An hour later, the general went away as he couldn't get any information from Aang. After the general went away, the hallway became eerily silent. Seeing the coast was clear, I was planning to get down to rescue him, when I heard a cacophony of footsteps coming this way. I swiftly and silently went up again and gazed into the darkness. Then I saw a man in the fire nation's attire and a mask come in. He looked at Aang for a few seconds and then cut down his cuffs.
After Aang was freed, he followed the masked man. Suddenly, I heard gongs sound loudly. I knew that they have been exposed. So, I stealthily and swiftly followed them from the roof. As they got out of the building, they were surrounded from all sides by the soldiers. They stood back to back in fighting stance while I jumped and backflipped from the roof to their side. After I touched down, I gave a smirk to Aang and said
"Hey, Aang."
"Issei, when did you come?" Aang asked
"I have been following you from the beginning." I replied
"Thanks, Issei." Aang said gratefully
"Ok, now let's fight" I said as I taunted the soldiers.
Soldiers started to run towards us as the masked man took his weapon and started to attack, while Aang went into a side to fight and as for me I slowly started moving my hands as I started to accumulate water while incorporating it into my fighting style. We three fought with them toe to toe. With each second passing by, a soldier was falling down but soon it started to become overwhelming for us. So, I called out Aang. He swiftly flew to our side as we fought and move towards the bridge.
When we reached to the bridge, me and Aang used our elements to push the soldiers back by a mile while we ran like hell through the bridge to the other side. As we reached the other side, I stood facing to them as I pulled the water from the river upwards to the bridge and slammed to it. The bridge broke apart into two halves' as each side swung and slammed to the ridge as they smashed into pieces. Simultaneously, they shot something towards us which hit the masked man face and knocked him unconscious. The mask broke from his face and we were surprised to identify the boy with scar on his left eye, fire prince, Zuko.
But still we took him with us as we got on Appa and flew towards Sokka and Katara. On the way, far from the Northern Air temple, we dropped Zuko off and went on our way. After we picked them up, we flew towards the Northern Water Tribe while I explained the events that happened when we went to Northern Air Temple.
When we reached the outskirts Northern Water Tribe, some of their soldiers came to pick us up on their boats. We got on the boat as we went into the tribe. The place was covered in glaciers and surrounded by ocean as far as my eye could see. When we reached the walls of the tribe, a piece of ice melted as the boat went in while the ice solidified again as we got in. On the platforms on the side, we could see Waterbenders practicing the bending.
As we got on the ground, they promptly took us to meet the princess. When we reached the place, we bowed ourselves to the princess first while Aang took of his robe and requested to be taught water bending by a master. I also saw sparks of teenage love in the air between the princess and Sokka.
After that, the water tribe started to prepare for the invasion of the fire nation. The usage of fire was minimized, all the benders were put on active duty while Sokka was appointed as a guard for the princess. Aang, Katara and I was going to train under water bending master.
Weeks went by as we started to become more proficient in water bending but Aang could still not be as proficient as he was in the air bending. The guilt of the monk's death and the responsibility of their deaths weighed on him heavily which didn't allow him to freely control the element. One day, while we were practicing the bending, we saw ashes falling from above. We looked towards each other as we confirmed that the fire nation has arrived. We stopped our practice and ran to meet the princess.
The tribesman was all in panic, the benders started to get ready to fight while the non-benders and children were led into a safe place. It was chaos in the tribe. We met up with the princess and upon meeting Aang requested for a place for him to meditate as he wanted to speak with the dragon spirit. The princess took us to place where the moon spirits was present. It was a cave and inside it was a pond and Sakura tree on its shore. In the pond, two fishes who was swimming freely are known as the yin and yang or better known as moon spirits.
Aang went near the Sakura tree and sat in a quarter lotus position with legs crossed with one ankle on top of the other shin. He closed his eyes and started to meditate. Then the princess said to us, hearing the screams of her people
"I need to go down there."
"I will accompany you." Sokka said
"I will stay here." Katara said while I nodded to her and followed them.
When I reached the centre of the place, I saw fire benders and water benders fighting equally in a stalemate. Nobody was backing down while the buildings were getting crushed under their might. So, I also joined them in fighting intending into help as much as I could. After several rounds of fighting, the proficiency of my control over water were increasing albeit slowly as the people who fell to my hands were increasing as well.
As I was fighting, I saw Katara, Sokka and the princess searching for someone. So, I went to them asked what happened. Katara said that Zuko kidnapped Aang. So, I also joined them to find him. As we were searching, Katara noticed fire coming from room far away from the battlefield. When we reached there, we saw Aang and Zuko fighting against each other. Seeing that Aang was losing, Katara lend a hand trapping Zuko in ice.
While this was happening, I happen to notice the general and the man with goatee going towards the cave. So, out of curiosity I also followed them. I stealthily approached and saw that the man with the goatee was advising the general to leave the moon spirits alone while the general was holding one of fishes in a pouch. From their talk, I understood that the general was intending to the kill spirits and plunge the world into chaos. Knowing that cannot happen, I stealthily moved towards them. As I reached at an appropriate distance, I controlled the water to knock the pouch containing the spirit back into the water.
When the general understood the situation he was in, he turned towards me angrily and said
"Boy, you destroyed my plans."
"The spirits exist for a reason. You think killing the spirits, makes you god." I replied with a mocking tone.
"We the Firebenders are gods, kid. I will kill you first and then I will kill the spirit as a testimony to that. After that, the fire nation with rule over world." The general replied with conceit and arrogance etched on his face.
"Oh, then come kill me. Let's see what makes you a god." I replied with a smirk as I got into fighting stance.
The general dropped the fire torch on the grass field in the cave lit up the grass under him on fire. As the fire started to spread around the cave, I moved my hands as the water from the pond slowly started to surround me. Then we stood in duel positions as the general fired the first shot which I blocked with the water. Then he fired again consecutively twice, that was also blocked. Then he threw the fire from the different directions. I blocked two, while I was hit by other two as I was thrown back charred. Seeing my guard down and hurt, he tried to finish me with a final attack but before he could I slid the water under his feet discreetly. So, as he backflipped and tried to throw the fireball at me, he slipped and aim went off as the fireball hit the roof. I used this chance to tie his hand and legs with ice making him immobile.
Then I slowly walked towards him. As I neared him, I could see fear evident on his face. Seeing him like this, I said mocking tone
"Well, the great god also fears."
"Please leave me. Don't kill me. Iroh help me." The general said as he called out to the man with a goatee as he understood that I won't let him live. When I heard that I stopped moving forward and looked back at him and seeing me looking at him he said
"Don't worry I won't interfere."
"Then you should go. After him I will come after you too, so better use the chance to put as much distance away from me as possible." I said to him fiercely
When he heard my suggestion, he nodded gratefully and started to run away from here while the sound of the general begging to save him in the background. Enough with the hearing of his crying and begging, I suffocated him with the water swiftly. After his death, I heard notification sounds mentioning the completion of the missions.
{
Mission Completed
[ Kill fire nation's general.
Rewards: 100k SP, Increase in proficiency of water element.]
[ Save the spirits before the general kills them
Rewards: 1 M SP, Increase in proficiency of fire element and wood element.]
}
Seeing the rewards, I smiled and went to help fight the fire benders. When I reached outside, I was shocked to see the sight of the 40 meters wave near the outer wall of the tribe. When I saw the wave, I was excited in prospect of making the wave of that height or more and respect and awe for Aang. After the huge wave scared off the fire nation, Aang called back the wave as it slowly and calmly receded back into the ocean.
After letting go of the wave, I saw all the water benders kneeling and bowing to the Aang. What I saw awed and shocked me, a 12-year-old kid getting the worship and admiration of countless powerful benders. But when I looked at Aang's face, I almost laughed out loud at the sight of him having an expression like he ate a fart. As these all were happening, I heard notifications sounds from the system and I pulled up my interface.
{
Mission Completed
[ Kill fire nation's general.
Rewards: 100K SP, Increase in proficiency of water element.]
[ Save the spirits before the general kills them
Rewards: 1M SP, Increase in proficiency of fire element and wood element.]
[ Help the Northern Water Tribe in defeating the fire nation.
Rewards: 10M SP, Increase in proficiency of Water element and Wood element.]
[ Save the villages from the clutches of fire nation.
Rewards: 500K SP]
Mission Pending
[ Help Katara and Sokka fulfill their destiny.]
[ Help Aang in his journey to become an Avatar.]
[ Only use water element throughout your journey.]
}
After the ceremonial bowing, Princess Yue, Sokka, Katara and me approached Aang as we stood at the top of the wall in silence and looked into the horizon as the sun was slowly peeking out. After a few moments of solace, breaking the silence, Katara asked
"What do we do next?"
"I have to learn the next element. After water, earth comes next in the cycle." Aang replied
"We move forward, helping people escape from the clutches of fire nation." I replied
Sokka and the Princess Yue nodded their heads as Sokka said "Yes, we help Aang learn the other elements and also help the villagers escape from the clutches of fire nation."
"What we, Sokka? You can stay here and protect your wife being all lovey-dovey while we three work hard." I replied playfully with smirk as I slowly backed away from him.
When the Princess Yue heard that, she blushed and became as red as a tomato while Sokka ran behind me with his weapon cursing me. Katara and Aang laughed out loud while also teasing them. While Aang feeling the warmth he once got from his family as he accepted his loss and his guilt, carrying it with him while swearing to protect his new family amidst a chaotic world.