Chapter 77

Chapter 77

***

Sokka looked back at Arnook, and the old man narrowed his eyes. 

This made Sokka wonder if this could lead to the destruction of their relationship. But that thought disappeared as soon as it came, even if the father wanted to be angry, he couldn't. The situation was in Sokka's favor, and if one was as powerless as Arnook, he couldn't do anything. 

Also, Yue didn't seem to be angry and instead appeared to be happy, there was no sign of her previous fear. 

Arnook could do nothing but sigh. "I am glad that you seem happy. Did you eat anything today?"

Sokka smiled, the situation didn't escalate at levels that it could have, and with Yue going to get whatever food was on the stone stove. He sat down next to Aang, with the Chieftain sitting opposite of them. 

Sokka's heartbeat increased rapidly, but he calmed down, reasoning that there was no reason to be nervous. While he had carefully thought out the plan, he didn't know whether it would be something the Chieftain would accept. Had he noticed the loopholes in the contract? Was there something he had missed?

Even while such thoughts started plaguing his mind, Sokka kept calm and acted accordingly, casually sitting on the chair as Arnook pulled out a contract that was several pages long. "Well, I have thought about everything, and have decided to accept your terms."

Sokka almost jumped up in excitement, as a smile seemed to make its way into his face. "I am glad that we could agree, Chieftain."

Arnook nodded, smiling back. The atmosphere in the room seemed to change into a pleasant one. 

"Uhhh… what am I supposed to do here?" Aang asked, fidgeting awkwardly. Sokka took the papers and handed them over to him. He later on planned to teach the young Avatar about life and how to deal with situations like these. 

While Aang had the potential to save the world, sometimes the world didn't want to be saved, and peace wasn't so easy to be held. Sokka knew how to hold peace, and weapons aren't that useful during times of peace, but pen and paper are. 

"Read them carefully," Sokka advised him. With the Avatar here, the deal would last at least until Korra's reign and have validity till then. Of course, he predicted that the Northern Water Tribe would get overwhelmed by greed. Well, not the whole tribe, but those in leadership positions would be filled with greed. 

From today onward, this deal would hold out for as long as Sokka did whatever he could to stop the Fire Nation. If he didn't, then the deal was void. 

At what seemed from the surface level of the contract, there was no big drawback, as the Northern Water Tribe wouldn't have to give anything to the Southern Tribe if the former was invaded. 

Sokka knew that the best way to make a deal look enticing to the opposite side was to make sure the other party didn't feel like it wasn't screwed over.

"As the Avatar, you will be the witness on the deal made today," Arnook stated, and Aang was overwhelmed by the situation and agreed.

'Arnook, you old bastard. You are more manipulative than you look.' 

Sokka contemplated, others might have dismissed Arnook's words as something said casually. But he had just essentially said: Remember this if your part of the deal fails we aren't sending anything to the Southern Water Tribe.

It always made Sokka wonder just how someone so soft-spoken like Arnook was in such a position of power. But then it came to his mind, he wasn't soft-spoken. He remembered how in the original Avatar timeline after the 100 Year War was over, this same man had orchestrated with the other elders a slow but sure influence in the Southern Water Tribe, trying to steal the oil in there, and take the place over. 

How could someone soft-spoken become a Chieftain? Getting married to the previous Chieftain's daughter. There was no way everything was as easy as it seemed. 

History would never mention these things. But there were bound to be many guys aiming for the previous Chieftain's daughter. It was clear that while Arnook was incompetent when it came to matters of war, he knew what needed to be done. 

'Should I kill him now? Better than to let him grow and become someone that might become troublesome.' Sokka glanced at the Chieftain as he thought about how to kill off the man. But decided to not go through with it, as someone else would take his place anyway.

"Is something wrong, Sokka?" Inquired Aang, curiously.

Sokka shook his head with a harmless smile on his face. "No, it's nothing. Just thinking of a way to take care of this problem."

"...."

**

As the night came about, the last full moon stood in the sky, after tonight there won't be another full moon in quite a while. Sokka stood atop the wall that had protected the Northern Water Tribe for many years. He could feel the biting cold in his skin but didn't mind it. Any kind of pain just showed that he was alive. 

He was wearing dark clothes and a facemask where only his eyes were shown. His spear Sky Piercer in hand. 

Two other people also stood next to him, they wore similar clothes and their builds were lean and built for agility. One of them was a waterbender and the other a warrior. But they all had one thing in common and were similar in size, and when masked, it was hard to tell which was which. In the dark, they seemed the same with these disguises on. This was done intentionally by Sokka.

"Remember, we will only address each other A, B, and C. Not at any point must real names be mentioned," Sokka reminded them, he was A, while the waterbenders was B, and the last warrior was C. This was all made so Azula wouldn't know who they were. "Let's go."

After saying that, Sokka jumped towards the water and the other two followed him, he could feel the cold wind hit his body. But he didn't mind, though a trace of cautiousness sneaked into his heart. 

Since she had been recently attacked, would she still be on guard? It depended on how much she trusted Kuzon, because if she trusted in his abilities too much, then she would think that he would be able to see through this too.

B, the waterbenders created a bubble in the eater and an ice footing so they could surf underwater. Sokka looked at the dome of water as they landed, and went under it. Even though he could do something like this himself, it didn't mean that he wasn't impressed by it. He loved bending or any kind of other fantasy power, anyone coming from a normal world would.

They stealthily arrived at the main Fire Nation ship, and as Sokka landed on the deck, he saw a couple of soldiers standing guard. His finger trailed to the back of their necks and he softly used Chi Blocking before anyone noticed anything and they were knocked out.

"What was that?" B looked on in surprise, never having seen such a takedown before. 

Sokka shook his hand and made a shushing motion to keep quiet and not say anything. C was the first one to look around and feel like something was strange. He looked at Sokka and mentioned that there were too few guards around here for a royal ship. 

Sokka nodded, he had noticed this too, and he got an answer. Lightning crackles rang out, looking up, Sokka saw Azula on the highest point of the ship, looking down at them and she already had her fingers pointed at them. 

He moved as fast as he could, grabbing the two people that had come with him, Sokka dodged out of the way of the lighting. 

BOOOOM!!!

A loud explosion rang out, and while the two people that came with him were disoriented, Sokka was fully on guard and threw them to the side. 

*Crackle*

Lightning sounds rang out again, but since his view was obscured due to the smoke, he couldn't see where it was exactly coming from. Pulling out the [Map] would block his field of vision more too, so Sokka opted for a better option, he closed his eyes, and let his [Sense Danger] skill to sense the attack. 

Tilting his head, lightning passed right past him, and the loud cracking of the electricity hit his ears, and some small veins of electricity licked his skin, ripping the lower right side of his mark. But Sokka was quick to pull another mask from his [Inventory] and covered his face.

"You thought you were a predator, but you're a prey all along," Azula remarked, and her voice was like a little girl who was breaking her dolls apart, and enjoying it. "You're pretty good. I thought a human couldn't be able to dodge Lightning from such an angle. You sensed it for about 1 second before it hit you and dodged. Amazing!"

Sokka swung his spear, creating a small wing and clearing up the dust around him, he caught sight of Azula and noticed that Mai and Ty Lee were next to her. "If I remember correctly, you should be Princess Azula, of the Fire Nation."

"Oh? It seems like you have learned something from the Avatar," she smirked mockingly. "It's an honor to have someone as great as him remember me."

Her voice was dripping with sarcasm. But Sokka didn't mind it too much. "You're pretty, kinda hard to forget that."

"Oh? Is that so? Well, sorry, but I am already taken," she chuckled and she shot out two lightning bolts from her fingers.

Sokka didn't dodge, and let the attacks hit him. Even if he dodged, it would just turn into a game of cat and mouse, one that he would lose, since Azula had prepared quite well. She had distance and all. 

*Bzzzt!*

Electricity traveled through his body, shocking his blood, burning his burns. The degree was so high that it could have paralyzed anyone else.

He slumped on the ground, and the soldiers started walking forward to capture him. B and C who were with him looked around in fear, while the warrior was ready to fight, the waterbender was ready to run away. He didn't want to die here.

"Stop!" Azula warned the Fire Nation soldiers, narrowing her eyes at Sokka. "You can get up. I know better than to fall for a trap like that. Next time try and act like you're in pain, and you don't seem burned at all."

A sigh came out of Sokka, he got up and dusted himself. "Sheesh, I hate enemies who think these things through and catch onto small details."

Sokka stared at Azula standing up there, and he had many ways to get there but knew that she probably prepared many things to stop him from doing that. He could also use his [Teleportation Boots] but he didn't want to waste a usage of theirs. Or expose his Gamer Powers. 

Well, he had another plan on how to deal with this. "I see, so you have a spy in the Northern tribe?" Sokka smiled maliciously, Azula didn't show anything more than a small twitch in her eye. "When I go back to the Tribe, I will make sure to kill and torture him to death. His screams filled with pain will ring through the night."

A blue blast of fire shot towards Sokka, but the waterbender teammate made himself used and pulled a stream of water and blocked the fire.

It was Sokka's turn to look Azula in the eyes with a knowing gaze. "Oh? No lightning anymore? I heard that you need to be controlled to use lightning. It's called the cold-blooded fire for a reason. So that must mean that you're super pissed off?"

Azula's eyes turned cold, unlike before where she milked him, she was different. "Ty Lee, Mai, we are killing him."

Ty Lee flinched, she had never felt Azula's Aura grow so cold and angry at the same time.

"I will show him torture. Well, I have nothing to do until the New Moon passes. Seems like this guy will help me pass time."

"Ohh~ so I was right? You have a spy in our tribe, and you must care about him quite a lot," Sokka licked his lip, as he activated the [Acting] Skill and made sure to express his emotions into Azula. "I will enjoy myself while killing this boyfriend of yours. Now I also learned from you that he is a boy. This will make it easier to find him."

Azula at first didn't do anything, but she clenched her fist until her nails sank into her palm and drew blood. Her eyes become bloodshot, and she jumped down. "I will kill you."

"Azula! No!" Mai yelled out, but it was too late. She had fallen for her enemy's ruse.

"Don't worry Mai, I can deal with them. Ty Lee, come and help me, just in case." Azula was still somewhat calm, lightning crackled around her and her hair floated upward. "Lightning may be called the cold-blooded fire, but only amateurs can't use it when they are angry."

*BZZZZZZTTTTT!!!*

"Oh really? Then your soon-to-be dear boyfriend will be happy that you have come so far," Sokka seemed to hit every button to anger Azula.

****