Hello, people.
It's me again, sorry for the late chapter, Again...
I hope you like this chapter, though. new character introduced.
As Katara sneaked past the new Ozai soldiers to make it out of the battle, she got out of the now destroyed firenation palace, and onto the now destroyed palace exterior, now that she's went into relative safety, she stopped sneaking away and walked through the corpses.
Katara felt traumatized to say the least by the scene, people thrown everywhere, guts, brains, legs, hands, heads and a flood of blood covering the firenation palace exterior and interior.
The inner voice inside of her thought it was divine justice, the firenation tasting some of its own medicine, but Katara knew for sure that it's not her to accept such catastrophe, despite all the bad things the firenation has done, no one deserves this.
Oh, Aang. How much you've affected me in less than a year.
Katara thought, as she realized the effect Aang has had on her, despite the fact she refused his ideals when she was going after the southern raiders to avenge her mother, and she also refused them when he was talking about not wanting to kill the firelord.
She's hated herself ever since then for not supporting her decision, making him feel alone and isolated, at that time, she thought she was saving him, but the fact remains that it was her and her friends who made Aang go through what he's gone through, it's their actions that made him run away for two years.
He was alone. I should have been there for him, and I wasn't.
She thought again with tears stinging her eyes, she blinked them away as she decided to focus at the task at hand, she would have to think about amending for her sins later, now is the time to save Sokka.
"You're going the wrong way again, Sugar Queen." She heard a voice calling from behind her, she screamed and took a waterbending stance towards her, only to relax her pose again once she realized it's Toph.
"Why do you feel the need to scare people?" Katara asked, still holding her chest to stabilize her breathing again.
Toph smiled, but it was faint one wouldn't catch it easily, she remembered Suki asking her that same question when she startled her back at her metal bending academy, when Suki and Ty Lee came to get her to go to the firenation after receiving Zuko's letter.
Toph's body trembled, Katara noticed it and was about to ask if she was okay, only to be completely taken off-guard by Toph throwing herself at Katara and sobbed loudly in her embrace.
Katara couldn't believe it, Toph was sobbing, she has never even seen tears in her eyes, even during the toughest of times, she might feel sad, she might see the tears threatening to fall and her immediately blinking them away, but now, she's full-on sobbing.
Katara realized that it's no use asking what's wrong, and instead she just kept patting Toph's head and smoothly hushing her, Katara tightened the embrace and brought Toph closer.
"Shhhh. It's okay, I'm here." Katara said.
She realized that's the only thing Toph needed right now, she didn't need scolding or asking if everything is okay, she just need a gentle touch, a hug to make her feel better, it's exactly what she used to do with Aang, and what she failed to do when he needed it the most.
She felt what she was doing with Toph right now was compensating for what she failed to do with Aang at his time of need.
Once the sobbing subsided, Toph let go of Katara and broke off the embrace.
Toph immediately looked at her and said, "I'm a mess."
"No.. No, you're not." Katara responded, but she was cut off by Toph.
"I shouldn't have been in the lead. I shouldn't have sent Ty Lee and Suki to their doom. They died for nothing, and that's all because of me." Toph said, tears still falling from her eyes as she looked at Katara.
"No, you didn't. Suki and Ty Lee died doing their duties, they listened to you and put you in the lead because they trusted you, not because you are a mess." Katara said.
"And where did that lead them?" Toph asked, still berating herself.
"You couldn't have known the extent of that man's power, I made the same mistake by the way, I underestimated him and it led to disaster." Katara responded to her, fully understanding Toph's position as she's been there before when her mother died.
"Your disaster wasn't as big as mine. And it wasn't your fault. I'm the one at fault, I killed Suki and Ty Lee." Toph said, with agony very apparent in her voice, it made Katara's heart sink.
"It's not your fault. Suki and Ty Lee died doing what they loved, they died fighting for something good and they are about to succeed, with Aang here and Azula out of the picture, the battle is going to be over in no time." Katara said.
"The battle is already over in the city, only Aang and Berserker are still fighting in the ocean." Toph said.
Katara didn't know whether to feel happy or frightened, but she just smiled at Toph anyways.
"See? That's what happens on a mission led by Toph." Katara said.
"Don't patronize me, Katara." Toph said, feeling offended.
"I am not. I know what you're going through, I've been there before when I was going after the man that killed my mom, I thought it was my fault she died and I wanted to make up for it, but luckily for me, Aang was there for me, he helped go through that phase, and now I'm a better person because of it…" Katara trailed off, her words made her feel even worse, as she remembered that Aang has never been anything but good to her, and how did she repay him?
The realization made her almost cry, but she held on for Toph.
"What's wrong?" Toph asked.
"Nothing." Katara said.
"It's clearly not nothing, I could feel your heart racing, what's wrong?" Toph asked.
Katara knew it was no use trying to run away from Toph,
"I just remembered how badly I've treated Aang even though he's been nothing but good to me." Katara said.
Toph didn't know what to say, she still harbored bad feelings for Aang after leaving them so suddenly, but she knew that it wouldn't be helpful for Katara if she mentioned them,
"If it's all the same to you, he still feels like good old Aang."
Katara's eyes widened, "You've spoken to him?" Katara said.
"Yeah… he kind of saved my life from Berserker back there." Toph said.
Katara smiled at this, she felt glad that he was the same Aang despite everything he's been through, but then she realized the look she was getting from Toph.
"What?" she asked.
"Are you seriously daydreaming about your boyfriend in the middle of a rescue mission?"
"He's not my boyfriend! And I wasn't daydreaming! I-" Katara was about to go on, but she was cut off by Toph once again.
"Let's go save Sokka! The carriage has gone that way." Toph pointed at the right route which was to the right of the route Katara was taking.
"Yeah! Sokka! On it!" Katara said, finally remembering why she was going that road in the first place as this conversation with Toph caught her off-guard.
Time to rescue her brother.
Avatar Aang had the advantage once again in the middle of the ocean, but Berserker's wings gave him the option to stay away from Aang's water attacks as much as possible, and also devise an escape plan to get back on land.
Aang landed a water whip on Berserker's back, almost bringing him down to the ocean, the white dragon knew that falling into the ocean would mean his demise, as the avatar wouldn't leave a chance to kill him.
What he didn't know was that the avatar was fighting himself at the moment, if he had the intent to kill, he would have done that hours ago, it's the fact that he didn't want to kill Berserker, it's the fact that Ryu's words has been ringing in his ears,
"Help revive more than you've taken, and you'll be the happiest man alive"
in Aang's case, it's not such a difficult job, as it's only one life he's going to have to compensate for, which is the late Firelord Ozai's life that he's taken, but the fact remains that Berserker is just misguided, and he needs guidance, despite the number of people that he's killed, but for Aang, and for the air nomads in general, all life is scared, Aang is the last airbender, the only person in the world who could carry on air nomad tradition, the death of his belief and him losing his way would mean the death of the air nomads.
It's not unheard of, that a air nomad monk was forced to murder someone before, even Gyatso, Aang's guardian and teacher, was forced to kill airbenders when the firenation attacked the temples, Aang knew it as he saw the corpses of countless firebender around his corpse.
So, it's not unusual that an air nomad has gotten out of his way once during a time of calamity, it doesn't mean that he's lost his way, he's still an air nomad and he has to keep his pacificism in order for his race to survive.
Aang took it upon himself never to break bad, never to convert to the dark side, he has to keep his ways, and this is why, no matter what Berserker has done, he's already forgiven him.
But he has to think of a way to stop him, and stop this white dragon spirit for good.
That's when it hit him.
Aside from the fire shot that Berserker aimed at him which actually hit him and knocked him away.
His encounter with the lion turtle before the battle with Ozai also hit him, he's totally forgotten about it, the technique that was taught to him by the lion turtle.
Energy Bending.
Aang's face lit up.
That's it… that's how I'm going to do it. I need to get him closer to land, I know he's going to think I'm stupid, which is why he's going to follow me regardless, I'll trap him down and that will be that.
Aang thought as he let a faint smile grace his lips for a second while in the avatar state, Berserker was confused by that.
Suddenly Aang's face darkened again as he looked at Berserker and spoke with the voices of a thousand angry avatars, "Follow me, Birdie."
He remembered how that nickname made him lose his cool against Toph, and that's why he used it, and it worked once again.
"Stop calling me that, you little brats!" Berserker shouted, before he followed Aang.
Yes! The plan is in motion, let's do it properly this time.
Aang thought as he kept on leading Berserker to solid ground to test out his plan.
Katara and Toph sneaked into the forest, bearing in mind that the carriage carrying Sokka and the rest of the prisoner might come into view at any time, with Toph by her side, Katara wasn't walking through the abandoned city blindly, she was following a route that Toph has set with which she knew they would get to Sokka and the rest of the prisoners.
Eventually, they found it, the carriage was standing there for water, Katara was stunned.
As the carriage had over thirty trained New Ozai soldiers on it,
"You could have told me that there are a lot of people here." Katara said.
"Then you'd be discouraged and you wouldn't have gone on with the plan." Toph responded.
"Come on, you really think a couple of firenation soldiers would stop me from getting to my brother?"
"Fair point."
they didn't know whether they would be able to do it, but they decided to go on with the plan anyways.
The plan was to simply tell them that the battle was over and that they need to release the prisoners, and so they did.
They got into view, the soldiers were alerted by this.
"It's the blind girl and her friend! Shoot at them!" The soldiers shouted, and they started to shoot.
Toph and Katara deflected the shots and took positions to fight, but that didn't stop Toph from talking,
"The battle is over, idiots. You needn't lose your lives over a lost cause." Toph shouted at them.
The soldiers all stopped at once, "What did you say?"
Toph and Katara stopped as well but they kept their stances, "Lord Ukano has surrendered, and your Firelord Azula has been captured, you've lost."
"I don't believe you."
Suddenly, a messenger hawk arrived, and it landed on the leader of the carriage's shoulders, the leader, she looked like an ordinary firebender, but Toph sensed something different about her, if they fought her, they might face some difficulties with her.
The leader of the group opened the letter, she looked very stoic, she was unfazed by Toph and Katara's presence at all.
Toph's reputation has made her win fights with ease, especially since the end war, she was considered a war hero, and so whenever a soldier sees her, their fear would make them lose.
But with this one, it's different, she's not the least bit frightened, her heart beats are steady.
Toph knew for sure, that if they fight, they would struggle the most with this one.
The leader finished reading the letter, she then moved her eyes slowly, still maintaining her calm and composed posture,
"There's no mention of Master Berserker. Is he still fighting?" The leader asked.
Toph knew it was useless to lie,
"Yes." Toph responded, Katara was rendered speechless, why would Toph confirm it? And why is Toph having her sight fixated on that girl? the leader of the carriage as well, she was staring down Toph like there is nothing else around.
The leader then brought both her hands on the letter, and she ripped it apart slowly, Katara and the soldiers were stunned by this, but Toph remained unfazed as she was staring down The leader.
"Commander, are you sure it's wise to rip apart an official letter signed by Lord Ukano?" one of the soldiers said.
"Ukano is leading us no more, he has surrendered and abandoned the cause, whereas Lord Berserker is out there fighting the avatar all on his own, I believe he deserves some recognition from us, and the rightful Firelord Azula, she's out there somewhere, being thrown into a dungeon to rot whereas that heathen Zuko is going to keep ruling with his ill methods he's going to keep giving away our goods and our whole life's work to other nations to prosper on. Are we going to stand that? If that traitor Uknao forgets our cause, that doesn't mean that we should too. Our fallen brothers and sisters don't deserve that from us…" she turned around to look at Toph with her group of thirty soldiers behind her, "We're going to keep fighting till we stop drawing breath!" she finished, and the soldiers roared at that, all assuming fighting stances.
I knew it… there was something different about her. Toph could help but feel a faint smile creep its way to her face as she thought that.
Interesting, a charismatic leader, let's see if you have the guts to back up what you're saying.Toph thought.
"Katara… take care of the goons and make your way to Sokka, it won't be that hard fighting them, trust me… leave this one to me." Toph whispered to Katara, as she assumed a fighting stance.
Katara nodded, but felt the need to ask, "Are you going to be ok?".
Toph looked at her, with that faint smile still on her face. "I've got this." Toph responded.
A Natural Leader. I don't believe she's led a group before, it's her first time, yet she managed to captivate them all. Amazing,
A natural Leader… it's something I've always wanted to be. Toph thought, as she turned her look away from Katara and looked at the leader.
Katara was confused by that smile on Toph's face, but she decided to go on with her plan anyways.
The battle commenced, Katara took on the soldiers who surrounded the carriage, and Toph charged at the leader with a massive boulder.
the leader easily dodged the boulder, but moved to the left side and away from the carriage, Toph ran after her, taking both herself and the leader out of the equation.
She stood opposed to the leader, both of them taking fighting stances.
"I can't believe how easily you dodged my boulder back there, you're going to be so much trouble for me, aren't you?" Toph said, still keeping her smile in place.
"I guess so." the leader responded.
"My inner instinct never fails me, I've fought a lot of people to be able to tell, you're one hell of a warrior, aren't you?"
"I'm not so high and mighty as that, But thanks." The leader responded.
Toph paused for a second, "What's your name?" Toph asked.
"Shei." The leader responded.
"Well, Shei. Today is your lucky day, I know you're hungry for a decent fight just as much as I am, believe me, I've fought enough people to be able to tell. So, shall we go about it?" Toph asked.
The leader, whose name was Shei, had a faint smile similar to what Toph had crossing her lips, but it was for a second before it was wiped away completely.
"It would be my pleasure to fight you, Lady Toph." Shei responded.
"Interesting… Very Interesting." Toph said, before she widened her stance and stood at the highest ready as she prepared for the upcoming battle against Shei.
Thank you for reading
Please tune in for new chapters soon
and have a good one :)