Double Bender

Part 21

"Wake up," someone whispered. "I don't wanna get up!" I moaned groggily. "Then I guess you don't want to defeat the Fire Lord," the voice said. Oh, I thought. That's right. Today's the invasion. I quickly sat up and was faced with Katara in her Water-Tribe outfit. "Breakfast in five minutes," she said, walking away. Today, I thought philosophically, I shed my disguise and I become the person I was born to be: a fighter. Defending my nation and avenging my parents. Ozai will be defeated. I reached into my bag and pulled out my light green dress and my black leggings. It was a simple dress, just a top and a skirt with a white strip around the waist, the skirt was just above my knees and the leggings were under that. But to me, that dusty, crumpled dress was more than that. It was a symbol that the tyranny of the Fire-Nation would be over soon. I took off the red dress and pulled the green one back on for the first time in weeks. Then, I looked at the beautiful silk dress in my hand. I honestly didn't know if I wanted to get rid of it. I mean, it was so beautiful, even if it had come from a nation full of evil. I sighed and shoved it back into my bag. I didn't know whether to keep it as a token or just burn it. Then, I pulled out my gloves, belt, whip, daggers, and my meteorite bracelet (just for luck) and put them all on. Then, my hand absentmindedly went to the chain bearing the ring around my neck. I thought of my mother again. If only she could see me now. Don't worry, Mom, I thought mournfully. I promise. We'll win this battle today, I ran my fingers through my short hair. It had been so long before and then gone in less than a minute, burned right off. I had felt so sad about it before, but it seems so menial now. But I didn't care. I felt like a whole new person.
I joined Katara for breakfast in the clearing. There was a sort of eager readiness in the air, even though no one else was up yet. "Where's everyone else?" I asked as I poured myself a cup of tea. "I tried waking them up but they wouldn't budge," she said. I looked over at the sky. It was still pretty early, the sky was a peaceful, cloudless grey. "Even Aang?" I asked, taking a sip. Katara looked guilty. "Well, it's just that...well, I didn't want to disturb him, seeing all the stress he's had over the past few days, and he just looked so peaceful and I didn't want to disturb him and-" I cut her off. "I don't need to know." Guess Aang didn't take my advice, I thought. Sokka was the second one up, probably because he smelled the food, Toph got up looking very groggy, and by the time Geo got up, the sun was finally rising. We were talking when suddenly, Aang jumped up and ran over to our little group conversation. Momo crawled up onto his shoulder. "Top of the morning, Momo," Aang said. Katara giggled. "Sounds like you slept well," she said, standing up. "Like a baby moose-lion," Aang replied. "I'm ready to face the Fire Lord!" Toph stood up. "So what's your strategy? Are you gonna get your glow on and hit him with a little Avatar-State action?" Aang's face fell. "I can't," he said. "Why not?" I asked. I remembered when Aang was in the Avatar-State back in Ba Sing Se and how powerful he was. That could easily take down the Fire Lord. "When Azula shot me with lightening," he answered, "my seventh chakra was blocked, cutting off my connection to all the cosmic energy in the universe." "You know what I just heard?" asked Toph. "Blah blah blah, spiritual mumbo jumbo, blah blah, something about space." "That sounds correct," Said Geo.
Katara looked over at the water, where a thick fog had started to gather. "Uh oh," said Katara. "Sokka, do you think the fog will delay the invasion?" Sokka took a good look out at the fog and grinned. "No," he said. "That fog is the invasion!" "That doesn't make any sense," I said. "Yes it does," said Sokka as he took out a pair of binoculars. "Take a look." I looked through the lenses and focused them on the fog. For a second, I didn't see anything but mist. But, as my eyes focused on the fog a little harder, I realized there was something there: five sturdy, Water-Tribe battleships! "That's incredible!" I said as I handed Sokka his binoculars. In no time, the ships had docked on the bars of earth we set up in the harbor and started unloading passengers. Hakoda and Bato came first. "Dad!" said Katara, hugging her father. "You made it!" I climbed down the cliff onto the beach and walked up to Hakoda. "It's good to see you again, Chief Hakoda," I said, extending my hand. "It's good to see you too, Tatiana," he answered, shaking it warmly. Geo walked up to him and said, "You missed a lot of fun stuff." "I assume I did," he said, chuckling a little bit. Sokka joined us and asked, "Were you able to locate everyone I told you to find?" "I was," Hakoda answered. "But I'm a little worried about that, Sokka," He looked over at the deck of the ship. Three more men hopped out onto to the docks. Two of them wore hats made out of leaves. They were all shirtless and wore loincloths. The first one was unnaturally skinny and the other two were rather fat. The first two had short black hair under their hats and the third had scraggly grey hair . "Some of these men aren't exactly warrior type," said Hakoda. "Wooooowee!" said the skinny one. "This place ain't nothing like the swamp!" "They live in a swamp?" I asked, looking at Sokka. "Yep," he said, grinning wildly. The first one pointed at a rock and said, "What'd you reckon that is, Tho? Some sort of explodin' Fire Nation trap that would eat ya?" "It's just a rock, Due," said the second one. "Well, I'll be," said the first. I raised an eyebrow at them. "Is it just me," said Hakoda, "Or are those guys a little loose in the leaf head?" Bato walked by and said, "I just wish they'd wear pants." The third, and also philosophical one, stepped forward and said, "Pants are an illusion, so is death."
"Hi, Katara," a voice said. Katara turned around to see a young man with long brown hair, and a small part separated into a top bun. He also had a mustache. He wore Earth-Kingdom clothes and had a friendly manner about him. "Haru!" Katara yelled. She ran over and hugged him. "It's so good to see you!" Aang walked up behind us with Toph and said, "Guys, this is Haru. When we met him, his town was controlled by the Fire Nation. So he had to hide his bending." "So you couldn't bend in public?" Geo asked. Haru nodded. "That must've been torturous!" "It was. But Katara inspired my father and I to take back our village," An older man put his hand on Haru's shoulder. I could only guess that he was Haru's father. "You helped us find our courage, Katara," he said. "Now, we're here to help you."
All of a sudden, my earth sense felt the ground shake. "What the-?" "No way," said Toph skeptically. "Is that-" Before she could finish her thought, a huge pair of hands reached down and grabbed Toph. I turned around to see two huge men, one of them had black hair and a goatee, and more muscles than a seafood shop. The other was more fat than muscle and only had two huge buck teeth. He was the one who was now hugging Toph. "Hippo happy to see Blind Bandit!" he said happily. "You guys here for a re-match?" Toph asked angrily. "Negatory!" said the other man in a gruff voice. "The Hippo and the Boulder no longer fight for others' entertainment." The Hippo put Toph down. "Now, we fight for our Kingdom!" he said, raising his arms. Toph smiled "Sweet!" she said. "Hey, Geo! Tatiana!" she called. "This is Hippo, and the Boulder. I used to fight them all the time, back when I was an earth-bending wrestler." "You used to be a wrestler?!" I asked, shocked. "Yep," she answered. "It was fun. They used to call me 'The Blind Bandit.'" "That is the coolest wrestler name ever!" Geo yelled.
All of a sudden, there was a huge BOOM! Right behind us. I turned around to see the lower decks of one of the boats smoking. The door to the lower deck and a man with thinning hair, wacky eyebrows, goggles, and an apron emerged, coughing from all the smoke. Behind him came a young boy in a wheelchair. He was probably a little younger than I was, possibly Geo's age, with short, scraggly hair. They were all covered in orange-brown goo, which the boy was licking off his hand. We all ran over to the scene. "Was that a new invention?" Sokka asked. "Yes," said the mechanist, wiping his forehead. "But, unfortunately, the incendiary capabilities of peanut sauce proved to be a failure." "You're making peanut sauce bombs?" I asked skeptically. The mechanist nodded as two other passengers emerged from the lower deck. "Pipsqueak!" I yelled happily as I ran over to him. He embraced me in a huge, bear hug. "It's good to see you again," he said. I looked up at the Duke, who was sitting on his shoulders. "How's the view up there?" I asked sarcastically. "Scenic," he said, looking down at me. They were both covered in peanut sauce. "So, the bombs weren't a success?" I asked. Pipsqueak shrugged. "They're pretty destructive," he answered. "And delicious!" the Duke added as he started to lick his lips. At that time, Momo hopped up onto Pipsqueak's head and started to lick the Duke's face. We all laughed. "Aang," said the boy in the wheelchair. "My dad and I made this for you." He took out a wooden pole and handed it to Aang. Aang pulled a lever or something and two wings made of blue fabric popped out from the side. "A new glider," Aang breathed. "This is amazing!'' "And," the mechanist added, "as a special feature, we added a snack compartment." The mechanist pulled a small lever close to the tip of the glider and some nuts fell out of the compartment and into his hand. "Oh," said Aang, not sure what to make of this new addition. "Well, I'm sure that'll come in handy."
I looked at Sokka. "So, is this everyone?" I asked. He looked over at the other ships were more Water-Tribe and Earth-Kingdom soldiers were coming out of the ships. He did mental a headcount and said, "Yep. This is everyone." ''Alright," I said. "So we'll set up for your meeting with the troops?" "My what?" he asked, confused. "You don't remember? You told us you'd go over the plan with the soldiers." "I did?" He looked even more confused than before. "Oh! I did. Oh, shoot!" he nearly shouted as he ran off to find his plans. While he was off panicking, Toph and I made a platform at the base of the cliff and set up a little easel for him to display his plans on, and Geo and Katara worked on crowd control (What I mean by that is that Katara got everyone to sit down and Geo pretty much told them to shut up). Once everyone was settled, we waited for Sokka. He came down about five minutes later with his arms full of rolled up papers and sweat running all over his face. "Don't worry," said Hakoda. "You'll do fine." Sokka nodded nervously as we walked up onto the platform. "Good morning, everyone!" he said confidently. Unfortunately, his confidence ended right there. The poor guy tripped and dropped all his scrolls. Geo and I face palmed. "This is gonna be painful," she whispered. Sokka hurriedly picked up his scrolls and and placed them on the easel. "So," he said. "Today we're fighting the Fire-Nation! Well, of course you know that. Why else would you be here?" He laughed nervously. "Anyway," he said, pointing to the map. "The Fire Lord's palace is right here." He suddenly realized that he was pointing to the wrong place on the map. "Wait, wait a second," he said frantically as he searched for the right map. He caught his breath and said, "Alright. The Fire Lord's palace is here and there's an eclipse today. And Aang's going to fight the Fire Lord!" I could tell he was starting to panic. "And, the fire-benders won't have any fire to fight with...and that's good for us and uhm....Let me start at the beginning." When he said the beginning, I thought he would start at the beginning of his presentation. But when he said beginning, he meant the very beginning. "Katara and I found Aang in an iceberg. Now at first I didn't like Aang but, I grew to love him over time. Then we went to the Southern Air temple where Aang used to live and then we met Suki, who's a Kyoshi Warrior. She made me dress like a woman and then she kissed me-" He said all this very fast so it was hard to understand what he was saying. "-and then Aang's friend was a crazy old man and then Katara got Haru arrested and you can see him in the front row and he's grown a mustache-" "Thank you, Sokka," Hakoda interrupted. ''It's okay. Why don't you take a break?" Sokka sadly walked off the platform. "Today is the day of black sun," said Hakoda to everyone else. "And I want to thank all of you for your courage and self-sacrifice. There are two steps to the invasion; A naval stage and a land stage. To gain sea access to the Fire-Nation capitol, we have to get past a major obstacle, here," he said, pointing to a spot on the map. "The gates of Azulon. Next, we hit the land and we hit hard. We must fight past their battlements to the plaza tower. Once we do that, it's up to the royal palace. At that point, the eclipse will begin." "Excuse me," the Boulder said, putting his hand up. "The Boulder is confused. Isn't point to invade during the eclipse, when the fire-benders are powerless?" "The eclipse only lasts eight minutes," Hakoda answered. "Not enough time for the whole invasion. And the palace is heavily guarded by fire-benders. So that's where we'll need the advantage most. When this is finished, the Avatar will have defeated the Fire Lord and we'll have control over the capitol...and this war will be over!" We all cheered and celebrated. Even though we hadn't invaded yet, we were so confident that we would win.
After that, we instantly set to work. Katara had six water pouches and lent me two of them, because water wasn't the only element I could rely on and it was her only option. "I have a really good feeling about this," I said to her. "Me too," she said, smiling warmly. "This war is going to end and end today." She nodded in agreement. A look of remembrance was etched across her face and she reached into her pocket. Her hand emerged with her mother's necklace. She tied it around her neck and said, "Hold on to those memories. Most of the time, they're all you've got." I patted her shoulder and said, "She'd be proud." She got a little misty eyed and said, "Your parents would be extremely proud too." I smiled nodded. "Let's go!" Geo shouted from aboard one of the ships. I suddenly remembered what we were supposed to be doing. I said, "We'll have time for this sentimental stuff later... After we win this war." She hugged me and said, "You're right. Let's win this!"
We all went onto the ships, which were a lot bigger than I expected, and then we were off. The tension hung in the air, laced with a feeling of anticipation and nervousness. We had no idea what would be waiting for us as soon as we reached the gates. I, for one, was scared out of my mind. This was my first real battle and all I had was a whip, a few daggers, and a bit of inexperienced bending. We all waited in anticipation until Bato suddenly said, "There they are; The Great Gates of Azulon," I looked up to see a huge statue of Fire Lord Aulon with outstretched arms. He looked very menacing but there seemed to be no gates. "I don't see any gates," Katara said. Suddenly, Hakoda looked very nervous. "Katara, you, Tatiana, and the swamp benders whip up a fog," Katara nodded and the six of us moved our arms and slowly, the fog started to swirl around us. Tho, one of the swamp benders, was incredibly enthusiastic. "We gonna sneak by them gates like we sneaked by them Fire-Nation blockade!" We were all silent. If it were any quieter, I would have heard a cricket-moth without even trying. We inched closer and closer when suddenly... an alarm sounded! It almost made me jump out of my skin! The alarm filled the air and all the empty space around. We were all paralyzed with fear as a net raised out of the water and paralleled the statue. As if our problems couldn't get any worse, the net, which was covered in tar, suddenly set on fire. We all exchanged terrified glances.
We edged closer to the flaming net when Hakoda said, "Everyone stay calm and get below deck." "What's down there?" I asked, confused. "You'll see," he said hurriedly. I followed the crowd to the dark lower deck. Someone opened some kind of door below and waved everyone in. Suddenly, my bare feet felt the firm hard wood floor stop and instead my feet felt...metal. I put my hand down and I felt a hole there. I reached down further and felt a horizontal metal pole. A rung! There was a ladder there. But a ladder to where? "Keep it moving!" said Pipsqueak sternly. I grabbed the first rung and slowly climbed down into an even deeper darkness. "Ouch!" someone said. "Oops," I said. "Sorry." "You'd better be sorry, lame brain!" "Is that you, Geo?" "Yeah," she said. "And you're Tatiana Melin, otherwise known as Mrs. Zuko, one of the only people I've met with a last name." "Oh, shut up," I hissed. "Is that everyone?" I heard Hakoda ask Pipsqueak. "Sir, yes sir!" Pipsqueak answered. "At ease, soldier," Hakoda said with a little chuckle. Even though we were in danger, he still could find a way to laugh and be happy. Hakoda and Pipsqueak climbed down the ladder. There was a loud clank! and then, was utter darkness. It was so dark, you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. "Are we ready?" Sokka asked. "Affirmative," the Mechanist answered. There was a split second of silence, then Hakoda said, "Deploy!" Then everyone was thrown forward and there was a lot of clanks and bangs. "What's going on?" I asked whoever was next to me. "Does I look like I know?" the Geo said. "By the way, get off me!" I did my best to stand up when Sokka said, "Switch on the lights!" Lights? Lights to what? There was a sharp click and the whole cabin was filled with electronic light. We were all in a cylinder shaped, metal cabin with several round windows lining the side. It was amazing. "Tatiana," Katara said. "Come over here. Help me out." I walked over to Katara, still in my daze. Katara was moving her arms in a swift circle, moving the water around the... thing, propelling it forward. I caught on quickly but when I looked out the window, I was enchanted even more. We were in the water! The water was so clear and such a beautiful shade of blue and there were so many fish. I looked further and I saw Appa with a bubble covering his head and someone on his head bending the water around him. I looked around and there were more machines with people on them. "Katara," I said. "This is incredible!" Katara smiled. "It was Sokka's idea," she said. "You really outdone yourself this time, son," Hakoda said proudly. "I'll say," I agreed. "Yeah, congratulations, Sokka," Toph said sarcastically. "You've invented a method of travel that's even worse than flying!" She looked a little green and she was starting to gag. The Duke took off his helmet and gave it to Toph. "Helmet?" he offered. Toph accepted and vomited into it. "That was actually kinda sweet of him," I whispered to Geo. "I hope we're invited to the wedding," she joked. I giggled. "Well," said Sokka. "I just came up with the idea. The Mechanist did all the work." "Don't sell yourself short, my boy," the Mechanist said. "It was your idea to use water-bending to make the submarines sink and float. Brilliant! Though, your original blueprints were a bit hard to read." Judging by Sokka's art skills, it was probably a terrible design. "But, there was one problem I couldn't fix," the Mechanist continued. "The subs have a limited supply of air. We'll have to resurface before we reach the beaches,"
In a little while, we resurfaced and Geo and I went up to the decks with everyone else. Just for a little luck, I put a little more water in the pouches Katara lent me. Geo looked at me and said, "You nervous?" I nodded. "A little," I answered, "You?" "Hell no!" she exclaimed excitedly. I looked at the water and rubbed my mom's ring for luck. "Don't worry," she said. "It'll be fine." "You say that," I said. "But what if it isn't? What if one of us doesn't come back? What if Sokka gets killed or... or you get captured or-" She cut me off. "Me? Captured? That's laughable!" She paused and said, "Don't worry. Everything will be fine. And if it isn't, I'll eat your whip!" I laughed and said, "Gross! No thanks! I actually want to keep my weapons!" "Then you'd better win!" She said, jokingly. "That won't be a problem, though," she continued. "Because we're gonna win." "Thanks," I said as I hugged her. "That's what I'm here for," she said as we went back inside.
We submerged and sat in silence for a while before Hakoda said, "Everyone to your positions! Earth-benders, to your tanks!" I stood where I was, not sure where to go. "Tatiana," said Hakoda. "I have something for you," He walked to another section of the ship and reappeared with a navy blue cloth under his arms. He held it up and I saw it was a uniform, similar to the ones the other Water-Tribe men were wearing, but a little more feminine. It was a long, navy tunic, down to your knees with a leather belt around the middle, there were shoulder blades with light blue fabric sewn on and in the center of the chest was a circle of fabric of the same color. It was so beautiful. He handed it to me and I slipped it on over my dress. It fit perfectly. I looked down at myself; I looked like an actual soldier. I looked at Hakoda. "Thank you," I said. He nodded and smiled. I felt a tap on the shoulder. I turned around to see a girl in a complete set of Earth-Kingdom armor, complete with a circular hat. It was Geo, but she looked so different. She looked like a sophisticated, well behaved soldier, even though I knew it was far from the truth. "Look at you," she said. "Look at yourself," I said. She tipped the hat a little bit so I could see her huge, green eyes. "I guess I'll see you after the invasion?" I said. "I guess so," she answered. I hugged her and she went off and joined the Earth-Kingdom troops with Toph and Haru while I followed Hakoda to where the Water-Tribe army was gathering. Bato handed me a shield and a helmet that looked like a head of a wolf and smiled at me. I tied my hair back and put the helmet on. And then, I waited for them to open the door.
The anticipation and anxiety rose in my body like a steam rising from a pot. Just count down from ten, I thought. Ten. The soldiers gripped their swords, preparing to unsheathe them at a moments notice. Nine. I gripped my daggers and my whip. Eight. I looked around at the other people who seem unfazed, even though I know they're just as afraid as I am. Seven. This is everything we've been working towards. Six. This will be my moment. I'm not the scared little girl being raised by a family who didn't even want her from the creepy, boring section of the Earth-Kingdom. Five. The lights go out again. Four. I gripped the ring around my neck. Three. This is for you, mother, I thought. Two. I take a breath. One. They opened the door.


Dun dun dun! Hehe. Invasion time! Hope you like it! Rate, comment subscribe, pleas