A/N: Merry Christmas everyone! Just giving you guys a Christmas present and to let yall know I am not dead, I am still writing, but it will be a while longer before I will officially start posting again. Also working on a couple projects yall will love. Anyways, so, I was doing research on the capture of Omashu, because it didn't make sense to me that a city that is sitting on a mountain top with one bridge in could be captured so quickly (And it has been a while since I watched the show), and I got to tell you, I am not impressed. If the Fire Nation had just starved them out, then I could see it, but Bumi just gives up at the first sign of trouble. Well, that is not very interesting to me so here is my take on it. Also, I will be moving timelines around a bit to fit my needs because otherwise I cannot do other things later.
Percy walked into the war room with his father, Balo and several other commanders huddled around a massive table with a map of the world. "What's happened?" the prince asked as he approached the table. Various blocks and figures representing enemy and ally forces were scattered across the map, He noticed a collection of Fire Nation forces much too close to Omashu for comfort. The Avatar had left several days prior, and Percy had found the kid to be smart, fun, and kind: a good kid. But they didn't need a good kid. They needed a master of the elements. They needed someone with both the necessary power and will to kill the Fire Lord once and for all, and only then would the war end.
Balo looked up from the table, a grim expression upon his face. "Our scouts have reported Fire Nation forces on the warpath, and heading straight for us," he informed them.
"I wonder if they know we have her or if they are just going to scorch the land until they find her," Percy thought aloud as he examined the map. There were Earth Kingdom forces, presumably General Fong's, closing in on his former fortress. "I guess it doesn't really matter. What kind of force is it?"
"Troops, tanks, Komodo rhinos, siege equipment," Balo listed off with his fingers. "You name it, they have it. A thousand strong are marching here like the Fire Lord himself was on their heels."
Bumi placed his hands upon the table, staring at the map intently. "Any word from Ba Sing Se and the Northern Water Tribe?"
"We have received a letter from the Northern Water Tribe, they cannot help us. They have been in skirmishes with Admiral Zhao. They believe he is gearing up for an all out assault against them. We have received nothing from Ba Sing Se," Balo answered solemnly.
Percy frowned. If he had his way, he would never visit the Northern Water Tribe again, having had a… less than cordial interaction with them when he was learning about waterbending. The tribe itself was magnificent. Their city carved into the side of a glacier was truly a sight to see. But some of the old heads held views that he found rather unacceptable. That, coupled with a little incident in the Spirit Oasis, meant that none of the tribe had shed a tear at his departure. While Percy hadn't quite been banned from returning, he was certainly not welcome. If Admiral Zhao was making moves against them, well, he hoped the spirits were with them. "What of the invading force?"
Balo gestured to the map. "At their current pace, the Fire Nation forces could reach us in a few days at most. We will have the advantage of the bridge being their only method of attack, and we have been storing supplies for years for this event. I believe that we can outlast them until Ba Sing Se can send us reinforcements."
"Can we not just collapse the bridge? Stop them from invading all together?" Percy asked. "We live atop a mountain. I would like to see them climb the side of a mountain to try to fight us."
Bumi hummed in thought. "We should save that as a last resort. That bridge is as old as the city itself and was built with techniques very few know of," he said carefully, his old and wizened eyes looking their age. He then looked at each of his commanders. "Leave us, Balo and Percy remain." The commanders quickly filed out of the room.
Percy watched the commanders leave with interest, wondering what his father would say. Once the last one left, the guards closed the door behind them. "So, what is this about?"
Bumi, for once in his life, gained a serious glint in his eyes. "You must be prepared, Perseus, to flee Omashu should we fall," he told his son, much to Percy's surprise.
"What? Why?" Percy asked incredulously.
"It will just be a precaution," Bumi assured him. "As long as their beloved prince is free, the people of Omashu will not lose hope. You will be the shinning example of defiance against the Fire Nation, something the people will desperately need."
Percy crossed his arms in defiance. "I am not a coward," Percy stated. "How does fleeing the city in its time of need inspire hope while they are oppressed?"
Balo decided to interject, "You know the answer to that Percy. You have heard the stories of cities captured by the Fire Nation. The people are oppressed and their culture suppressed. The citizens of Omashu will need all the hope they can get. Someone who will remind them of who they are."
Percy glared at his teacher briefly. "I will not abandon my people just to escort a prisoner," Percy said irritably. "My place, is here."
Balo shared a look with Bumi who tilted his head in thought. "Like the king said, it is just a precaution," Balo said. "The odds of the Fire Nation breaching our walls are slim and conquering the city itself even more so."
"You got that right," Percy declared, his eyes brimming with determination. "I will bring the oceans to heel and drown the mountain range if I have to."
Bumi shook his head with a grin. "You are strong my son, but not that strong," he calmed his son's bravado. "Be careful that your self-confidence doesn't be your undoing. There will be many challenges in your future that you will be unable to accomplish on your own."
"I know that," Percy argued lightly, taking his father's wisdom to his heart. "But I feel like I could actually do it, maybe not right now, but one day."
"Well, we have time until the attacking army reaches us," Bumi said. "We should send out strike groups to harass them until they reach us. But until then, all we can do is prepare."
Percy sat on his eel hound, Nianshen, watching the Fire Nation army marching in the distance. The sheer size of it was something the young prince had yet to see in all his years. After the war council, as it were, he told his father that he was taking a group to see the invading force for himself and maybe cause a little mayhem for them. So here he was, riding his personal hound that he raised and trained since he was a boy, and fifty of their guard riding ostrich horses. A sergeant came level with Percy, gazing out over the invaders with unease. "Orders, your highness?" he asked.
Percy ignored him briefly as he watched the army moving forward. From this distance, he couldn't make out the individuals, but he could see the massive siege equipment in the back of the column. Those were typically the least defended on the move. "Take the strike group behind the column," he told the guard. "Take out those siege towers and battering ram. Maybe that will slow them down."
"What will you do?" the sergeant asked curiously.
Percy smirked, "Give you a distraction."
Percy had had a lot of dumb ideas over the years. There was that time he filled the royal guards' showerheads with itching powder. Or that time he rode Flopsie through the streets of Omashu. Good times. This, however, might have taken the cake. He rested against Nianshen who was curled around him in the middle of the road, her head in his lap. Percy petted the eel hound's head as the army slowly came to a stop not a hundred feet from him. He watched as the lines of the army parted, allowing a trio of Komodo rhinos through. The riders wore the standard armor of the Fire Nation, the lead without the helmet. Nianshen whined as she watched the mighty beasts' approach, Percy shushing her gently as he remained where he sat. He had to remain calm and confident for this to work.
The rhinos stopped more than a dozen feet away, the lead soldier looking at him with annoyance. "What are you doing here boy?" he asked gruffly, the man's face was rough and scared, likely through countless battles. "Do you not see the legion of the Fire Nation marching before you?"
Percy slowly climbed to his feet. "I am just passing through and thought this would be a good spot to enjoy the view," he replied, gesturing to the surrounding plains. Nianshen quickly rose and remained coiled around him protectively.
The man frowned. "I've never seen an eel hound tamed by one so young," he said as he observed the obedient beast.
Percy smiled as he scratched under her chin, the hound's tail wagging. "Why thank you," he looked past them and to the army. He wasn't sure how much longer until his soldiers took out the siege equipment, he needed to keep them focused on him. "I take it you're not the commander of these forces?"
"I am not. My name is Asato Shiko, and I represent the great General Sangen, the conqueror of the great General Fong's fortress," he proclaimed proudly. "Now, who are you to hold his army at bay?"
Percy smiled, "I am Perseus, son of King Bumi and the heir to the throne of Omashu," he declared, watching with satisfaction as Asato's eyes widened in surprise. "And I am here, to take your measure."
"You expect me to believe that Omashu would send its prince to face a thousand of the Fire Nation's finest alone and unguarded?" he asked incredulously. "You are either incredibly brave or incredibly arrogant to think a single earthbender can face the might of the Fire Nation."
"Believe what you will," Percy told him. "But a prince does not negotiate with a lapdog. I will speak to your general, as is my right as the defending royal." He revealed his signet ring gifted to him by his father to signify his status when he was younger.
The soldier scowled at the prince before nodding to his guards. They quickly turned their rhinos around. "I will send for him," he told him before riding off to the army.
Percy knew it was a risk meeting the general now in front of his army, but hey, he was here, might as well meet the guy who won Azula's hand. His father wouldn't be happy about it, but he would deal with that when the time came.
He watched the army part again and a new figure, riding his own Komodo rhino, rode toward him. He had high cheekbones and a strong jawline that Percy associated with nobility, and not the commoners that he knew this man had dragged himself from. His piercing bronze eyes, framed by dark, expressive brows, held a depth of anger and arrogance in them. His hair, a raven's black, was shaved on the sides while the top and back of his hair pulled into a ponytail. Clad in the Fire Nation's red and black armor, the man exuded power and strength. His every movement was marked by a natural poise and confidence, befitting a man of his station. The general's form was lean but strong, like a sword forged by the highest quality of blacksmith. The rhino came to a stop a short distance from Percy. The man dismounted the beast and strode to Percy confidently.
"And what words do you believe I wish to share with some lowly Earth Lord?" he asked condescendingly as he observed Percy.
"Prince actually," Percy corrected him, though he knew that the general knew that. "To the second-biggest city in the Earth Kingdom, and one of the biggest pains in your rear for the past one hundred years."
The general hummed in agreement. "And soon I will bring low your mountain city," Sangen promised as he looked at Percy with contempt. "And free my betrothed from your grasp."
"I don't know, I think she's gotten quite comfy in her room," Percy teased him with a grin. "She's got a nice bed, tea, now and then I even let her out for a walk."
A cold anger hardened Sangen's gaze but otherwise appeared unmoved. "I will enjoy watching you burn," he said calmly before launching a fierce attack of fire at the prince. Percy conjured a wall of water before him, blocking the blast of fire. The general watched the water fall to the ground, turning the dirt to mud. If he was surprised by Percy's bending, he made no tell of it. The eel hound retreated quickly as did the Komodo rhino.
Percy smirked. "What? Not going to question why an Earth Kingdom prince is a waterbender?" he asked, whipping water through the air at him. The general rolled out of the way, kicking another wave of fire at him. The colossal wall of flames blitzed the prince who quickly split the wall with water. "Even Azula was surprised by my abilities."
"Bold of you to assume I was unaware of your abilities," the general revealed. "Unlike many in the Hierarchy, I do not have the luxury of going into a fight unprepared that the noblemen do." The man attacked Percy, launching his flames with the ferocity of a tiger shark. Percy countered his flames with whips and blasts of water, the two entering a deadly dance of flames and water. The ground was quickly scorched as the general's flames evaporated the water soaked into it. But Percy never seemed to run out of water, much to Sangen's confusion. "How are you doing this?" he demanded as he kicked out another blast of flames.
"Doing what?" Percy asked, his face a mask of concentration. He was holding his own against this foe, but only just. He could only pull so much water from the air before the effort became taxing. He pulled on his pendant, and it morphed into his silver trident. He twirled the weapon before launching himself forward. He sliced through another arc of flames. His attempts to overpower the general's onslaught of flames with his own water were met with limited success. The heat from his flames evaporated the water before it could hope to reach him. The general dodged his trident, kicking the prince aside.
Percy rolled across the dirt, quickly hoping to his feet. He threw his trident as hard as he could at the general before launching tendrils of water at him. The general moved to avoid the trident before launching himself up into the air with blasts of flames to the ground. He flipped in midair, a whirlwind of flames surrounding him before he shot the flames at Percy. Percy conjured a dome of ice that staved off the flames. The prince remained a moment to catch his breath before launching spikes of ice at the general. Percy melted the wall of ice, the water circling him from above, to find Sangen not where he should have been. He heard a crackle of lightning and turned just in time to see the general release a bolt of lightning from his fingertips. The prince shouted in surprise as he pulled the water down in front of him, forming a protective wall.
The lightning bashed against the wall of water, exploding the water in every direction and throwing Percy from his feet. An armored boot pinned Percy to his back, he looked up to find Sangen giving him a sadistic grin. "And lo, the mighty prince of Omashu fell," he taunted Percy. "Did you really think you could come here and take me on all by yourself?"
Percy groaned as he tried to squirm out from under his boot, his head still pounding from the lightning blast. "I'll admit, I thought I could give it a go," he said before returning the general's grin. "But I didn't come alone."
As if on cue, the groaning sounds of rock shearing through metal reverberated through the air. The general turned to see several siege towers collapsing onto catapults and other siege equipment. Dust rose from the impacts, disguising the retreating guards as they ran with all haste away from the army before them. Sangen looked down at Percy with a scowl, before a fist of water punched him in the back. The general flew towards his steed, rolling across the muddy ground. Percy stood quickly, Nianshen running up behind him. He conjured another wall of water, blocking a wave of flames Sangen had sent in retaliation.
"Sorry, it's been fun, but I got places to be and a city to prepare," Percy quipped as he climbed onto the eel hound. "Be seeing you soon!" Before Sangen could respond, Percy blasted the wall of water at the general, who repelled the attack with his flames and created a cloud of steam.
By the time the steam cleared, Sangen could see the prince retreating in the distance. His eel hound far outpaced anything that he had at his disposal. He looked back, furious at the damage done to his forces before taking a deep breath. It mattered not; they would meet again soon enough.