Fire Nation Civil War

[Sarcasmic Canadian]

"No offense, but I'm not one for sorrow, I'm going with general Iroh," said Tyron, and he did a little bow before dismissing himself behind Iroh.
"Hey General, how's it going old man?" asked Tyron sarcastically.


"Aang you have neither failed the world nor your friends. The world was caught off guard by this war back in our younger days and the world has not changed all that much, except for two old men," said Bumi, winking at Aang.


"You may not have always done the right thing, but if we stumble, our friends pick us up. Trust me, I know the lesson," consoled Zuko to Aang and he pulled Mai into a safe, yet hard embrace.
"You may not always share with me, but I'm always here," whispered Zuko softly into Mai's ear.
"Please tell me what's wrong."

Mushi nodded.
"I'm going take your tea offer up another time though," said the earthbender with a big grin.
"Now, let us travel in style," informed Mushi and he grabbed Lin's arm and dragged her behind himself.

[Liamane]

Aang let out a troubled sigh as he crossed his arms and darted his gray eyes to the side. "I suppose," he muttered, hanging his head. The teenager then looked to Bumi, his old eyes still glimmered with youth, and slowly, he gained a small smile of reassurance. With uncertainty looming about him, the airbender let out a quick chuckle as he offered a nod. "What's happened has happened, I guess. It's best to put things behind me, right?"

[setzer]

Jang's army had slaughtered the last of the enemy outside the fortress. The remaining defenders were keeping up a solid rain of fire, especially around the gates. This ruled out trying to smash it down with a ram. His catapults were flinging fire at the walls, but he hadn't brought very many of them, wanting to move quickly. He ordered the bombardment to be kept up around the clock, and began to send commandos towards the walls, hoping to find a hidden way in.

[brynna]

"Later," Mai muttered, turning her attention to the Avatar. Strange...he's never seemed so young before. Just a child, really. But then...so am I. "But right now," she said, her flat voice dark. "we have to focus on what Azula's doing."

---

"Hey now!" Lin said, laughing. "I can walk, too. All by myself, in case you hadn't noticed."

[Beebs]

Sweat running down his forehead, Sokka vigilantly observed the training area around him. It was quite empty, except for scattered areas on the floor that were made of wood, shaped as the outline of a person. Mounted on the wall to his right were three very large gears. In the center of the wall was a small window that was tinted enough so that you could just make out the shape of a man standing behind it.

Sokka crouched his legs slightly and raised his sword with both arms. He wore a simple red and black outfit, quite similar to the style of his old warrior clothing. An emblem was marked on the back of the shirt in gold; it represented Zuko's Fire Nation. Sokka's eyes darted across the area and he took in a deep breath.

He soon called out to the man behind the window, "Go!"

Immediately after shouting, the gears on the wall began to turn at once and two of the wooden outline on the ground sprang to life. Sokka rushed towards the first one, slicing through its middle very quickly. He darted towards the other, allowing it a similar fate. Soon, another figure popped up, but this time the arms on it were extended and it held out a large sword. Metal mechanics inside of it started to move and the sword it held began swinging in every direction. Sokka lunged after it as well, but just before he was close enough to be hit, he dropped down low and in one swift motion slid down to the ground and sliced through its lower leg area.

Right after, three more across the way, all in a row, sprang up and appeared to be on a spring-release timer; if up for longer than a few seconds they would fall back down into their resting place. Sokka wasted no time and while still in his slide from before, he gripped the boomerang at his side and threw it, slicing the heads off of each one.

As the gears on the wall screeched to a halt, the training area became lifeless, full of broken wooden mannequins. Sokka was lying in the center, flat on his back and panting.

"Very Impressive, Sokka," said General Iroh, who had come in just in time to see Sokka's boomerang maneuver.

"Thanks!" Sokka replied in a cheery tone, springing up to greet the man who had been a mentor to him for the past couple of years. "So, what's up? Hopefully you're not here just to watch my sloppy combat skills..."

"I'm afraid I have bad news. There's quite a frenzy going on in Zuko's chamber and I think you should be there," Iroh answered solemnly.

Sokka sighed and then frowned, responding, "You mean Zuko actually wants me there?"

"Of course," Iroh said. "Why wouldn't he?"

Sokka sighed again and flopped back down. "I don't know...I'm usually not included in anything he's got planned. You'd think me joining his side would be enough reason to trust me. Where's the love, y'know?"

"My nephew does trust you," Iroh answered. "You've proved yourself on many occasions."

"So why is it I'm usually stuck here, doing absolutely nothing while everyone else goes out to slay the metaphorical beast?"

"By beast, I assume you mean my niece," Iroh said with a smile, which made Sokka laugh. "My nephew does not want to expend his most valuable assets. Believe me, if Prince Zuko could, he would use the young Avatar much more often in battle, but he knows what a shame it would be to lose him; both as an ally and a friend. It's much the same with you, Sokka."

Sokka took the man's words in for a moment and finally replied, "Yeah...I guess so. I just never thought Zuko would consider me either."

Iroh gave the young man a warm smile, extending a hand to help him up. "Now, it's best we go now. We do not want to keep the others and honorable King Bumi waiting."

"Yeah...wait, did you say Bumi's here? What's going on?"

As Iroh began to explain the situation, the two returned inside and towards their destination.

[Sarcasmic Canadian]

OOC: BB you completely blew me off.... how could you?

[setzer]

Azula signed yet another stack of paperwork. It was odd. She'd always thought her father was a capable ruler, but he'd overlooked so much of the non-military side of government. In order to finance the war and keep the economy at home healthy, the Fire Nation had taken to relying on looted resources and slave labor. There were unnecessary layers to everything, from the courts to positions at court.

Azula was having to redo everything, and it was taking longer then she'd thought. She glanced at the clock. 2 hours past midnight. Maybe Azula would go to bed in a few minutes. She just had one last report to read through. Jang had taken Chang Min Island, but with heavy damage to the base. It would take some time before it could be used to supply a fleet. She wrote a response telling General Jang to keep alert, since now would be the perfect time for Zuko to launch a counterattack.

She wrote another message to Admiral Quan, ordering him to launch a number of raids on Earth kingdom coastal cities. Zuko had few ships, and if she could sink some in port, it would be harder for Zuko to retake Chang Min Island.

With the day's business finally finished, she flopped down on her bed. Ty Lee had already fallen asleep. As Azula's bodyguard, she was required to be in the Fire Lady's prescence at all times. Azula could see there was a small frown on the girl's face. She must really miss her boyfriend. Azula rolled onto her back, and tried to sleep.

"So, Sokka's your name, right? My favorite prisoner used to mention you all the time. She was convinced you were going to come rescue her, but you never came, and she gave up on you." She could see tears in Sokka's eyes, and as he yelled and charged at her, she smiled. "Come and get it." she gloated, slipping a knife into her palm.

The very next moment, a ring of rock had pinned her arm to the wall.
"Where... is... Suki...!" Sokka demanded, clearly restraining himself from stabbing Azula. Where's Suki? Where are you keeping her?" Azula said nothing, knowing the eclipse would last only a few seconds more.

Tired of talking, Sokka stabbed his blade into Azula's stomach.
"My blade is less then half an inch from your kidney. Tell me where the Firelord is, and I take the blade out! Tell me where Suki is, or I put it back in!"

Azula was still half in shock. Part of it was from the pain, but it was mostly outrage that this Water tribe filth had actually managed to hurt her.Not liking her delay, Sokka yelled again "Where is the Firelord? Where's Suki?" Azula coughed, and she could taste blood in the back of her mouth. "...end of the hall... down a stairway on the left."

She fell to the floor as Sokka removed his sword. She felt dizzy and weak, and she could hear the Avatar's group running away. Azula thought she could hear their talking too, but she slid into unconsciousness before their words could register. When she came too, she felt much stronger. The fire in her soul, the blaze that the eclipse had dimmed, was burning strong again. Her firebending was back. She jumped to her feet, and rushed towards the throne room. A burst of nausea overcame her, and she put one hand on the wall to steady her as she walked. When she'd fallen, there were only seconds of the eclipse left. Surely her father could hold them off until help arrived.

She knew he would be displeased at her loss, but once she pointed out she bought enough time to run out the eclipse, he would say no more of it. She shambled along the wall. Every step was agony, but she refused to give in. She kept moving, putting one foot infront of the other, even though they both felt like water. She had to stop once or twice to cough up clots of blood. She cursed her weakness, knowing she had to move quick. She finally reached the throne room, and looked inside.

She didn't know how long she had just stood there, her mind refusing to believe what her eyes saw. There had been a fight, short but very destructive. The room was covered with chunks of rock and metal, and the smell of ash and smoke. In the center of it all, she saw her father's body.

It was only recognizable by the golden hairpin. Parts of the body had been smashed by Earthbending, others cut with a blade. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw movement. It was Zuko. "Zuko! It was the Avatar. We have to catch him, we have-" she doubled over, coughing again, and then she saw the cuts on the Firelord's body. They were X shaped, like two blades cutting at once...

no... that's impossible... he would never...

She saw his butterfly swords had blood on them. Their father's blood. Zuko had turned, and helped the Avatar.
"HOW COULD YOU!" Azula screamed, her voice echoing off the walls of the bunker. Zuko said nothing, he simply turned around and walked away.

Azula was too angry to speak. She tightened her arms, preparing to ready the mix of Yin and Yang that would strike her traitorous brother dead. But instead of the intense, focussed purity of purpose that she was normally so good at, she felt a great tangled mess. There was anger at being outwitted, sorrow at her father's death, pain from her wounds, and even joy that the throne was now hers to take. When she pointed her fingers at Zuko's back, she knew she'd failed.

She lost control of her lightning, blowing herself across the room. Zuko was only a speck in the distance now, and soon he vanished entirely. "Zuko! You'll gain nothing by this! I'll be the next ruler of the Fire Nation, not you! You're going to die screaming Zuko! When I get my hands on you and Mai, you'll never have another moment free from agonizing pain!" She hoped Zuko could hear her. She hated this. There was nothing she could do, she was still too weak to follow him. She crawled over to her father's corpse, and undid his hair. She placed the golden pin on her own topknot. She was the ruler now. And she had work to do.

Azula woke with a start. She sat up and opened her robe. She could still see the scar Sokka's sword had left in her stomach. She had voided thinking about that day, but now that she'd had that dream, she couldn't help but wonder why she was still alive. The Avatar and his cronies were responsible for her wound, and they had every reason to want her dead.

Yet when she came to, she'd been bandaged. The cloth wasn't a color the Avatar's group was wearing. And if a Fire Nation soldier had done it, she'd be sure to hear all about it from someone who wanted a favor for saving the princess's life. It wasn't the pink favored by Ty Lee, and Mai had fled with Zuko.

So who was it?

Azula tried to tell herself it didn't really matter, but the question kept bugging her.

OOC: Edited for readability.

[Beebs]

Apr 12, 2008 15:46:43 GMT -6 Sarcasmic Canadian said:

OOC: BB you completely blew me off.... how could you?

OOC: Because Iroh had already been long gone...he left like 5 posts ago. xDD

And wow....wall of text much? xDD I'll try to knock that out later and edit this with my post...@___@

[setzer]

Gah, sorry. I wanted to establish why the invasion succeeded this time around. I'll go back and edit it some more.

[setzer]

Alrighty, I've let this sit long enough.

CHANG MIN ISLAND

Things never seemed to go right for Admiral Quan. The invasion had been delayed because half his flotilla got stuck on a sandbar. The officer in charge said that Fire Lady Azula's plan paid no attention to the tides. They had to wait twelve hours before the ships could move again. Now it seems general Jang was the one who would grab all the glory for taking the island. It mattered not that Admiral Quan's fleet neutralized most of the heavy defense before Jang's troops ever landed.

They were probably already making poems and songs about this great victory. And Quan's name would never be mentioned. He ground his teeth out of frustration, something he did almost daily.
By the time he'd departed his flagship, his anger hadn't subsided. He entered the fortress, eyeing the gates that had been knocked open. He found General Jang in the mess hall, drinking and carousing with the other soldiers.

"We need to talk. " Quan said. He and Jang went to the central tower, where the commander's room was located. When they got in, Jang plopped down on the nearest chair. "Alright, Quan, what is it?"
The proper form of address is Admiral Quan. I want to know why you're getting drunk when this base is barely operational. It's key to future operations in the Earth Kingdom."
"Well, there really isn't much I can do. The machinery needs to be repaired, and that's a job for mechanics. The men fought hard. I figure they deserve a break every now and then."
Quan frowned. "They can relax when this base is fully operational. Chang Min was key to Firelord Sozin's early conquests. It has to be working!"
"Alright, Alright," Jang said, waving dismissively. "We'll keep working on it. Now, what else brought you here?"
"Orders from Fire Lady Azula. She wants a full summary of the battle, so she can present everyone back home with news of a decisive victory. She especially wants to know of anyone deserving of special awards."
"Well, one man caught my eye. He fought well, almost as well as me."
Quan didn't say anything, but he was impressed. Jang lived for fighting. Anyone who he took notice of was truly fierce. "Perhaps we could meet him. I brought along some people from the Army newspaper. What's his name?"
"He's called Rai. One of the first men to make it inside the walls when we attacked. I'll take you to meet him."

[setzer]

OOC: Not to be pissy or anything, but now would be a good time for Zuko to counterattack