|
By The Bos | Genre | Rating | Reviews | Updates |
| More from The Bos | Action/Adventure | PG | Very Positive | None |
Ambush of the South Pt. One - The Ambush is the nineteenth chapter of Avatar: Guardian.
Summary
Mitros arrives in the Southern Water Tribe and states his demands to Chief Hakoda.
Plot
Mitros stares from his small fleet of ships towards the South Pole. He thinks of how it resembles his home, only to be haunted by a flashing memory of his brother. He closes his eyes, builds his resolve, and calls to his troops "Men! Prepare to enter the Southern Water Tribe! Initialize the plan!"
The benders began pushing the boats further forward and the poles became closer. Some of the boats began moving towards the sides, vanishing from sight. Mitros and a fraction of his fleet landed at the small port. Upon seeing it up close, Mitros had another flashback about his former house, only to be brought back by the sound of his troops exiting the boat and entering the tribe.
Unsure of their new visitors, the tribesmen flocked to the port to confront the new people. They hesitated when they saw that they too were Water Tribe, lowered their weapons, and greeted their brothers from the northern tribe. Mitros presented himself as the leader, introducing himself to the recently arrived Hakoda and extending his hand. "Greetings, Chief Hakoda. I hope the rebuilding of your tribe is going smoothly."
Hakoda accepted the handshake of the visitor. "Welcome to our tribe. Your tribe has helped us out greatly over the past year. I appreciate it."
"You are welcome, Chief. I am Mitros, and I have a small favor to ask of you. May we enter your chambers?" Mitros stared into Hakoda's eyes, and sensed the pain the Fire Nation had put him through and Hakoda sensed similar experiences from Mitros.
"I will, but I would like to ask you in front of the rest of my tribe, what is it that you want? Our tribe has been rebuilt for the last 6 months... without you. What is you purpose here?"
"I am gathering a group for a trip into the Fire Nation, and my group is a little short at the moment."
Hakoda is obviously skeptical. "What kind of trip?"
Mitros looked into the sky, and began "How badly has the Fire Nation harmed you, Chief Hakoda? They have harmed me, and I've lost many nights of sleep over it. I have come to the conclusion that there is one common problem with this world, and I intend to solve it." Mitros briefly turns his head back towards Hakoda. "Do you know what I mean?"
"No, you lost me. Explain your purpose, or I will have to ask you to leave my tribe." Hakoda stared fiercely into Mitros' eyes.
"You have never been to the North Pole, have you Hakoda? The Moon and Ocean live there. I have seen them. I also understand that your tribe was almost annihilated by the Fire Nation. They almost did the same to my tribe. I also understand you lost your wife. I feel devastated for your loss, since I have felt a similar pain. My brother was killed during the invasion of my tribe."
Hakoda remembers Kya, closes his eyes and looks down. "I am sorry."
"Me too. The war has cost you a lot as well. You were away from your children for years, and missed taking your son ice dodging. No father should miss that. You see, this was all caused by the Fire Nation. I feel the Avatar is too merciful on them, given their crimes. I am requesting men of your tribe to assist me in an invasion of the Fire Nation; for justice."
Hakoda's eyes widened at the sound of the invasion. "I'm sorry Mitros, your request is denied. My men have been away for too long, I will not take them away from their families again. Plus the war is over. I trust the Avatar's judgment, and I suggest you learn to. Now, please leave my tribe." At that, Hakoda turned and began walking back towards the center of the tribe.
Mitros grew angry at this denial, and formed a jet and threw it at Hakoda's back. The water flowed towards him, until it froze in midair and melted back into the snow on the ground. Mitros was shocked at this because he knew Hakoda was not a bender. He looked around only to see his former master, Pakku, standing on the far left of the circle in a deep stance. He turned to face him as Pakku stood up straight. "It's been a while Pakku. Not that I could say I missed you."
"Why am I not surprised? I thought you died during the siege. I saw you lose your bending, but I guess you made it out. Have you finally calmed down since I last saw you?"
"Pakku, I see everything clearly now. I know what the Spirits have destined me to do. I am meant to destroy all Firebenders, and I WILL succeed!"
"Not from this tribe you won't. I suggest you leave. I have heard rumors that the Avatar is nearing this area. I'm sure he wouldn't take too kindly to you starting another war, especially just after he just finished stopping one."
"I've been fighting the Avatar. He's nothing I can't handle."
Pakku chuckled briefly. "Ha! He was just holding back. He wiped out an entire fleet of Fire navy ships, he can destroy you easily."
"But he hasn't felt the kind of pain I have. That is what he is lacking! I am his better!"
Pakku's smirk vanished, and he thought to explain to Mitros where he went wrong. "You think he hasn't seen what you have seen? You think he hasn't felt what you have felt? His entire race was wiped out! His entire people, everyone he cares about! You think you are better than him? He has felt more pain from the Fire Nation than you will ever know, yet he is man enough to forgive them!"
"Or maybe he is too weak to do anything about it?"
"Mitros, you have learned nothing. I pity you." Pakku began turning the other way and walked in the other direction.
"No, Pakku. I have learned everything. You will feel my pain, then maybe you'll accept my terms. You will lose everything." Mitros turned and began walking towards his ships. He knew the orders he had given to his troops would take effect the moment they saw waterbending, so he could begin the assault at any moment. Mitros smiled before turning and firing a wave of the snow fom the ground towards Pakku. Many of the other northern waterbenders got in the way and diverted the blast, but Pakku noticed the attempted attack.
"So, you fight that way? Very well... I will do what I must."
Mitros muttered coldly, "You will never get the chance." As he finished, massive waves of water began rising from both sides of the tribe, gathering momentum towards the Southern Tribesmen. Pakku and another waterbender began focusing on one wave as the rest moved to focus on the other. Pakku managed to pull the entire wave around his body and sent it back into the ocean. Mitros is shocked at Pakku's progress, since he never expected Pakku to have been capable of such incredible bending.
"How did you manage that?"
"Emotions enhance your bending, haven't you noticed that? I finally can feel again. I am with the love of my life and am truly happy, so I have improved immensely. You have always been fueled by your rage, and it was only as strong as I once was. Now, I can easily defeat you. It is the very reason that I recommend you leave while you have the chance. Go and live the rest of your life in peace, Mitros... That is all that I can ask. "
Mitros refuses to believe that. "No, Pakku! I am better than you! I have always been, I have mastered what you were to afraid to delve into!"
"You became far too dark, boy. Seek wisdom, and you will see the light, as I have."
Thoughts began rushing through Mitros' head, he felt incredibly offended that Pakku viewed him as inferior. Mitros pulled up the water around him, froze it into an ice ball, and pushed it towards Pakku's head. Pakku caught the ice ball with both hands while spinning around. He melted the ball and sent it back towards Mitros as a barrage of ice spikes, which were caught in an ice wall raised at the last minute. At this point, the Firefighters began attacking the tribesman. A massive fire ball soared towards the ground, and crashed between the two parties. Everyone on the ground looked up into the sky to see a large, furry bison crashing down in between the groups. A massive air wave came from behind the Firefighters. Aang spun his glider and pulled the wings back in to it while lowering into a fighting stance. The Firefighters turned and began fighting Aang on one side, and Team Avatar and the rest of the southern warriors on the other side. The Bison soared back into the sky carrying only Toph, taking out a Firefighter on his way out.
One by one, the firefighters began teaming up on different warriors, outnumbering them, and ultimately defeating them. Many began fighting Aang, since he was only one person. Aang was pushing many back with only waterbending and airbending, since there was no need to earthbend and he didn't want to hurt them with firebending. Zuko didn't have that reservation. He attacked many Firefighters with whirling arcs of fire taking out many at a time. Katara was using the Octopus form again, and began throwing Firefighters back out into the ocean. After clearing out about 10 of them, she saw Pakku dueling Mitros. Mitros drew his Katanas and began swiping out water blades, forcing Pakku on the run. He rode on the water around him, taking out Firefighters as he went. He stopped behind Mitros and sent the water rushing towards him. Mitros stood his ground, freezing his feet to the ground while freezing the water into a massive wave shape behind him. He sent the ice forward as water, leaving Pakku to deal with it. Mitros created water whips and had his katanas frozen to the ends, creating mobile blades. He began swinging the blades, cutting everyone in their path, from Southern Warriors to Firefighters. Katara sent a water whip at his feet, freezing around it and tripping him before the blade neared Hakoda.
As Mitros got up, he saw his new target. "Come here, little peasant!" He began pulling up massive amounts of water and slicing it towards Katara using his blades. Katara bends the water from the first blade and uses it to block the rest of the strikes. Mitros is angry, and begins attacking harder, swinging his swords faster and creating more blades. Katara notices this from when she had no control, and begins riding along the ice around her in a circle around Mitros. Mitros begins attacking her while she is in motion, not realizing she was slowly getting closer to him. After she knew she was close enough, she fired the water in a compressed jet towards Mitros.
Pakku had finished dealing with his wave, and turned to face Mitros, only to see his new granddaughter fighting him with as much success as he had been having. Pakku stopped the fight by raising a massive ice wall in between the two. Both Katara and Mitros stopped their battle and looked to see if who raised the wall was on their side, only to see Pakku walking towards them. "No, Katara. He is my battle. I trained him, I will deal with him. I will not let you fight my battles for me." He turned towards Mitros and leveled the wall. "That's enough Mitros. I will fight you; and I will end you. That is what must happen today. Either way, my mistakes will be ended today."
Production Notes
This chapter was begun very early, during the period the Bos waited for Waterkai to finish writing and publish Flood Damage. After re-watching The Siege of the North, The Bos remembered that Pakku was living at the South Pole, and as a waterbending master, would be a prime defensive asset for the Southern Tribe.
Connections
In Mitros' article, it is said how Pakku showed Mitros many horrible moves and deadly uses for water, an event Pakku is shown to regret, much like Slughorn regrets teaching Voldemort about Horcruxes in the Harry Potter series. Pakku is more upfront with these mistakes, and also takes a proactive stance to end them.
Writing
This chapter was written on two separate occasions, with almost no planning in between.
Trivia
- Emotions enhancing Waterbending has been shown in "The Boy in the Iceberg" and "The Waterbending Master", although only intense anger.
See more
For the collective works of the author, go here.