Nexus HWR 9.5 The Fire Lord:
Pon-Gatso: Canopy
Inside the black-steel treehouse-castle at the top of the mighty tree Pon, Black Canary walked forward down the long Great Hall with a bright smile on her face. The others who came in behind her stood near the doorway with less excited looks, but Dinah Drake was staring right at the young man in the middle of the room. "Sokka! It's been too long."
"Canary!" The man who stepped in front of the guards jogged forward as well. He met her halfway and put his right hand out, grasping her by the forearm as she did to him. The smile on his face only lasted a few seconds though and quickly turned grim, "I'm sorry about Terra Base."
They released their grasps and Black Canary nodded solemnly. After a few seconds though, she lifted her gaze and looked at him strangely. "Wait a second, General Sokka?"
She thought maybe the young man would smirk and talk about a promotion, but instead his expression just turned extremely grim. The four guards who were around him had jogged up and were now standing on either of his sides again. Sokka nodded his head once and sighed, "It's been a long two weeks since we called for your aide."
"I'm sorry we could not get here sooner," Dinah began.
"It's not your fault," Sokka said immediately. He was a tan-skinned man, with a fairly built body that was not overly muscular. His black hair was held up above his head in a bun, and he had a blue beam-rifle sticking out over his back. He was wearing blue clothes that reminded Natsu of someone, but he couldn't put his finger on it. And that name... Sokka? I feel like I've heard it before... Natsu just shrugged and continued looking forward at the people talking in hushed voices now.
"What happened?" Black Canary whispered. "Where is the Commander? Where is Pon Gatso's Council?"
"The Council," Sokka began. He sighed and said loud enough for the group behind Black Canary to hear as well. "The Council was assassinated. General Stoick the Vast, King Oakheart Sheran of the Sadida, even Commander Jon Snow-"
"Jon's dead?" Blue Beetle gasped from back behind Dinah. Natsu turned to look at the guy who looked a little like a bug, but first he had to look past Gray who was trembling in rage.
Gray stepped forward with his fists clenched at his sides. The four guards around Sokka each looked at him and looked ready for an assassination attempt. There were two men on his left, one with a single spike of black hair and the other with a smoother spike of golden hair going straight up above their heads. The one with black hair reached up over his shoulder and grabbed the hilt to a six foot long lance on his back while the blond one just bent his knees a little. On Sokka's other side, an armored woman with long, straight black hair grabbed the hilt of a rapier at her waist. The other girl next to her who looked a little younger and had a silver ponytail also reached for her thicker sword.
Sokka saw all of their movements and he looked past Black Canary at the man walking his way angrily. "Who's that?" He whispered, cupping his mouth with one hand while pointing a finger over Canary's shoulder with the other.
Black Canary looked back and stated, "He's a Resistance fighter, came from-"
"Who assassinated the Council?" Gray asked. His voice was low, his eyes dark, his fists clenched so hard that his nails were almost cutting into his palms.
General Sokka noticed Dinah looking away after hearing the question, and he saw a few others behind this man gaining more serious, dark expressions. Sokka looked to his left, "Stinger, Lightning Max, it's fine." He nodded at his right side, "You too Guila, Jericho." The guards seemed to ease up a little, but still looked on guard. It only made sense to the other people in the room considering all the other leaders were killed in the past two weeks.
Sokka then turned his gaze to Gray who stopped walking right on Dinah's right side. "It was, Ra's al Ghul..." Instantly, Gray's already upset expression deepened and his nails cut through the skin of his palms. "And," Sokka continued, "the rest of the League of Assassins."
"God damn it," Natsu growled, his own fists clenching. "Those bastards are everywhere."
"Hold on," Kirito said, shaking his head a few times. He stepped forward and called out, "Ra's al Ghul captured us. He tried to force our friends to go straight east and kill the General there." Everyone looked back at Kirito in shock and the teen looked straight at Sokka, "I think he was talking about you."
"Why would Ra's al Ghul want you dead?" Black Canary asked quickly, gaining a concerned expression as she looked back at the younger man.
Sokka chuckled and this time did look a little proud of himself. "Immediately after the League assassinated the Council, the Fire Nation attacked. Our guess was that they were colluding with each other, and attacked when we were at our weakest. It was madness here already without our leadership, and it only became worse as we got attacked by an army. Dozens of zeppelins, fire coming down like rain, it was chaos."
"How did you survive?" Black Canary asked, her eyes opening wide.
"It was all Sokka," the blond man, who Sokka called Lightning Max began.
"He really pulled through," Stinger agreed. "Got us to rally together when they were right on top of us."
Sokka smirked for a few seconds, but he could not keep the expression for long. "We suffered heavy losses," he began, his eyes dropping down to the floor. "We managed to hold them off, but only by Scorching the landscape on the side they were attacking from. The Sadida were furious. Prince- King Armand," Sokka corrected himself as the former Sadida King was dead making Armand the new King. "After the battle we had some words, and he took his remaining people and fled. With the deaths of the Council and the loss of the Sadida, our men lost hope and most who were not injured fled. We started evacuation efforts at that time too, as we discovered the Fire Nation's armies did not retreat back to their cities."
"What do you mean?" Superboy asked, walking forward now. The others figured it was okay to join the conversation as well and followed him towards the middle of the room. "Where are they then?"
"A hundred miles north," Guila replied. The woman with long black hair had purple accents on her silver steel armor, and a purple hairband over the top of her head. "It will not be long before they regroup and attack again."
"They probably would have attacked already," Jericho began. The woman with a silver-colored ponytail smirked and nudged Sokka with her elbow. "But this guy here had the great idea to send squads out north, west, and east just like we always do."
"Huh? Why?" Gray asked. "Shouldn't you have been focusing all efforts of evacuation?"
The General grinned and began, "If we all decided to run at once, they would have charged after us. There's no way we could protect half a dozen million people with the amount of soldiers we have left." Sokka took a pause and looked grim as he added, "So I sent soldiers out like normal to trick the enemy into thinking we are still at a higher strength than they know." His face turned a little pale and he continued with a voice that cracked midway through his sentence, "I guess that's why the League is after me now eh? Haha... haaa."
"Don't worry man, we won't let anyone kill you," Lightning Max promised, patting the General on the back.
"We're just glad you came," Stinger agreed.
"Came?" Gray asked, looking at the younger man quizzically.
"I'm not actually stationed up here," Sokka began. He frowned and added, "However I'm the only one with experience beating the Fire Nation from back in my old universe, so they called me up."
"Lucky for them they had you then," Kirito said.
"You bet it is," Sokka replied, leaning back and laughing proudly at the praise. Although back then I had the Avatar to help me, not to mention the strongest water, earth, and fire benders I knew. "However," he continued, and slowly lowered the smile from his face. "It doesn't seem like it will make a difference in the end. We're now the farthest Resistance fighters to the north. Bases all over the Southeast and Southwest have fallen. If we don't evacuate the rest of the city soon, we may be trapped here."
"Don't worry about that," Natsu started. Everyone looked over at the man with pink spiky hair. He grinned and punched his fists together in front of him, "This is what I've been waiting for. I'm all fired up!"
"Where did you say that Fire Nation encampment was?" Kirito asked, knowing they never gave him a location, but asking anyway like they already did. The teen wearing all black with two swords on his back asked it so casually that Sokka blinked a few times and shook his head. Kirito reiterated, "The exact location."
He and Natsu looked ready to go, but Gray was still shaking in anger. "You say you know it was Ra's al Ghul who killed the Council?" He asked, more of a rhetorical question than anything. The General and his guards looked in at Gray who seemed to have something personal against the League of Assassins. Gray took another step forward and asked in his most serious voice, "Do you know where they are?"
"The League?" Sokka asked, his eyes going wide. "Are you planning on going after them?"
"That's suicide," Jericho exclaimed from Sokka's back right.
"Do. You. Know?" Gray repeated, making sure they understood how serious he was this time.
The General and his guards looked around at each other. Sokka finally turned back to Gray and asked, "Who are you again?"
"Gray Fullbuster," the ice mage stated. "Now, tell me where the League is."
"Sir," Stinger began, getting a little more serious at the moment. He spoke softly right into Sokka's ear, "That is classified information. If the League were to find out we know where they are, they would change their location, or worse, come after us with their full attention."
"We aren't League of Assassin members," a voice said coming from directly below the guards and the General. They all jumped in surprise and backed away, and then out from the floor emerged a teenage boy crawling out of the ground like it was water. Another Kirito stepped up and most of the room gawked at the clone of the teen right before he vanished. The real Kirito stepped forward now and continued for his clone, "We aren't part of the League, so just tell us where to find them. We want them dead more than anyone."
"Sokka," Canary began, stepping in between Kirito and the General. She was trying to calm down his guards who got pissed by that eavesdropping and were reaching for their weapons again. "Trust them. One of their friends got killed by Ra's al Ghul on our way here."
Sokka stopped the hand he was reaching up over his shoulder. He lowered it back down and said, "Sorry, for your loss." He shook his head a few times, "But even so, you can't take on the League. Especially not now."
"Why not?" Superboy asked, narrowing his eyebrows and frowning deeply.
Sokka sighed, and finally admitted, "Before Terra Base fell completely, we received one last message. Apparently the League were hired by the Emperor to help them. This was not just in order to help take Terra Base, the Sith needed no help with that. The League of Assassins were hired to help the Emperor's expansion east. We're speculating that the Fire Lord and Emperor are working together to take us down once and for all."
"Attacked by the Sith and the Fire Nation simultaneously," Black Canary whispered. "We wouldn't stand a chance."
Sokka nodded. He looked his blonde friend in the eyes and stated, "We need you and your team to help evacuation processes. We don't want to leave anyone, or anything behind. The resources in this tree are too important to allow to fall into enemy hands."
For some reason, Natsu suddenly remembered Black Canary mentioning how the tree did not like something earlier and how he made fun of it. Now though, he frowned thinking about what Sokka was implying about the tree. "Hold on," Natsu stated, getting the others' eyes back on him. "Didn't you hear me? Tell me where they are, and I'll go kick their asses."
"Shut up," Superboy growled over at the pink haired idiot.
Natsu got ready to shout back at him, but Gray beat him to it and made the Dragon Slayer lean back in shock. "Shut up!" Gray yelled at Conner, making even Superboy lean back at the sudden snap of the more cool-headed mage. Superboy looked down at Gray's sides noticing something and he saw blood trickling out of the cracks between Gray's fingers. Gray spun and looked back at Sokka, "What is the Fire Nation's main weapon?"
It sounded like a stupid question, and Sokka replied while looking confused, "Fire..."
"Yeah, well Natsu can't be hurt by fire," Gray stated. Everyone who didn't already know this stared at the man in shock and Natsu started smirking, despite being surprised that Gray was talking him up. Gray continued, "He can literally eat their flames, and they make him even stronger."
"They do have other weapons," Jericho began, still annoyed by this guy who thought he knew so much.
"Yeah, but their most powerful ones are fire-based, right?" Gray asked, looking around for someone to contradict him, which no one did. "Good, Natsu can handle it. He'll have some help too."
Gray looked back at Kirito who was a few feet behind him. Kirito was asking about the encampment's location a minute ago so he figured the ninja would go along. However, Kirito walked forward so he was at Gray's side and he added, "Yeah, Natsu will have Ben and Dash to help him."
The two mages looked at him confusedly, but Kirito turned to look straight in at Gray's face. "I'll be coming with you," the black haired teen told the older boy with spikier black hair. Gray opened his eyes in surprise, and Kirito turned to look at Sokka, "Now tell us where we can find the League of Assassins. We're going to hunt them down."
"We?" Gray asked, looking annoyed as he didn't ask for any help.
"I'm a ninja, Gray," Kirito stated. He looked at the older man seriously. "Our best chance of defeating Ra's is with stealth. I can sneak up on him. Plus, with only two of us we can keep quiet, but if we do get discovered I can make a hundred Shadow Clones and we can go on a full frontal assault or escape in the confusion."
Most people in the room just stared blankly at these two as they planned an assault of the League of Assassins. Natsu turned and started complaining about not being able to go to the fight to avenge Juvia. "Is this for real?" Sokka mumbled, looking over at Black Canary.
"I'm still getting used to it myself," she whispered. "But you should give them a chance before you abandon all hope. You may just be surprised."
Sokka nodded his head dumbly a few times. "Sokka, you can't actually be considering this," Lightning Max started, smiling faintly as he really hoped the thoughtful look on the General's face was a joke.
If flames really can't hurt him... Sokka stared at the pink haired man for a few more seconds before speaking up suddenly, "I'll tell you where you can find the Fire Nation encampment, and the League of Assassins, at least, where their last reported location was." He took a deep breath and then added, "But first, you need to prove to me you can truly help out."
"What do you want us to do?" Gray asked, wondering what type of annoying test this teenager was going to make them undergo.
"Touch me," Sokka started, lifting up his arms at his sides and holding up his palms like it was a simple task. "Guys," he added, talking only to the guards next to him now. "Don't let them touch me."
Every person in the room tensed up as all four of Sokka's guards and the three fighters from Awul instantly looked ready. Sokka shouted, "Nobody kill each other!" Before he was even finished with the sentence, Black Canary dropped her jaw as half the people in the room vanished.
Sokka was impressed by their speed at least, seeing as one of them vanished and two were just blurs to him. He himself was not much of a super-human, but he considered himself a good judge of the different levels of strength of those who were.
"Man they're fast," Blue Beetle said, his eyes darting around to follow the movements of the fighters around the room.
Superboy and Darkshine had less trouble following the battle and their pupils darted back and forth to follow individual fighters.
Gray ran towards the man with black hair holding a giant lance. The guy slammed the lance forward and Gray dodged to the left. As he dodged he punched one fist into an open palm. After punching his palm, he slammed his fist out at the lance while opening it up. The lance froze as Gray ran by, and the mage leapt up in the air to avoid Stinger's kick that he followed up with.
As he rose up in the air and Stinger yelled out in panic while his arms covered in ice, Gray spotted Natsu trying to hit the woman Jericho, while Lightning Max sped up from behind him. Gray did a flip in midair and landed with both hands firmly planted on the ground. A trail of ice shot from his hands all the way to the blond man whose shoes had jets coming out of them.
"Max!" Guila called over, seeing his feet about to get caught in ice. As she looked back, her eyes widened seeing a dozen figures form on that side of her. She did a full three-sixty and there were enemies on every side, all of them looking exactly like the original. They drew two swords each, holding them in different stances and looking at her in different ways to prove they were all their own bodies.
Lightning Max still heard her shout though and spun, then jumped just in time for the ice to go right beneath him. He smirked, and called out, "Nice try!"
"Now Natsu!" Gray yelled. Max looked below him and lowered his bottom lip while he was still rising up in the air. The ice that passed him froze Jericho's feet to the floor, leaving her open to an attack for Natsu. Instead though, the Fire Dragon Slayer sprinted right past Jericho.
They'd all gotten so wrapped up in their fight that they forgot what they were fighting for in the first place. "Got him!" Natsu shouted as he tackled Sokka to the floor.
"Ouch!" Sokka exclaimed, no longer liking the idea he came up with.
Across the room, an explosion blasted twenty clones up in the air that all exploded. Kirito looked ahead at the woman glaring at him and pointing a sword forward with a glowing ball of fire on it. Suddenly the person she was pointing the fireball at vanished, and she heard a voice behind her, "It's over. We won."
Guila looked back and saw the real Kirito standing there with his hands back in his pockets, his swords in the sheaths on his back. A little behind him, Gray was looking at his hands and he wiped them on his shirt, for the first time noticing they were bleeding after he slammed his open hand into Stinger's lance. Even farther than that, Lightning Max landed next to Jericho who chiseled her feet out of the ice finally with a fuming look on her face. Then there was Natsu, helping Sokka back to his feet.
"Well, that didn't take long," Sokka admitted. "Though I am glad you held back Guila and did not burn Pon down." He mentioned it because the woman was still holding up her sword with a small burning fireball at the end of it. The woman whose eyes were almost closed they were so squinty finally lowered her weapon and allowed her magic to fade.
"Held back huh?" Kirito asked, smirking at the woman he had been a step ahead of for that entire, small, skirmish. "I couldn't tell."
"Would you like to die?" Guila questioned, tilting her head as if it were an actual question. His smug look wiped from his face and she turned from him, walking back over to Sokka's side.
"Okay!" Sokka exclaimed, a true, genuine smile coming to his face. "You guys are great! Let's get started on some new plans."
"General," Jericho began.
"Hey, I gave you guys a chance," Sokka argued. "Now it's time to believe in them," he said and looked at the three fighters who gathered in front of him. "Besides, I'd rather be able to call in all the patrol groups we have out right now to provide more support for evacuations. Only four million of our starting population of six million civilians have been evacuated. We still need more time, and we need to get more of those damaged vehicles up and running to help get them out of here faster."
"Alright," Gray started, walking over towards Sokka. "We're going to help you out. But," he continued, narrowing his eyes at the younger man. "You need to tell us how to beat the Fire Lord. You say you've done it before," he added, and Sokka started frowning.
With Aang's help, Sokka thought in annoyance. "It was different that time," Sokka began.
"Why?" Natsu questioned, walking over with Kirito now. The others who watched the fight started walking over as well so everyone was gathered in a small area.
Sokka looked around at them all and he sighed. He scratched the back of his head, and he mumbled, "Well, last time..." His arm dropped from his head and his face got a lot darker. "Last time we were fighting Fire Lord Ozai. We defeated Fire Lord Ozai."
"And this Fire Lord," Kirito began. "It isn't Ozai?"
"No," Sokka replied, his eyes darkening even more. "On my world, a war raged for over a hundred years against the Fire Nation. We had only just ended it when I got teleported here. We defeated Ozai, the third of three Fire Lords who continued the long war. His grandfather, the man who started the war that ravaged my world for a century, is tremendously more powerful than his grandson ever was, and is the one who rules the Fire Nation today. His name, is Sozin. Fire Lord Sozin."
FD + 149
"Give up Azula!" Zuko shouted across the burning field at his sister. The plains of red grass were on fire in every direction around the fire benders. The young man with a black ponytail pointed a finger at Azula, down on one knee, panting while her small group of followers backed up behind her. "You can't win!" He yelled.
Standing behind Zuko were a few hundred warriors. The majority of those behind him were fire benders, though he had some other allies at his sides as well. A young man up close to the front near Zuko pointed a finger at the young woman with messy black hair and shouted, "That's right! Take that! Hahaha!" Sokka leaned back and put his hands on his hips victoriously.
BOOM! CRASH! "Ahh!" Sokka shrieked as the field on his right side exploded up in the air. He and the other nearby warriors backed away while a pillar of smoke billowed up from the explosion.
"Yes! Father!" Azula shouted over at the explosion. "Come here and help me finish off my foolish brother!" She got up off her knee and started cackling like mad. Her laughs caught in her throat though as a figure came flying out of the smoke, flying backwards with steam coming out of his mouth and his eyes rolled back. Fire Lord Ozai slammed into the ground, bounced, and rolled back a few dozen feet before coming to a stop behind Azula and her soldiers.
All of the smoke in the area he was just in dispersed at once and the ground under it burst into flames. An old man had his shirt torn off to reveal he was not the short, fat old man people thought of him. Sokka's jaw dropped, "I-Iroh?! That's what you always looked like under there?"
"Uncle," Zuko said with a growing smile. He looked over at his father who Azula ran to and was yelling at to get up. The other soldiers with them were backing away and many started running away. Zuko rose his voice though, "Everyone! Stop running!" The enemy fire-benders looked back towards the young man who like Sokka had a black ponytail over his head, only his was not wrapped up in a bun. Zuko rose up his fist and covered it in flames, "Today we must unite the Fire Nation! There is no need for us to fight each other any longer!"
The Fire Nation soldiers running away because their leaders were getting beaten on looked around at each other and then back at the Prince of the Royal Family. Zuko kept shouting and a few of them started walking his way. "We have sent word out around the continent! All fire-benders from our world will be coming here, hoping for a united Fire Nation. I do not want war! You all want to go home to your families, or to look for them on this world! Come with me, and I can-"
"Be quiet boy!" Ozai shouted, getting back up on his feet next to Azula. The two of them nodded at each other and then jumped forward, landed on one foot, twisted it, and stomped their other feet forward. They twirled their hands around as well while they stomped their feet and as their right hands went behind their heads, lightning started sparking on their fingertips.
"Get back!" Zuko shouted to the others around him who stumbled or ran backwards at his command. "Uncle!" Zuko yelled.
Zuko ran to the right while his Uncle Iroh ran left. The muscular old man with gray hair and a gray beard smiled at his nephew as he ran by, and then focused on the task at hand and stuck his hand out. Azula and Ozai fired bolts of lightning forward at the same time, and Iroh crossed to take the bolt that Azula shot at them. He caught the lightning on his hand and did a three-sixty spin before snapping his hand back out and redirecting the lightning at her feet, knocking her up in the air screaming. Zuko caught his father's bolt of lightning in his right hand, but he had to grab his right wrist with his left hand to steady it.
"You can do this Zuko," Iroh assured him from only a few feet away.
Ozai started stepping backwards as he had put all of his power into that attack, yet this boy was holding onto it. Zuko released his right wrist and he pulled back his hand on his own. His entire arm covered in whips of blue lightning, and then Zuko slammed his hand forward faster than before and the lightning flew out, to hit the same spot in front of his father that Iroh aimed his attack on Azula. His lightning hit at the feet of Ozai and knocked the Fire Lord off of his feet. The rest of Azula and Ozai's followers saw this and ran across the battlefield at once. They threw down their arms, held up their hands in surrender, and joined the true Fire Lord's side.
"It's over father!" Zuko shouted as his old man struggled to get back up on his feet. "Look at this!" He yelled, his voice pleading. Ozai got up, alone on his side of the field as his daughter lay moaning behind him. Standing behind his son were hundreds of soldiers who should be his own followers, along with other powerful warriors, and even his own brother.
Sokka pulled out his boomerang and shouted, "Don't make me use this!"
"Ozai!" Iroh yelled at his younger brother. "This world was a place to start anew! Your powers returned to you, but the Avatar's mercy was wasted on you. You never change!"
"I am not the one who needs to change!" Ozai roared. Circles of flames started spinning around him and flames shot out the bottoms of his feet, lifting him up in the air. As he got up a few feet though, a ball of fire flew out of nowhere from behind him and slammed him in the back. Ozai yelled out and the flames he had summoned vanished. He dropped to the ground and the rest of the soldiers looked at Azula. Attacking from behind seemed like something she would do, especially if she was about to lose and thought attacking her father would get her out of punishment. When they looked back though, Azula seemed just as shocked as the rest of them while she sat there on her knees.
The young woman was on the side of a hill looking down at her father's groaning body at the bottom. The field before them was full of enemies, and it seemed like behind them were even more. She struggled to turn her head around to look at the top of the hill behind her. When she turned though, her jaw dropped and she started shaking where she knelt. Down on the field below, Iroh took a step back in shock and Zuko snapped his gaze to his uncle, wondering what could make him so awe-struck.
The teenage boy leading the Fire Nation stepped forward and looked up at the top of the hill where there was a figure standing. He was a tall man, with long black hair falling straight behind him. Zuko never recalled seeing him before in his life, but there was something very familiar about this man. The tall figure was adorned in full Fire Nation garb, but more formal than that of the soldiers all over the fields, more upper-class than those men and women would wear too. Iroh gasped out a single word that had his nephew opening his eyes wide like many of the soldiers on the field already had. "Father," Iroh gasped.
Azulon looked down the hill and he smiled at the sight of Iroh down below. Despite the old man's appearance, he still recognized his first born son after all these years. He was himself much younger than Iroh now, having returned to life in his prime. "Iroh, it is great to see you again," Azulon said to his very old son. He nodded, but then glared back at a man struggling to stand back up closer to him. "OZAI!" Azulon shouted.
Ozai spun around and looked at the top of the hill in shock and horror. "I know what you did!" Azulon shouted, and he took a step down the hill. Behind Azulon, ten Fire Nation soldiers, all wearing creepy white masks and holding black rifles in their hands, stepped up to the top of the hill. Azulon took another step down and yelled, "After Iroh's son was killed, you demanded the position as heir! And when I would not give it to you, you had me POISONED!" Azulon rose up his fists at his sides and they erupted with spheres of flames. Azula got up to her feet and ran out of the way of her enraged grandfather.
"Father, it isn't what you think-" Ozai began, lifting up his palms towards Azulon.
"It is!" Azulon roared. "You rose your hand against your own father, and you did it in the most shameful way imaginable. I despise that you are my son. And you will burn for what you have done!" Azulon slammed his hands together and the flames on either of his hands merged into one condensed attack that shot out and slammed into Ozai who was too tired to even raise a guard. Everyone could hear Ozai's screams from inside the flames, and they lasted for around ten seconds before falling silent. Azulon kept frowning but he finally lowered his arms and let his flames disperse, showing nothing but a pile of ash remaining where his son once stood.
"Father," Zuko whispered in shock as he stared at the spot Ozai was just in. He had no love for his father, but seeing the man executed in such a way, it touched a part of him deep inside. Zuko lifted his gaze to his grandfather, but Azulon turned away from the army in front of him. He turned towards the voice that spoke from the top of the hill.
"So that was my grandson?" A man questioned. The words coming out of this man's mouth made Iroh tense up his entire body. Around him, other fire-benders backed up and everyone on the field stared in absolute shock a the top of the hill.
Sokka was counting on his fingers as he tried to keep track of all the generations of Fire Nation leaders around him. "If that was Iroh's dad, and this guy said Ozai was his grandson, then he must be…" Sokka lowered his hands, and his face covered in sweat as he stepped backwards. He looked at the top of the hill and watched as dozens more creepy-looking Fire Nation soldiers all walked around the sides of it, up other hills in that direction, and filling in all the spaces in between.
"I must thank whoever gathered the entirety of the Fire Nation in one location," the man at the top of the hill began. As he spoke, Azulon got down on a knee and bowed his head to the top of the hill and the man standing there. The man had black hair flat on top of his head and up in a bun above it. His sideburns spiked out to the sides below the ears, and his beard had one long pointy spike down at the bottom. He had a mustache that dipped down long enough that the ends of it stuck out below the curves of his beard between the spikes on the cheeks and the one on his chin.
The man at the top of the hill wore a black cloak with orange stripes going from his shoulders down all the way to his feet. The bun over his head was kept there by a golden headdress that spiked up like a burning flame. "I am Fire Lord Sozin!" The man announced, and all of the soldiers on the top of the hill with him, and around the hill, and in between this hill and the others, and on top of those hills as well, all bowed down to this man. The others in front of him could not see, but the hundreds of soldiers behind him on the other side of the hill all bowed as well. "Prince Zuko!" He called out, and looked down the hill directly at the teen and the others around him. "I have been told that in the present of our world, you were the Fire Lord. This is not our world though, and here, I will be the Fire Lord."
Zuko frowned and his fists clenched at his sides. Iroh glanced at his nephew nervously, but Zuko stepped forward assuredly. The soldiers behind him looked nervous, but seeing their leader step forward gave them courage. Sozin saw this as well and he smirked a little. "Good. I would not expect you to stand down so easily. My son understands what it means to be family, but you, you were raised by a father-murdering bastard." Sozin glared down at the pile of ash between their two armies like he wished more pain on Ozai right now. "So I will now teach you the respect your great grandfather deserves."
"You don't deserve my respect!" Zuko shouted up to the man. Sozin frowned as he was planning on fighting Zuko right away, but it seemed like the boy had something to say first. "Your war cost thousands of lives!" Zuko shouted. The rest of the people already bowing down to Sozin lifted up their gazes and stared at the boy challenging him. Many of them had died in those wars Zuko was referring to, and they perked up at what Zuko was suggesting. "I will not let you start another war like that! For a hundred years our world was ravaged by something that you created! You committed a genocide against the air benders! You are not the Fire Lord."
Azulon snapped to his feet and glared down the hill at his grandson. When he looked down though, he saw that none of Zuko's men had bowed down yet, not even his own son. "Iroh, bow to your grandfather," Azulon commanded.
Iroh bowed his head to his father, but spoke while looking at the floor, "I am sorry father, I can do no such thing." Azulon's eyes opened wide as he thought his first born son was a better man than this. Iroh rose his head and looked at Azulon and Sozin at the same time. "The war you started," he said while looking at Sozin, "and that you escalated," he turned to his own father, "caused so much heartbreak, so much, unnecessary destruction. Zuko and the Avatar finally managed to create peace on our world. I believe my nephew can do the same on this one."
"Peace?" Azulon snarled. "What weak man do I see before me now? When your son died, I believed your depression would only last for a short time. Your siege of Ba Sing Se failed but I forgave you, because you were my son." Azulon started shaking in rage. "But now, you dare defy me in front of your grandfather?"
Iroh knew his father, he knew how much the man cared about this sort of thing, and he bowed his head farther at how much disrespect he was making the man feel right now in front of Sozin. He did not stand down though. Zuko stepped forward and he pointed a finger up the hill at the man standing at the top. "Great grandfather!" Zuko shouted. "I challenge you to an Agni Kai!"
Sozin lifted his eyebrows, but the reactions from their men were a lot more intense. Many made audible gasps of shock, while most opened their eyes wide and snapped out of their bows. "Challenged to an Agni Kai by my own great grandson," Sozin said in a booming tone. He chuckled darkly and his eyes narrowed down at the boy as his face hardened, "I would not accept victory in any other way. I will warn you first Prince Zuko. I have become stronger since coming to this world."
Sozin floated off the grass with the bottom of his feet glowing bright red. Flames did not shoot out of his soles, just so much heat pushed off of his feet that he lifted from the ground. He floated down the hill and past his own son who stated, "I am going to take care of my own son in the meantime." Sozin nodded his head as he expected to hear that from Azulon as he flew by.
Sozin landed on the ground in front of Zuko who got into a fighting stance. Zuko stuck his right arm far back and his left arm forward, then turned his body and pulled his arms in and then to the sides. Sozin lifted his eyebrows again and he said in an impressed tone, "The Dancing Dragon? I am surprised you know such a high level fire bending technique. Surprised, and impressed. Your honor will stay intact even after your defeat here at my hands."
Iroh turned to officiate the match, but he spotted someone coming out the corner of his eye and spun just in time for a fist to slam into his face. Zuko spun and shouted, "Uncle!"
Azulon was there with his arm extended forward, and a pillar of flames shooting out of his fist, far into Zuko's own ranks. Iroh was at the end of it tumbling across the field into the distance before he was able to right himself. "Do no lose focus boy!" A voice shouted directly in front of Zuko. He spun back forward and Sozin was standing there, his arms lifted at his sides, his palms facing the sky. He did not look ready at all for a fight, but yet he looked annoyed that Zuko was getting distracted.
"What are you doing?" Zuko shouted at the older man.
"Just because we will be dueling, does not mean that your grandfather will stand by and allow his son to insult him in front of his armies. Now prepare yourself," Sozin said, "the Agni Kai has already started." Sozin clenched his fists and a circle of flames appeared in the air above the two of them. The flames lowered down to the grass field they were on and made a perfect circle around the two of them, keeping them trapped in close proximity so neither could escape. The flames rose, and the older man on the inside smirked as Zuko kicked off the ground towards him.
Everyone awaited the outcome of the battle between the two men. They did not have to wait long. The flames in the circle around them dispersed, and Sokka opened up his eyes wide, as the true Fire Lord stood there with his right hand risen. Sozin had Zuko lifted by the throat and Zuko looked absolutely horrible. "Let these burns remind you never to challenge your ancestors again," Sozin said, while Zuko's neck seared in his hand. Zuko's arms had scattered burn marks on them, his cheeks were melted, his ponytail was burned off completely.
"Zuko!" Iroh shouted, losing focus on his father for a second.
"You should not have looked away son!" Azulon shouted and slammed his right hand forward. His hand was not in a fist, but extended so the tips of his fingers slammed into his son's exposed chest. His fingers were covered in bright blue flames, and they hit Iroh's chest and went straight through into his ribs and organs. His hand did not come out of the old man's back, but he did hold it there inside his son's body with a regretful look on his face. Iroh gasped and he coughed up some blood while other soldiers in his and Zuko's army stared over in horror. Azulon clenched his hand into a fist inside Iroh's chest and he spoke in a dark voice, "It is a sad day when a father must kill both of his sons." Azulon's right fist burst into flames and Iroh tried to scream, but his lungs were among the first to go. Iroh opened his mouth and blue fire flew out of it as his father's flames were literally rising up his trachea.
Zuko barely managed to open up his eyes while his great grandfather held him by the throat, but he was able to look across the field and watch as his uncle's body burst into flames. He opened his mouth to yell out to him, but Sozin clenched harder and Zuko could only scream as his throat felt like it was on fire. As Zuko watched his uncle, he also watched as all of his men between him and Iroh got down on their knees. Hundreds of his followers dropped down. Seeing Zuko and Iroh fall at the same time was too much for them. A few remained standing and yelled at the others to get up, but those were mainly the non-Fire-Nation soldiers.
Sokka looked back and forth between Zuko and Iroh, and he suddenly realized he was the only person left standing for a hundred feet around him, with the exception of Fire Lord Sozin. The Fire Lord tossed Zuko's body backwards and Sokka gulped but he ran right towards the other teen. Sokka dropped down to his knees next to Zuko and he shook him around. "Get up Zuko. I can't handle an army on my own."
Zuko could only gasp and grab at his own throat in pain. He reached one hand out towards the area his uncle was in, only for an explosion of blue flames to appear in his sight and his heart to clench up. Azulon pulled his red right hand back and put it at his side as he looked down at what became of his first born son. "It is a good thing I am a young man again. I will have new sons to replace you failures." The man shook his head and turned back to his father who looked his way and nodded. Azulon nodded back respectfully and then got back down on his knees.
"Great Grandfather," a voice spoke behind Sozin. The Fire Lord turned and saw a young woman standing there on the hill. She dropped down to a knee and bowed her head to her other knee that was still sticking up. "I give you my strength. Grandfather was right, my father killed him and-"
Sozin flicked his right hand forward and Azula yelled out as her cheek burned. She reached up and grabbed her right cheek but did not get out of her kneeling position. Sozin hummed and nodded his head as he turned away from her. "Even if it is true, you do not betray your own father. I will not hear another word of it from you. However, our family seems to be getting smaller by the second. What is your name, great granddaughter?"
"Azula, my Lord," she replied, clenching her teeth as to not make any indication that she was in pain from that burn he gave her.
Sozin smiled. "Azula, after your grandfather I presume. Good." Sozin rose up his arms and out of the ground at his sides arose two pillars of flames that shot high up into the air. He clenched his open hands into fists and at the tops of those pillars, the flames puffed out into mushroom clouds of flames that spread to connect with each other and disperse across the sky. Anyone who was not already bowing dropped down to their knees, planning on escaping later on if they wanted to, but not daring to go against this powerful man now. Sozin shouted while his flames covered the sky, "The Fire Nation will be more powerful here than on our own world! Our ideals, our wealth, our culture, we will spread it around this planet to all the people of the worlds not fortunate enough to have had our influence. We are the Fire Nation!"
Soldiers all over the hilly fields got back up to their feet and pumped fists up in the air. "YAAAA!"
"This is our world!" Sozin roared.
Azulon punched a fist up in the air and a ball of orange fire flew up to mix with the rest of the flames already in the air. "RAAA!" He shouted and punched another fist up making a ball of blue flames shoot into the flaming air this time and make the sky above him swirl a dangerous-looking purple color.
"I am your Fire Lord! And together, we will rule!" Sozin announced.
"HAAA!" Azula found enough strength to force another bolt of lightning from her fingers. Standing so close to the legend of the Fire Nation gave her the strength, and standing by his side she wanted to make her power known to him. When her lightning hit the flames in the sky, it was like the entire cloud of flames became charged and sparks of electricity shot off all around the sky.
Sokka stopped wrapping one of Zuko's wounds to looked up in the sky with everyone else. Now instead of being the only one standing, he was one of the only people still on the ground, not up screaming and cheering with everyone else. He looked at the sky, the sky on fire, full of lightning and swirling with blue flames. The teen gulped and he reached down to help Zuko up. "We have to get out of here," he urged the other teen.
Zuko shook his head, still unable to make out words. When he looked up at the sky though, he grimaced at the sight of the power his enemies possessed. "We can't fight them if we're dead," Sokka yelled at him, not worried about being heard as everyone around them was screaming too. "Now let's go!"
Present
Sokka shook his head at the people before him in the war room of Pon-Gatso as he finished his story. "Sozin was far too powerful for us to take on back then, so we retreated south. Zuko tried to gather a following of other fire-benders not loyal to Sozin to go against him, but in the Second War of the Gods, he fell along with everyone who followed him."
"Second War of the Gods?" Kirito mumbled to himself. Natsu muttered the same thing, but he did so louder so the others knew he did not understand them.
Black Canary turned to the Fire Dragon Slayer. "One of three great wars to determine who would rule all of Aebrith. The Second War put the current King in charge, and the Third War ended when the King single-handedly slaughtered tens of thousands of enemies challenging his rule. The Third War was more of a merciless massacre than a War."
"Luckily," Sokka spoke back up, "the Second War of the Gods claimed more than just my friend Zuko and his followers, it also claimed the life of the Fire Nation general facing them and his army. Prince Azulon was killed, the second strongest member of the Fire Nation."
The others nodded as that did seem like a good thing. Hearing how he crushed Ozai and Iroh worried them, even if he killed them after the two had already worn each other down in their fight against each other. Sokka continued as he walked over to his table and motioned for the others to follow. They came over and Sokka pointed at their position on a map zoomed-in on their region. On the left side of the map was the coast, showing how small the map was that the water only took up a little of the paper. To the two who spent all their time on Awul though, they finally got a good bearing of how small the area they traversed really was. They saw a small 'X' on the left side of the map between the coast and them, with the words "Terra Base" written beneath it. There were 'X's all around the map on both sides of a small path south of Pon symbolized by two parallel black lines drawn side by side going straight down towards the bottom of the paper.
Sokka pointed at the tree symbol on the map which was pretty easy to figure out what it symbolized. He pulled his finger up the map to a point not far above it, and tapped down on that spot again once he reached it. "This right here is the Fire Nation encampment," he looked up at Natsu. "I don't want to send you on a suicide mission, but you all sound confident that you can handle this. We'll provide you with some good equipment anyway, but I have one more thing to warn you about." Sokka stood straight up and he crossed his arms and shivered a little. "The woman in charge of the assaulting army, is the second strongest fire bender currently alive. Azula."
"Zuko's sister?" Gray muttered, scratching his chin as he thought about that. "That's going to be difficult. Be careful Natsu," he warned his friend.
"So you are serious about not going?" Sokka asked the ice mage. Gray glared at him and Sokka nodded his head seriously, "Alright then. You two, this will be even harder than going up against Azula and her army. I would wish you luck, but you are going to need a lot more than luck to survive this. I hope you're as strong as you make yourselves out to be." Gray looked back down at the map and Sokka said in a dark voice, "I'll tell you everything we know about the League of Assassins. There is already a special Resistance force working on this and we don't have all the details, but the League's been operating up here a lot recently, so we do have some bearing on their locations."
Kirito and Gray stepped up close to the table and Sokka leaned over it. The other high-ranking Resistance leaders all got around the table and listened close as the General went over the plans. They had a long few days in front of them, and things were going to get real messy, real quick.
A/N Hope you enjoyed! Thanks for reading! We learn some more about the foe both of our groups of heroes are facing now, as Fire Lord Sozin appears on Nexus. Azula is with him and leading the attack on Pon-Gatso and the surrounding Resistance lands. Sokka also has some info on the League of Assassins, and now our already split group separates some more. Next time we get a huge battle... but I can not say when that will be. Tomorrow I head to Italy for 10 days, half for work, half for pleasure. Anyway, I doubt I will have time for editing and posting during that time, but I will have my computer with me so it is possible. So until then, thanks again for all the support, and let me know what you think is going to happen in a review below!
Wakfu: Oakheart Sheran, Sadida, Armand
How To Train Your Dragon: Stoick the Vast
Game of Thrones: Jon Snow
Avatar the Last Airbender: Azulon, Sozin, Ozai, Iroh, Zuko, Azula, Aang, Katara, Toph, Sokka
7 Deadly Sins: Guila, Jericho
One Punch Man: Lightning Max, Superalloy Darkshine, Stinger
DC Comics: Ra's al Ghul
Fairy Tail: Natsu, Juvia, Gray
SAO: Kirito
Ben 10: Ben
Incredibles: Dash
Young Justice: Superboy, Blue Beetle, Black Canary
-Think that was everyone mentioned this chapter! Anyway, here are review responses for the last two chapters since I skipped last chapter:
Espada-001 chapter 50 . May 17
Well it looks like Ben hasn't fully understood the concept of what's supposed to happen in a war. It was also cool to see a RvB character make an appearance and I hope to see more in the future especially Caboose. Here's a question I've had for a while now but kept forgetting to ask. How are there still so many Chimera Ants? Meruem killed his mother the moment he was born and didn't care and as far as I could tell only the queen ant showed the ability to make new Chimera Ants. Also where is Kite because he was born as a twin to Meruem when he was reborn as a girl and had the loyalty of the remaining Chimera Ants so shouldn't s/he(?) have split the remaining Ants when Meruem was brought back to life? I mean I know that Chimera Ants obey Meruem mainly out of fear but Kite was the one that toke charge when they were being hunted plus it seemed like Kite was regaining his strength pretty fast even while clearly being the weaker of the twins as well as maturing at a slower rate. Well that's all I have for now so until next time have a good day and I look forward to the next chapter.
I'm definitely sad about what happened to Juvia. And Gray is thinking about finding some very risky item or power that 9 times out of 10 usually either ends bad or doesn't work the way its expected to. Well till next time.
Glad you liked Grif's appearance and we'll see about Caboose in the future. About the many Chimera Ants... good question, got me thinking a little harder about it, and I have a nice arc in the future I hope will explain it now, as for Kite though, haven't really thought much about him. Who knows where he and any good Chimera Ants may be? Juvia nooo! And what could Gray be thinking?... Thanks for the review!
KCSupido chapter 51 . May 17
Oh no! Juvia isn't gone for good, right? Hopefully...
Though it makes me wonder... A lot of the worlds that these characters come from have items like Phoenix Downs or revives or 1 ups to bring back the dead and/or knocked out. Why is it that we haven't seen any of those? Is it just that they don't exist on this world? I can't honestly remember if you said the Dragonballs were on this world or not.
It seems like we're seeing more witches and wizards again: perhaps Harry, the founders, or even Voldemort will show up soon haha
I also wonder if Sonic will show up, and if so, will he be connected to the speed force like some of the other speedsters? Because its stated that he can run at least 3000 mph, not including if he becomes Super Sonic, or taking into account his Chaos Control powers to slow down/freeze time.
Juvia! Phoenix Downs, Revives, and 1 Ups, if they don't exist naturally on the world, maybe there are some people who know how to create those things, with the right materials. This is a whole new world though so it begs the question if things like those would be easy to find. Dragonballs would require Namekians right? And we haven't seen any of those... yet, (or ever) who knows? Witches and Wizards def starting to show up. Harry? Voldemort? Sonic? Where are they?! No spoilers XD, but thanks for the review!
joebob323 chapter 51 . May 17
Tears... that's all i can say... Man, what a chapter... It was done excellently, but it was still depressing. I never really thought of Juvia as one of my favorite characters, but its pretty sad seeing her die. For real this time.
Thanks for the Chapter! Hope you eventually get to showing us once more what Timmy and Goku are doing!
JUVIA! Thank you a lot for the compliment on the chapter, and I'm glad it was depressing 'cause I try to get everyone connected to each of the characters. An actual death not reversed by time travel really makes it sadderer... Anyway, what are Goku and Timmy up to? What will happen next? Thanks for the reviews!
Darugus chapter 51 . May 17
No juvia
This chapter was really sad
I knew one of them was gonna die but not this soon
Ithe strawhats won't like this when they hear about this
Also I see the path that gray is going Down and really don't think that is going to end well
The Straw Hats were close with Juvia so that will def be a tough talk when they finally reunite. Glad I caught you off guard with the sudden death, and that's a nice catch with Gray... XD but no spoilers. Thanks for another review!
7lights13darknes chapter 46 . May 18
I usually catch up before leaving a review but i decided that i had to do at least one by story is getting better and better and ...(an eternity later)and better. The earth rumble and the boulder were a nice touch. I actually recognized him when it said earth rumble. I also really like the riku and nami ship. Sora goes to find there missing friends and namina and the keyhole and to defeat xemnous and the rest of the organization. I just realised that xigbar hasn't been even mentioned i would say he is dead but demyxe actually lived for a while until kil came (rip demyxe you were my fourth favorite nobody my first three are roxas xion and axel ) also in one of my previous reviews the answer you gave me pretty much told me you are going to have xion. Also who else noticed the whole ventus reference when they were talking about roxas a few chapters back raise your hands kingdom hearts fans. Rins story is getting really deep i think i said this before but i will say it again this fanfic actually makes me want to watch the animaies in this story like sao, hunter x hunter, and fairy tale. The matches that black star fights in isn't that in sin city if so the were so close to seeing him and the other slaves. I will end with this sora and riku know everyone EVERYONE! XD. Keep up the good work now i am done for now.
Thanks for the review! It's awesome you caught the Earth Rumble tourney, 'cause I remember when I rewatched Awatar a year back I think, when I saw the tournament going on right before Toph joined them, I wrote down in my plot outline file of Plans For Nexus to throw an Earth Rumble into Sin City. Lots of Kingdom Hearts stuff you mentioned, most of which I won't reply on. Xigbar? Xion? Ventus? Who knows?! Though nice catch with the Ventus thing :P. Also really happy you're getting into these other shows I like just from this crossover, and it's almost like Sora and Riku were skipping through universes or something XD! Thanks again to everyone who reviewed, faved, followed, or just read this story! 'Till next time!