"So those cravens not only kidnap my daughter, but use my products to do it as well?!"
"W-well."
"Find my daughter! Use any means necessary! I don't care who you hire, or how much money it will cost, if my daughter isn't found by week's end being fired will be the last thing on your mind!"
His attention was pulled away from the quivering man before him as he thought of all the stress his poor blind and fragile little Toph must be in.
Toph was under a lot of stress right now. After her kidnapping, she was an unknown amount of time completely blind. Meaning, she felt only her capture through her earth bending and nothing else. The strong wind continued to whistle loudly, weirdly enough, the wind pushed her towards the direction they went and not against it as she felt in when she usually moved.
When they finally stopped and Toph could finally feel the ground again, she noticed that they were nowhere near Gaoling. The basterd told her to rest for a few hours before her "initiation", whatever it was.
Obviously, she couldn't sleep because of the adrenalin and was awake the entire time. After some time, in which she definitely didn't cry, she sensed her surroundings with her bending. She discovered that she was in an underground camp of sorts.
The city above was also not what she was expecting. It was denser than Gaoling, much denser. It reminded her of the lower ring of Ba Sing Se, but to be fair, it was much smaller than the super metropolis. If she had to guess, she would say it was proximately the size of Gaoling. She also noticed that the ground was made of a very fragile soil, send if she had to guess. At least she knew it was somewhere in the desert.
The time passed as she studied her new surroundings, and quite frankly it made her uncomfortable. Her bending allowed her to sense even the tiniest ants in the garden, and it revealed much about the city above her, too much. The send somewhat obscured her vision, and she was for the batter. She could see only a few dozen feet out of the entrances of the underground caves she was in, but through that, she could see more crimes in the hours she was there than her entire life in Gaoling, she would not go into details.
After some time, the main bastard came in and said it was time to go. She didn't bother to fake the meek blind girl's act, he was in the Earth Ramble after all. She followed him reluctantly as he led her through the maze of the underground.
Once they arrived at a ring of sorts, he stopped and addressed her.
"Listen up, girl. The initiation is simple. You will have to face three challenges, after which, you will be given fitting uniforms as well as be assigned to a mission fitting your talents."
"And why would I do that? You can't blackmail me anymore, dad most likely already found the barrels and took care of them. In fact, why should I listen to you at all?!"
She wasn't quick enough to prepare something to face the crushing pressure she felt at the moment. She was immediately flattened against the hard and dirty ground.
"Listen up, you insolent brat. I can easily end you here and now, but I have uses for you. I can just as easily order a poisoned cup for both your parents, in fact, I already did order. The only thing that stops it is your cooperation little girl, so think again before you lash. Understood?!"
She didn't sense any lies from him.
"Y-yes…"
The pressure left her immediately.
"Now go to the ring and wait for the trail. Don't tempt me girl."
She wordlessly went to the ring.
She sensed two gates open.
One had some kind of an animal. even if she didn't "see" the claws and teeth with her bending, she would immediately recognize it as a predator by the roars it made. It had the head and body of a large feline with a tail that was a snake.
The second gate was more concerning. It had a kid, maybe six years old, tied in metal chains to a metal chair. She could just feel how frightened he was, she even sensed wetness in his pants. Just what the big degenerate is thinking?!
She didn't have to wait for long.
"The first step of your trail is simple. On your right, you have a wide cobra-leopard that hasn't eaten for over a week. On your left, you have some kid who tried to pickpocket one of my men. You have to choose a side. Now."
The cobra-leopard immediately pounced on the kid and Toph shot a rock toward the animal, catching it mid-flight. The creature was quick to recover, however, and the snake head in the tail opened its mouth. Toph immediately sensed some liquid gathering at the mouth and raised a wall just in time to block a poisoned shot to her head.
The creature leaped once again towards the kid, but Toph earth bended the ground under the chair to move it, and the kid with it, away from the predator. All while the cobra-leopard continued chasing after it in a dangerous game of cat and mouse.
Toph made the chair do a sharp turn and the cobra-leopard slowed a little to keep track of its prey. She used this opportunity to cage the animal in a cage.
The creature roared and wailed and spat poison in every direction. She closed off every hole so the poisoned spit wouldn't get out. After some minutes that felt like forever, it was suddenly quiet and Toph didn't feel any heartbeats from the creature.
She disposed of the makeshift prison and sensed the big thug walking towards the ring.
"Dead by its own venom, the venomous Steam attacked the soft tissues of the lungs. Cruel and painful death indeed. Very well, you passed the first test."
Toph was in a little shock, she had never killed anything bigger than an ant before. Yes, she may like fighting, yes, it was a dangerous predator that was going to eat some little kid, but killing it was a bit too much for her. The man's next word completely shocked her, however.
"Now for the last part, execute him."
He said while pointing at the boy, which wailed even more now.
"What! I'm not going to kill him!"
The thug barked a laugh.
"You are forgetting your situation, little girl. One word from me, and your family is in past tense. This kid is a thief that stole from my men, meaning he stole from me. And this is something I wouldn't tolerate. This kid is done for, one way or another. You have until I leave the room to punish him or it's your parents head that will role."
The thug began walking to the exit. What was worse, is that she again felt no lie from him.
"I-I…"
When Mi-Sha was in the second half of the way, a loud sound of rocks hitting followed by a scream was heard.
"Move out, you dogs!"
Tyro heard the one prison guard shout. For the last day he and the other prisoners from the mining village were slowly transferred by ship from the prison rig they had been on for the last four years.
It came from nowhere, suddenly the warden told them one morning that they were to be transferred to another place for physical labor. He was conflicted, on one side, the new place was an island. Which means they will have earth to bend and revolt.
On the other hand, it was a faraway island with most likely higher security measures. He also had no idea where that island was precisely, it could be on the other side of the world for all he knew.
The warden helped him in the decision when he threatened the people of the village should the prisoners show any defiance. It would be just like here, nothing would change.
They moved out in groups and entered shuttles that will bring them to their new prison. It was extremely dense there, and the men had barely any room to breathe. But after a day or two, the shuttle opened, and they embarked on the new island. He told himself that the island can't be that far if it took only a two-day trip to reach it.
They were immediately greeted by the local personnel, who directed them to where they would sleep. After two days on ship being shipped off like cattle, all of them fell to sleep right away.
When they woke up, they were immediately sent to the mines. In contrast to the regular coal mines they were used to, however, those mines had all kinds of resources. He could see why the fire nation had interest in them.
He was also surprised that he and the men went through a quick course of safety before entering. While walking to the mines, he noticed many people, some from the colonies and some from the fire islands, working like a colony of ants to build some construction. He didn't give them much attention, however, and thought about the best course of action for his people.
The entrance to the village was much easier than Zuko anticipated. He expected the guards to be wary of strangers, and they were, but even with his and uncle's fire nation looks the guards let them in after seeing his scar.
It seems that people immediately connected burn scars to fire nation victims. They weren't so wrong in his case, but it still annoyed him somewhat. Not every burn is from fire bending.
Nevertheless, he didn't look at a gifted ostrich-horse in its mouth and went into the local inn for a little rest and supply. The woman at the counter greeted them, although her eyes held a little suspicion.
"Hello gentlemen, how can I help you?"
Zuko let uncle do the talking, he was better at small talk anyway.
"Thank you kind lady, my nephews and I are letting our mounts rest for a few hours. I'm afraid mine was put under much pressure."
He gently slapped his belly as he said the last part.
"We would like a sack of grain for our mounts and three meals for ourselves please."
"Sure, three coppers for the grain sack and two coppers a meal."
The lady smiled a little, it seems that uncle managed to lessen her worries.
His uncle pulled ten coppers out of his sleeve and gave them to the lady with a smile.
"There you go, nine coppers for the products and one for the service."
"I… Thank you, your meals will be ready soon."
The woman went to the kitchen.
Zuko wondered why she was suspicious of them in the start, did she have the same problem as Ming?
"I don't think so, she didn't look like she was expecting someone. In my opinion she was just wary of weapon wearing strangers in cloaks, and a helmet."
Fair enough, Zuko supposed. He too wouldn't be calm in this situation.
"Damn, back's killing me."
Mi-Dved, apparently, didn't like riding. He also seemed a little wary of their mounts.
"Was it the first time you rode an ostrich-horse?"
Zuko asked the earth bender.
"Yes, and hopefully the last."
"Riding isn't for everyone, it does take some time to enjoy."
His uncle said sagely while petting his beard.
"Riding got nothing to do with it, I just don't like the damn birds."
"Something from the past then?"
"You could say it, mister Iroh, Amora is using them as garbage disposal. They eat anything, spoiled food, rodents, corpses, you name it. The coliseum also has a pack of them sometimes swarm some poor group, needless to say, things get bloody. Them beak and claws can tear a hole inside you just as easy as they do with a sack of grains."
The three were silent afterwards. Now that Zuko heard it, he understood why Sai called them "Terror Birds". When he looked outside to see their mounts hungrily tore and devour the sack of grain, he couldn't help but imagine a body instead of the sack.
He shivered at the thought, the continued journey will be extremely awkward on the mounts.
"Here you go ~"
Thankfully, the lady arrived with their meals just in time. They ate their meal silently before continuing their journey.
It took two days to reach the swamp, the beginning of the swamp was obvious by the large trees. A part of him questioned why it wasn't cut down for timber, but the mystic rumors of the swamp probably helped.
"Listen carefully, your highness. I made sure to hide my presence from the swamp, but it would only work if you took me off your head. Which you will have to do either way for me to collect spiritual energy in the quantity we need."
Zuko didn't cherish the thought of being away from Sai, it made him feel vulnerable and incomplete, but he understood the importance of the mission.
'What do I need to do?'
"You must unequip me before you enter the trees, and don't go with me too deep. Put me down on the first root with the diameter of your arm that you see. And don't worry about losing me, I will be extremely hard to pull. I will call you when I will be fully charged."
'OK, sounds simple enough. But can't the swamp just read my mind and know about you, like with those visions?'
"The swamp will start from the strongest memories, which, quite frankly, I don't come even close. The human mind is full of unused space, yours is no different. I merely coded any memories of me to be transferred to such places when the swamp is reaching the buffer. When enough empty space was scanned by the swamp, my memories will go there. So as far as the swamp id concerned, I was never here."
'You make it sound like a game of cups and thieves. Out of curiosity, what would happen if the swamp did catch you?'
"It won't, but in that case I'll advise you to run as fast as you can, use your fire bending to jet to the tree tops and find the nearest border. Stay in the treetops, the swamp has less influence there."
'Okay.'
"I would advise you to stop thinking of me so much as well, but the swamp will do a good enough job to distract your attention."
They were now a few feet away from the trees. Zuko pulled away his helmet, he immediately felt the need to put it back on. After they dismounted, uncle spoke to the duo for the last time before they departed.
"Good luck, for the both of you. I hope you two find the answers you are looking for. I will wait for you here."
"Thank you, uncle. We'll be back soon enough."
Zuko hugged his uncle, and the two teens left the old man with the three terror birds.
It didn't take much time for Zuko to find a fitting root, just a dozen feet before him stood proudly a web of roots. He placed his helmet on one of them, ignoring the questioning look of his partner, and went two steps back. He saw that the helmet was stable and had some kind of cylinder connected to the root, the scene reminded him of a mosquito.
"What now?"
His earth bending friend asked.
"We continue until the swamp will do its thing. We should stay close to each other, however."
"Agreed."
The duo continued in their walk. Both of them felt an uneasy feeling in the back of their neck, like they were being watched by someone or something unseen. They walked closer together, Mi-Dved used his twin axes to cut down the dense vegetation while Zuko lit the way with his fire bending.
The axe was a new addition to his earth bender's arsenal, Mi-Dved took liking of the weapon after Zuko (at Sai's advice) forced him to take a cold weapon in addition to his earth bending.
The twin one-handed war axes quickly took place as Mi-Dved's favorite weapons. They complemented well with his own bending and "just felt right" as the earth bender phrased. They allowed him to use his impressive strength while their size and built allowed Mi-Dved to attack quickly and in sequence.
Stereotypically stubborn earth bender as he is, Mi-Dved would never acknowledge that Zuko was right and he was wrong, but they both knew that the earth bender was grateful for the axes.
Hours passed as they continued their track to nowhere and they were growing more and more stressed as time went on. At every noise they jumped into battle stances, in every shadow they thought they saw eyes.
The final straw was when some bird, Screeching dodo, honked in a loud enough voice to scare a komodo-rhino into a stampede. It barely got away when an axe was suddenly imbued in the place it was a moment ago.
"I freaking hate birds."
Mi-Dved proclaimed as he earth bended the axe back to his right hand by the stones in it. One in the start of the base and two in between the metal blades, one on each side.
"I think that it's a good spot for a camp. We rest and continue tomorrow."
Zuko finally said.
"Agreed."
Mi-Dved replied with grinding teeth.
And so, they started to make camp for the night.
"Men! Prepare for embarking! Horned formation!"
Lieutenant Jee barked at his men. They were pirate hunting in the now fire nation controlled waters, just as his highness commanded. There was no lack of bounties in the former pirate infested waters.
Before the prince left, he had one last debriefing with the crew. He told them what he expected them to do to keep their skills sharp. Before, if he would have done that, the crew, including himself, would just scuff and find some place to rest until the prince returns.
Now, however, besides the respect prince Zuko had gotten from the men, all of them saw the results of their training and the need to keep it up. A part of it also played some righteousness the crew started to grow, fighting off pirates and rescuing people realized a few fantasies of the men.
And this is how they found themselves in this situation. The pirates thought they smelled weakness in the newly conquered area, thinking that the lack of navy ships meant an easy raiding area. They were harshly proven wrong when they were caught in an ambush.
To be fair for the unfair cutthroats, they didn't know about the Eye of Cheng, which meant that they thought they had the advantage of speed to outmaneuver the fire navy. The eyes, however, closed that gap as they allowed the slower ships to have a farther vision and therefore, encircle the pirates and cut their way out.
By now, the pirates learned from their mistake and backed off. They also had a "survival of the fittest "where only the fastest pirate ships were left. Therefore, they were ideal targets for the Wani, the prince's ship.
One such target was right in front of them, they managed to cut into its way by hiding under a cliff. One flaming boulder from the catapult made the other ship nearly immobilized. The pirates, in a last ditch, tried to board the Wani because they knew they couldn't take another shot.
And so, what followed was the complete butchery of the pirate crew, as the better trained and better equipped soldiers cut through the outlaws like a hot knife through butter.
When all was said and done, with no casualties on their side, the crew began to search for the, now crewless, pirate ship. The prince told them that they may take whatever they wished as spoils, besides captured slaves, obviously, those were to be accompanied to the nearest safe port and be given enough coins for a new start in their life, courtesy off their former captor's former loot.
The prince also ordered to bring whatever paperwork possible from the captain's office. He, rightfully in Jee's mind, suspected that there could be valuable information there like bases of operations or names of important people.
When the ship was cleared, they decided to take a leap of faith and sell it in the, more or less, natural ports near Gaoling. They had no use for such a ship, and it would be a waste to sink it.
Once there, they had a bit of commotion when one of the merchants recognized the pirate ship. After nearly starting a fight with the local earth kingdom garrison and explaining the situation, the merchant happily bought the ship at full price. They offered him a discount after hearing his history with said pirate ship, he lost a family member to the ship's pirate crew.
When they left the port, with a considerable amount of gold, lieutenant Jee finally had time to go on the paperwork of the pirates. He sighed, it will take a lot of work to get something out of this mess, perhaps he should get a few of the men to help.
He wondered what the prince was doing at the moment.
Zuko was cooking some kind of a fish they found, it was armored and had a hoof shaped head and a tear shaped body as long as his legs. They fished it after an extremely large leach attached itself to one of Mi-Dved's elbows. The earth bender quickly tore it off and strangled it above the water. It took only a few seconds for the fish to jump and swallow half the leach, and they decided to have it for dinner.
Cleaning off the armor was relatively easy, war axes are extremely good at breaking armor. They smoked it to make sure no unknown swamp disease will kill them if they it the fish and set next to the fire Zuko created. They shared stories with each other about their past misadventures while they waited for the food to be ready. They probably should have held back a little with the embarrassing information, but it was just too good of a stress relief.
"A-and then, after I went back with an ostrich-horse, I filled for it a glass of water. Jasmine noticed me and asked just what exactly I had in my hand, you know what I told her?"
"What?"
Zuko was eagerly waiting for the answer.
"Water, you want some?"
They both laughed like madmen for a few minutes, they were just this much stressed.
"Hey, I think the fish is ready."
Mi-Dved said after they had their laugh.
They each took a piece of meat and started eating quietly. After a few minutes, Mi-Dved spoke.
"You know, your highness… I owe you an apology."
The earth bender said in middle of munching.
"What for?"
Zuko was confused, he didn't notice anything wrong with his partner.
Mi-Dved was quite for a moment until he spoke again.
"When you made your offer, I distrusted you. I took it mainly because it was the best choice by far, considering alternatives. All this time I just waited for the other shoe to drop and for you to stab me in the back like all the others eventually do. Instead, you took me as one of your own. You immediately followed your promise, you didn't haggle or abuse it like anyone else. Prick it, you actually went into this damnable swamp for me. And don't say otherwise, I know you could have other options."
Zuko stayed quiet and let the other teen talk.
"What I'm trying to say is… thank you, for everything."
"No problem, I-"
Suddenly the ground shook as the vegetation itself seemed to be alive.
Zuko and Mi-Dved quickly got up and held their respective weapon at ready, they were back-to-back as they faced the weird vines that tried to insnare them. Mi-Dved cut down any vine that came close with his axes while Zuko did the same with his swords.
"The prick is this?!"
Mi-Dved yelled as Zuko answered.
"No idea! You think we have some spirit activity, at last?"
Zuko tried fire bending at the vines, but the green things were too wet and humid to catch fire. Lightning was a no go as well, he remembered Sai telling him about materials that lightning is weak against grass. Besides, he didn't want to electrocute himself and Mi-Dved by mistake. He also didn't know what he may face, so he kept his blasts as last resort to preserve energy.
After a few minutes, the vines seemed to be annoyed at their lack of progress to achieve… whatever it was they were trying to do, Zuko wasn't sure what exactly, but knew it didn't mean well for him. The ever-fiercer attack of the vines ceased and there was silence for a few seconds.
Suddenly, the entire ground shook as a mass of green vegetation rose. The monster was at least thirty feet tall! Its entire body wad made of green vines and moss. In fact, the only thing not green was the pale bark on what Zuko thought was the head, the thing was a mocking chrysalis of a face with black holes for eyes and no mouth whatsoever.
"Holy prick."
The two teens stood wide eyed and mouth gaped at the sight of the thing. Zuko didn't know if it was his partner or himself that said it, but he wholeheartedly agreed. The spirit, for what it could be besides a spirit, raised one of its arms and the duo immediately broke from the shock and went to action in the face of danger.
The two broke and went to attack the thing in opposite directions, having spared to be one with the swamp by mere seconds. Zuko immediately flew up using fire bending on his legs as small jets and threw blast of explosions at the thing, it was no time to hold back.
From his side view, he saw Mi-Dved shooting rocks at the thing, but it was of little help. The earth bender instead opted to use his axes and one good earth bending guided strike managed to find itself deep in the white face of the monster, for all the good it did.
After a few minutes of this game of tag, Zuko managed to lend a good strong explosion right on the white husk of a face, destroying it completely.
The duo had little time to celebrate their trifling victory, as the thing decided to stop masquerading any semblance of humanity. Gone were the semi humanoid limbs and body, now the true form of the thing shown. An ever-shifting mass of vegetation swarmed angrily upon them.
They didn't have any time to react as the sheer mass of the vines swallowed them and separated them from each other.
In his panic, Zuko blasted explosion after explosion to set himself free. After some time that felt like forever, but couldn't be more than a few seconds, Zuko set himself free. The last of the tentacles was destroyed and Zuko looked around him, he could recognize a thing from the view. Wherever he was, it wasn't near the camp any longer. Mi-Dved was nowhere in sight as well.
"Blast it… Sai, what to do now?"
After a second of silence, he remembered that the helmet wasn't on him, but far off in the end of the swamp.
Damn… what is he going to do?
"Think Zuko, think."
He remembered Sai telling him that moss grows on the northern side of the trees, but it only worked in sunlit places. The swamp was anything but sunlit, so he had to find another method of direction.
Suddenly, he heard a noise nearby and suddenly he felt torn into two. It was as if two foreign presences inside his head told him to do the opposite of each other.
One told him to get away from the noise immediately, that it didn't belong here, and he should turn around as fast as possible and ignore it.
The other presence, that felt extremely identical to Sai, told him that he must investigate the anomaly immediately. That he must know what it is and that whatever he may find may be of use.
He obviously leaned more to the feeling that reminded him of Sai, even though he just had a terrible fight with a spirit and should be wary of anything.
The next noise was a growl and a splash of water followed by a yelp, some predator was going to kill something small. This made Zuko's choice as he rushed towards the noise.
When he got there, he saw that indeed some kind of a catfish and an alligator, catgator as Sai told him, was mercilessly mauling another animal that he had never seen or heard of before as it barely managed to get away from the jaws of the predator.
It was a cub with the head of a dog, body and limbs of a dog and a tail of a… dog. It was a pure dog puppy, strange. Its fur was tar black and its eyes were yellow and had blood rad pupils.
The first presence screamed at him to turn away, to let nature run its course. The second presence yelled to save the pup at any cost. The next pained yelp of the puppy as it was thrown against a tree was the final nail in Zuko's decision.
He quickly shot fire blasts at the big predator. When that didn't stop it, like it should have stopped any wild animal that looked for an easy meal, Zuko shot lightning at it and ending it's advance once and for all.
He picked the cub and suddenly both presences ceased to exist, though he thought he felt smugness from the second presence.
"Hi little guy, what are you doing here all alone?"
The puppy just wailed.
Zuko suddenly had an idea, he searched through the pockets of his belt and found some small pieces of meat from the fish earlier. He gave them to the puppy, which barked happily and shook his tail.
After a few moments of petting the cute thing, Zuko suddenly heard a voice.
"Little duckling! Where are you, my little duckling?"
No, it couldn't be. Even though he hadn't heard this voice in years, he would never forget it. But no, it just couldn't be it, it couldn't be…
AN
Cliffhanger!
anyway, more content about the swamp and past overlords was mentioned, when I pictured the corruption the swamp went I thought of Dark Souls/Bloodborne level of monstrosities.
Mi-Dved is showing a bit of his past, as well as experiencing the wider world and hearing of different people like our favorite crazy old man Bumi, who I have plans for later in the story. As well as expressing his dislike for birds. To be frank, when I first saw those ostrich-horses, I immediately thought about the prehistoric terror birds. I don't care if the cartoon showed then eating grain, no bird with beaks like that isn't a predator.
And while Zuko and Mi-Dved grow closer, he and Iroh are growing farther apart, and someone else is adding fuel to the fire.
We see a bit of the chaos thar Toph's kidnapping caused, and it will only grow as time passes. We also see how Mi-Sha is trying to mold our favorite blind earth bender to his image, I promise that you will see more of her story in the next chapter.
The factory is coming to existence, and Lagon doesn't care about holding back. It's mind bugling how much people can do if you pay them enough money. I only wonder what will happen to the mining village now that their main force is far-far away.
We also see how the crew grew as a fighting force and as loyal soldiers, this hunt will have significant consequences that will be reviled in the future.
Another familiar face is shown, the swamp "monster", I hope I did it justice.
And Zuko found a pet! more about it and its importance will be cleared in the next chapter, and who were the to things Zuko felt, I wonder...
And now for the most important question, who is it that Zuko heard? I will be glad to hear your answers.
Now for the reviews:
deniswanheda:
Toph will defiantly learn something from this experience, but I'm afraid it's going to be worse before it gets better. As for Kioshi Island... Let's just say that I have plans for it that I think you all will enjoy. Ozai is indeed in a tuff spot, he doesn't like not to be in control. And Hakoda will certainly respect Zuko as a warrior, if nothing else.
Breton117:
I'm glad you enjoyed! it's people like you who give me motivation to write.
Brenne:
I'm happy you enjoyed it as always! Yeah, Ozai is regretting some of his decisions now, and will continue to regret them more. and yes, Toph is not having a good day, at all. But there is always tomorow to look for, at least. And as part of the grand scheme, all will know about overlord Zuko! So the perfume seller had decreed!
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.