Disclaimer: Percy Jackson belongs to Rick Riordan, and Avatar: The Last Airbender belongs to Nickelodeon.
"Thoughts"
"Speaking"
This fanfic is an Alternate Universe (AU)
Explanations will appear as the chapters progress.
Third Person's Point of View
While walking through the forest, Iroh made a mental analysis of the situation and his main objectives and problems. First they have to find the earth kingdom soldiers, and most likely they have headed to the lagoon in the north, if a monster is on the loose it is obvious that it will stop at some point to get some water or at least that's the idea
Do giant snakes drink water?... Or do monsters need water to drink?
It was certainly a mystery, and strangely none of the books, logs, scrolls or encyclopedias of monsters that had been written over the years since the monsters began to appear had that information... Something so basic!
"Something so basic!" Prince Iroh complained mentally, thinking for a moment that everyone had focused on researching the origin of these things (and which is still being investigated), how to kill them efficiently and avoid dying in the attempt, dates and places where soldiers and peasants had seen them or fought against them in the case of the soldiers, some adventurers, bounty hunters, or mercenaries in search of glory or silver and gold, even named several for characteristics that they had in common with some animals such as giant wolves, while others were named by names that simply occurred to them at the time, but no one had ever paid too much attention to the life cycle or basic needs of the beasts.
Either way, once they find the Earth Kingdom soldiers they will all return to the shores to the Fire Nation camp. What began as an escape and adventure of two people and a stowaway had now become a rescue mission, if you can call it that.
"Jeong... How long will it take us to get to the lagoon?" Iroh asked because his friend was the one who spent the most time reviewing the maps before leaving the Fire Nation, at least two times more than him
"It's not long away, but we have to hurry..." Jeong replied almost immediately, as if it were a question he had expected.
"Are you worried?"
"Isn't it obvious?" He replied again immediately. "No offering, my lord, but we should never have come."
The latter surprised Iroh a little, it was normal for Jeong to oppose Iroh's stupid plans but in the end he ended up accompanying him making sure to protect his back, because Jeong completely understood Iroh's desire to excel, have achievements and be noticed by his father. Although certainly the royal family is not exactly known for being loving, for supporting or encouraging its members. However, so far no one had been hurt by this desire... at least none of the 3 so far.
Not for the first time Jeong's words and expressions echoed inside Iroh's head since they started looking for the soldiers, his firm voice and piercing gaze was enough to remind him of his past mistake.
"Yes... You're right friend"
"They're fighting!" Rai said from behind when she heard something
"What?" No... You saw it yourself, Jeong and I haven't been arguing for a while and...
"Not you, idiot!, The earth kingdom soldiers up there" the girl said, but her voice showed the concern she felt that they must feel, but he couldn't tell if it was to speed up their pace or because of another threat in the forest
Quickly Iroh understood the situation and at the same time felt a little disgusted, "You didn't need to call me an idiot," he thought before he and the others rushed after hearing the same thing as her
The group moved quickly through the forest, the rustling of leaves beneath their feet and the murmur of the wind buzzing in their ears as they tried to move forward quickly. Iroh, with his usual serenity, was leading the way while Jeong was a little worried, in his mind he had already created a million good and bad scenarios.
Behind them, Ozai looked restless and excited at the same time, while Rai, the girl they had rescued, kept a fixed gaze on the ground, her hands trembling as she remembered what happened to her comrades and she was afraid to find the same scene with those soldiers who were looking for a bit of glory with their actions, so she clenched her fists firmly trying to control her emotions or else she would be paralyzed by them.
Suddenly, a distant sound once again broke the 'calm' of the forest. It was a dull rumble, like the clash of brass in combat, followed by a rumble that made the ground tremble. Rai looked up and her eyes could no longer hide her concern and desire to know what the hell was going on.
But Iroh stopped everyone with a wave in his hand "Listen," he said quietly. "That doesn't sound like a simple confrontation
An additional sound added to the tumult, a heavy drag, almost as if a gigantic worm were moving across the ground. Jeong narrowed his eyes, trying to identify the source of the noises, while Ozai frowned with growing unease.
"We have to go and see what's going on!" Ozai exclaimed, his tone reflecting the urgency of the moment.
"If I'm not mistaken, they must be about two hundred meters in that direction," Jeong added "We must hurry"
Iroh nodded slightly, and the group hurried out of the forest. As they approached, the vegetation began to clear, revealing a sight that took their breath away. In front of them stretched a vast lagoon, its surface reflecting the sun's rays filtering through the clouds. The lagoon was churning, its waters splashing in great ripples, as if something huge was moving beneath the surface.
The din of combat and the drag of the mysterious being were now much clearer. On the shore, an imposing figure was fighting a massive creature. The combat was frenetic, the figure, with his back to them, seemed to be trying to keep the beast writhing in the lagoon at bay.
"What the is that?!" Rai asked, her voice filled with wonder and concern
Iroh, still observing, frowned as he tried to identify the fighters. The figure looked familiar, but the chaos of the confrontation did not allow for a clear vision. Jeong watched the scene intently, looking for anything that would tell him the whereabouts of the soldiers, while Ozai was staring at the rippling movement of the water that worried him enough to prepare his firebending stance to act if necessary
"Whatever it is..." Iroh said, making a decision "... we must approach with caution and help. This time we must prevent anyone from dying"
With a quick nod, the group headed towards the lagoon, ready to face any challenge. And as they got closer, the sound of the creature's combat and dragging grew much louder.
"It's... Tai's group?"
"Maybe"
A large cloud of dust rose and became denser and denser at the same time as the lagoon remained in constant agitation while the lone figure fought fervently. The group approached cautiously and hurriedly, their footsteps crushing the vegetation beneath their feet as they tried to capture all the details of the scene. The rumble and ripples in the water did not cease and the intensity of the battle became more and more evident. Finally, the figure turned towards the group, and as the dust dissipated the figure's face became evident.
"It's Tai!" said Iroh, recognizing the soldier he had met less than a day ago.
Tai, the earthbender, was in the midst of a frantic fight against the beast writhing in the lagoon. With his ability to manipulate the earth, he hurled huge rocks into the water with precision, each stone thrown with devastating force impacting the surface of the lagoon causing the waves to have enough force to shake with the creature inside.
Jeong watched in amazement as Tai used his ability to control the rocks in amazing ways, creating a hail of projectiles that seemed to have a life of its own. Ozai, seeing the magnitude of the confrontation, prepared his own posture to intervene, noticing it the two men almost rolled their eyes at the actions of the younger one and Rai, with her eyes wide open, could not take her eyes off the earthbender in action.
Surprisingly, a figure emerged from the lagoon whose body was a brighter red color than that of the Fire Nation flag, its body rose about ten meters long and the part near the head was spread out staring at Tai.
"Is that a giant snake?!" Ozai exclaimed in total surprise
The question was rather silly, since the figure of the beast was unmistakable, a monster that snaked under the lagoon and a head with a tongue that came out of its mouth and poked out the enormous fangs from which a deadly poison dripped
"It's huge..." Rai said in amazement, her voice choking at the end
"That's where its name 'giant snake' comes from," Iroh added "Listen, any giant snake is classified as high-rank, high-danger monsters and on top of that they are more elusive when they are underwater. Unlike the centipede, its entire body is protected by fire-resistant scales and its bite possesses an overwhelming amount of a lethal poison, , if it doesn't kill you with a single bite and based on the fact that it only looks at Tai with murderous desires it seems that it has not noticed our presence"
"How do we attack it?" Rai asked, overcoming her amazement and fear, unsheathing her blade with all the courage she could muster
"You and Ozai keep at bay, Jeong and I will go help Tai, I need you to stay alert in case there is another one of those things underwater. Got it?" both Iroh and Jeong turned to look at her, but the crown prince was the one who spoke before his friend
"… Yes... understood..." said Rai
"Great. Did you understand Ozai?, Hey?, Ozai?..." Iroh turned to the other side where his younger brother was, only to see that Ozai had disappeared from his side.
"My lord!" Jeong said, "Look!"
A few flames hit the snake, but without much effect, but this caused it to change direction, it no longer looked at Tai, now it looked at Ozai and behind him, the rest of Iroh's group.
"I SWEAR I'LL LOCK HIM IN HIS ROOM FOR A WHOLE YEAR!"
Tai, though exhausted, turned his head toward Iroh at the prince's cry of anger and concern; with a mixture of relief and determination. His eyes reflected both fatigue and a spark of hope.
"YOU!... What are you doing here?!" Tai shouted before gasping for breath and seeing that Jeong and Iroh ran to catch up with Ozai. "Back off, that damn thing won't budge, it's harder than it seems!"
Curiously, the beast stared at Ozai for a moment in confusion as he saw a smaller human trying to attack him, but it only lasted a couple of seconds before rushing over and launching a deadly bite which Ozai barely managed to dodge by the skin of his teeth by lunging to the side, while his older brother shouted his name in total concern. And immediately Jeong and Iroh released a huge flame that covered the snake's face completely, forcing it to retreat, but it was not able to cause any damage.
"OZAI, COME BACK HERE!"
The giant snake turned around on itself, dipped its head into the lagoon, and at the same time stuck out its tail so quickly to hit Ozai, like a giant whip with incredible strength. Tai lifted the ground at Ozai's feet creating a small monolith that was immediately destroyed by the snake's tail, throwing Ozai several meters into the top of the nearby trees.
"Oooohh," a dazed Ozai now found himself stuck between the branches at the top of the tree, with a few cuts on his skin made by them, as well as sore from the collision with them
"Someone to help me, I can't get off!" Ozai said as he made an effort to try to free himself.
The younger prince stood there by some monuments, his daze disappeared and when he realized where he was, he shouted for help: "Someone to help me, I can't get off!" Ozai said as he made an effort to try to free himself.
"What do we do?" asked Rai, having approached the two men of the fire nation who had moved several meters away from the beast as they threw large fireballs, plus the giant snake was being attacked again by the Earth Kingdom soldier
"What?!" was the exclamation mixed with surprise, confusion and disbelief at Iroh's words
"¡I'll entrust it to you, Rai, and thank you!"
Iroh and Jeong didn't give Rai time to say anything else, they ran towards the creature that for some reason still didn't emerge its head from the lagoon and that made them nervous with more and more worried with each passing moment
"Any plans?!" Tai raised hisvoice when she saw the duo approaching again
"For the time being, Jeong and I keep her busy while you with your earthbending attack her from a distance!" replied Iroh with what he came up with so far, but trying to think of a better plan
"Wait a minute!" Tai hurriedly said, "If I threw rocks at him from the rear, I might hit one of you, it's very dangerous!" But he never took his eyes off the monster that waved its tail again and again to prevent anyone from approaching it, and breaking the rocks that he managed to throw at it
"It's not if you have a precise moment and shot!"
"Our firebending isn't capable of harming that thing, but your earthbending is, and that damn thing knows it, that's why it doesn't dare to get out of the water completely. Just look for the right moment and pierce his body with your skills, create a big sharp stone or something!" Jeong quickly added, after Iroh spoke
"...Okay, let's do it!" Tai said after a few seconds of thinking about it
But he barely finished speaking when the snake raised his upper body again, but Iroh wasted no time, he started the attack with a couple of fireballs. But knowing that the enemy is immune to these, he increased the power in them, making the ammunition larger and more concentrated than normal so that when they hit they explode creating a cloud of smoke that blocks its vision momentarily.
"What?!" Jeong and Iroh exclaimed as the giant reptile twisted its body to dodge the fireball.
"But what kind of snake is this?" thought Jeong before the creature's display of intelligence, it was not a coincidence, clearly what it has done is react to the attack and dodge it despite its resistance to fire and Iroh's fireball exploded following its path behind the snake.
But even though Iroh's initial attack and attempt at distraction failed, Jeong took the lead leaving Tai behind watching and waiting for his moment to act.
Jeong jumped hard using firebending on his feet rising above the snake's head trying to launch a downward flame, but the snake backed away again to avoid his attack, after which, taking advantage of its elongated body, he made a move similar to the one he used with Ozai, trying to devour Jeong. But he easily exerted his fire control again, turning to the side of the snout avoiding the fangs of the snake and using his right fist he hit the side of the snake with a powerful flame that caused it to wobble and impacting both fangs in the ground on the shores of the lagoon leaving two holes in the ground deep and thick enough to bury a person.
Taking advantage of this, Tai approached by raising a large rock with a sharp beak, surrounding the snake launching a powerful attack with which he tried to crush the snake's body, although the snake was unable to do so because when it hit the snake the rock broke in two, but not before causing a scream of pain in the snake.
The scales and flesh of the snake have great hardness that protects it, much to the annoyance of the trio.
After the attack, the snake changed its target towards Tai, but the moment was taken advantage of by Iroh and Jeong to attack with more bursts of fire allowing Tai to retreat away from the range of the beast, however, the reptile managed to slip to dodge the attacks of these two.
"Again?!" Jeong exclaimed
Again Iroh and Jeong changed the direction of their attacks to the creature's new position, but the snake dodges them without difficulty, with the fireballs passing a few inches from its head, setting fire to several trees near the water in its path, which the monster had not yet destroyed with its size.
"That damn one! Stop dodging them!"
Although the attacks had been dodged in their entirety, it wasn't too important because Tai relentlessly tried to pierce his brain with pointed attacks of compacted rock to gain more speed, but these only managed to graze causing some superficial damage
"Shit, we can't let this worm put part of its body back in the water!" Iroh said
"Give me just a few minutes," Tai said, "I have an idea, guys."
"Hurry," Jeong added
Tai hurried around the snake to reach its rear end and when it realized it began to use its tail in the same way it did against Ozai, swinging from side to side the tip to use it like a whip trying to hit Tai, but Iroh prevented it by hitting a fireball between its eyes momentarily blinding it
Tai, taking advantage of the moment, spread his legs and exercised a certain posture that characterized earth masters, raised one leg and then let it fall violently and exercising a gesture with his arms rising gently, he was able to raise a stone wall approximately ten meters high with a length and thickness long enough to make it a little difficult for the snake to enter the lagoon again.
The increase in sweat on his body was a sign of the fatigue that was increasing in Tai
But in no way did the wall go unnoticed by the snake so it desperately tried to pass the wall to return to the lagoon, but Iroh and Jeong did not cease in any way to launch strong attacks to force it back with the force of their attacks. Although the attacks of these two did not cause damage to the giant viper, they annoyed it by preventing it from moving and forcing it back, but the duo managed to hit the target once again, blinding its sight so the beast once again began to unleash savage attacks as its sight cleared.
The moment was not wasted, two rocky peaks came out of the ground managing to fully impact the creature and go through part of its body preventing it from moving while it let out screams of pain and fury. Iroh and Jeong continued to launch heavy attacks on the huge reptile to contain it as best they could before it somehow managed to break through the stone spikes as they shouted:
"AGAIN!"
"KILL IT!"
They didn't need to say it, Tai was already at it, he had manipulated other rocks to create stone spears that he threw as fast as he could against the snake's head, leaving it lifeless.
At the end of the attack, Iroh and Jeong soon dropped to the ground letting out gasps of tiredness, relief, and victory as they tried to catch their breath. However, Tai showed even more fatigue, as while the firebending duo ended up sitting on the ground, the earthbender lay on the ground panting much heavier.
"Is it my imagination... or did this damn thing manage to understand... what combat means?" Iroh said between breaths
"Yes... thanks to both... of you, I don't think... I could have... defeated it... alone..." Tai added as he caught his breath
"Don't even mention it," Jeong said. where are the rest of your group...—
Tai was silent for a long moment before answering as he continued to catch his breath "I'm the only one who survived"
"Stand up!" Tai ignored their gazes, as she got up from the ground, but she was still panting. "We're not safe yet, bring your other two companions here, we have to get out of this damn forest as fast as we can."
"Hey, wait a minute!" Jeong said, "What do you mean this isn't over yet? We killed the monster"
"That thing wasn't what killed my companions..." Tai said and when he remembered what happened his face was flooded with panic, which he quickly controlled. "I ran into the snake when trying to get out of here and I recommend you do it too. We have to go!"
"Wait a minute, I don't understand what you're trying to say," Iroh said before Jeong could say anything else
"The locals were right, in this forest there is something worse, more dangerous than that damn snake. I thank you for helping and saving me, but now we have to get out of here, before that thing finds us"
"What?" Iroh asked
"I had never seen anything like it before or heard of anything like it, after my group separated from you and those mercenaries we walked for hours and in the middle of the night we saw it... Well... to tell the truth... I wasn't able to see it exactly because of the darkness, but that thing attacked us and started hunting us, we faced it as best we could, but in the end it killed everyone and I was the only one still alive so I ran as fast as I could"
"Did you abandon your companions?!" Jeong asked with great anger as he held Tai's neck "How could you?"
"I would never abandon them!" Tai exclaimed indignant and furious. "That damn thing massacred them and I had no choice but to flee.!" As I did so, I arrived at this lagoon shortly before dawn and I met the giant snake and it did not allow me to continue fleeing, so I began to fight and then you arrived!"
"Jeong, let him go and calm down a bit."
"Do you believe the words he says, Iroh?" Jeong said, "And if he's..."
"Yes! I believe him" Iroh interrupted him, while looking at him with a serious look "Jeong, go get Ozai and Rai so we can get out of here"
"But..."
"Do it, if the other earth realm soldiers are dead then we have to get out of here as fast as we can, go get those two."
But before Jeong went for Ozai and Rai, the three of them could hear the sound of trees starting to creak which made them look towards the forest around the large lagoon and a few seconds later silence invaded the entire place, while the water of the lagoon remained in an eerie calm.
But the three combatants realized what was happening.
"Something is coming," said Iroh
"It found us..." Tai added
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