Chapter 31

Chapters in advance in Patreòn

Pa treon.com/HolyJoker

(20+ chapters in advance)

______

Chapter 31

***

Being atop the Nine-Tailed Fox, Sokka was ecstatic. Though the feeling of this would have been more wonderful for someone who wasn't already used to Appa.

Through using Observe, he knew that Kiwi was a very strong Spirit. But at the same time, he had been unlucky in this draw because while Kiwi was a strong familiar, with almost otherworldly potential. She was still a Level 1 and very young. 

For Nine Tail foxes to evolve, they needed around a thousand years. Right now, what Kiwi transformed into her real form. Nine-Tailed foxes could transform, and usually, in their younger years, they disguised themselves as normal foxes to hide from other predators. Also this forceful transformation wasn't a thing that could be used too often.

But desperate situations called for desperate countermeasures.

"Kiwi, use foxfire," Sokka muttered to her ear as the majestic fox seemed to fly, no more like jumping and walking on air.

Taking a deep breath, Kiwi blew a pillar of blue fire into the sky. The flames were so hot that it made Sokka wince just by being on Kiwi's back.

He calculated the trajectory and told Kiwi where she must blow the flames to create a hole on the burning catapult shots in the sky. That way Appa would be able to pass through there.

But there was another problem. Even if they created a path, another volley of shots would come from the hundreds of ships under Zhao's control. If he didn't take care of the problem from the root of it, then it would create trouble for him later. 

Sokka also had another goal, and that was to kill Zhao. That was one of the major things he wished to change, Zhao was the kind of man with the knowledge and stupidity to do very reckless things, while not thinking of the consequences.

Stupid people were sometimes stupidly dangerous. 

Flying through the air, Sokka used the Map to pinpoint where amongst the many large battleships Zhao was in. Once he found it, he jumped off Kiwi, letting her go and help Appa and the rest, as he landed on the ship.

Booom!!!

Immediately, a volley of fire went towards him, but with [Sky Piercer] Sokka's agility was very high. Foamed covered him from all around and a blue fire seemed to start in his position. 

To everyone's surprise, the fire seemed to unnaturally flow upward as he spun his spear and ducked down. There seemed to be no damage on his body, as even his clothes were fine. 

Before being caught by Kiwi, Sokka was plummeting towards the water. He had waterbended some water into his clothes and created a thin mucus-like armor of water around himself.

Still, though, there were around fifty firebenders that had surrounded him. Even for Sokka, this was a situation he wouldn't be able to easily get out of. Though he seemed unhurt by the blast before, he had taken 300HP of damage, and that wasn't a small thing.

Clenching his teeth, Sokka's concentration soared, immediately he used the map to see where every single enemy and even Zhao was. Looking up, at one of the balconies on the high part of the ship, there was Zhao with a smirk on his face and two guards around him. "Little bird, you just fell on the wrong nest."

Sokka chuckled. "Dumbass, don't try to act smart all of a sudden."

Sokka kicked off the ground and charged towards one of the soldiers. The fire almost licked his face as the firebender panicky shot out flames. "Go away!" He yelled out, horrified.

'This is the one who seems like the leader of this squad. Taking him out will help breaking their spirits. But his death must be caused by someone else and not me.' - he contemplated and within a split second thought up a plan. Sokka used the palm of his hand and easily pushed the man up and used him as a shield as fire was thrown toward him.

"Ahhhhhh!!!" The man yelled out, as Sokka casually threw him to the side. By now the firebenders were panicked, none of them dared to shoot out fire as for a split second they were scared of burning alive one of their allies.

Sometimes, a battle was more of mental warfare, and using one's allies as a shield would be more terrifying than even attacking them. Sokka knew that winning against essentially thousands was impossible. He knew that even if he was able to defeat the ones here, other firebenders from other ships would come. So instead he had to destroy the chain of command here.

Using people's heads as a walking space he ran amongst the small army on the ship and jumped up, catching himself on a railing, and that was when Zhao started seeming worried. "Shoot him down!"

Boom!

Blasts of fire came towards Sokka, but they were useless as by using [Sense Danger] he was able to dodge most of them, and the others he could cut up with his spear. He saw Shao going inside and smirked, this was what he had wanted to do all this time.

"The leader has shown fear," whispered Sokka, his eyes shining like a peak predator. "So how can the subordinates now be confident of victory, even against one guy?"

Since their commander had gone into hiding, many soldiers were afraid. Still, some lift their spirits up and attacked Sokka. 

"Everyone! He is just a young man! We outnumber him."

"Yeah, there is nothing to be afraid of."

"You are right. Captain Zhao has always been like this."

The soldiers quickly convinced themselves to not be afraid as some amongst them kept a calm head. Sokka saw this and knew that right now, he had to be ferocious and put the devil's fear in their hearts.

Jumping down, he smiled as widely as he could, to make himself seem like some kind of battle maniac. "C'mon! Fight me! Let's dance together with the grim reaper!"

He cringed a little internally as those words sounded something an anime character would say. But to his surprise, the soldiers became terrified, even the ones who had been calm were already shaking. No one liked fighting against madmen that had nothing to lose.

Sokka didn't let them think too much about it and charged ahead fearlessly, fire was thrown about clumsily. But now that he wasn't under the barrage of coordinated firebending, he found it much easier to move around and even went and knocked out some people. Since Aang was going to have to come pick him up, Sokka didn't want to leave a trail of bodies where his friend could see them. 

"What is this?" asked Sokka, frowning while looking at the balcony where Zhao used to be. "You guys fight and risk your life for guys like that? Heh, don't you have families in the Fire Nation?"

Those words made them hesitate as they looked at their burned-up comrade. Sokka had to hold himself back from jumping up in victory because now he could see that his words had gotten them. In his last words, wars were usually fought with people who spoke a different language. So that was how not many soldiers could be influenced. But during the times of civil war, where both sides spoke the same language, there was a lot more leeway to use people's emotions to stop them.

To Sokka a certain memory of history came to his mind, in his past life while reading about the American civil war, during charges, some soldiers would stop shooting because they couldn't bear killing their countrymen and hearing their cries.

'Now it is time to get these guys to start doubting the command system a little. Zhao is my target today, and I need to get rid of him before the Northern Water Tribe invasion.' - Sokka already had a speech in mind, something that was used by a famous person in his last life. 

[Acting Skill Activated]

*****

A/N: Divide and conquer, try make the people doubt the leadership. Zhao doesn't inspire anyone with his cowardice either.

If you wanna join my Discord server to ask any questions or see character pics. Here it is the link:

https://discord.gg/gEar3V3sYF